Again, I haven’t done much knitting this week. I spent the first part of the week head down in my stack of review books, and then I streamlined some other areas of endeavor and finally, finally, last night I sat down to watch Adam’s Rib with the kids and finished the pouch on Stuntman’s Wallaby, and knit a few more rounds on the body. BUT! Mama got here before the movie was even over, and we worked on the jewelry a bit, tagging and such, for the craft sale on Saturday.

Ya’ll, let me tell you I am upset with my BFF. I wasn’t nervous at all until this morning, when she said:

CASS! tomorrow is your first craft show! nervous?

Uhh, thanks, Ang.

Take a picture of your current project, whatever that happens to be. Or maybe one you recently finished. Or the materials for the one you are about to start. Let’s say materials for a project in whatever state it happens to be in at the time you snap it. On Friday, post the picture and tell us about your project. What you did, or what you are going to do. How much you are enjoying it, or hating it. You know–show and tell.

Just copy & paste the code below the graphic and get crafty with me!

<a href=”http://www.cassknits.com/category/online-craft-club/”><img src=”http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/cassknits/online-craft-club-sidebar-sized.jpg” alt=”” /></a>

Be sure to come back and leave a comment so we know where to find you!

[tags]Online Craft Club[/tags]

:kitchen: Today, instead of telling you how to make something, I am asking for your help. I want to make weiner schnitzel like I had so long ago in Germany, and more recently at HofBrau Haus in Las Vegas. Now, I have some porkchops in the freezer that I can pound thin, and I know I need a mushroom and onion sauce. Beyond that, though, I am asking for your tips. This is what I want it to look like:

Can you tell me how to get there? Pretty please?

So, I have hinted that I have been doing more than a spot of beading, right? And that I have a craft show on Saturday? Well, here’s a wee collage I made with Picasa2.

Click to embiggen.

Of course, you can’t see it all, but there are *gulp* 110 pictures there. Not a typo. One hundred and ten pieces. I sure hope I’m not hauling it all back home Saturday evening!

Okay, you had to know this was coming, right? Surely I am at least that predictable after all this time, LOL! Today’s book is indeed the companion to last week’s book! I have to say from the get-go that Ann and Kay have done it again, ya’ll. Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines is as quirky and delightful as the original.

Once again, I had to pop open Rav as I leafed through the book. Have I mentioned that I love garter stitch? Like, maybe last week, when I reviewed the other book, did I say that? Because I do! It’s just so soft and squishy. And comforting. And easy. Just knit, knit, knit. Love it. But I also like stockinette, so uniform and smooth. Just a field of v’s marching away to become something beautifully useful. Love it! Sorry, please excuse that aside. Moving on now.

When you get your copy of this book, and I SINCERELY hope you will do so, I want you to flip immediately to page 55 and look at Jane Eyre The Margaret Sweater. Seriously, I know the draw is supposed to be the mystery words, but look at the flow of that sweater. It’s just so darn graceful. I want it!

And then just as I had almost decided to cut my knitting recipient list to one person (me), I flipped the page and saw “Covering the Small Human”. Sigh. Betrayed by cleverness and beauty! Because, how can I NOT make sk8r in each of my boy kids’ signature colors? And the Jane Austen Dress, which I promise I did not see until after I had dubbed the sweater above, how kah-yute is that? And that shrug! On my list. And Fern. Will I ever have enough time to knit that before my girls are too big for it?

And then there is he dishcloth cotton chapter, complete with a swiffer rag pattern. Oh my goodness! I am totally NOT knitting that, but, what kind of mind can come up with that?

For all that knitty goodness, I have to tell you that the most profound thing in this book, for me, was on page one. It’s involves the concept of “decorating yourself”. Ann says, in part, “She’s (Madame X) not tracking down her least-bad-fitting pair of blue pants the way I do. She’s operating under the same impulse that leads a person to hang stuff on a Christmas tree. It’s not profound, or important, or efficient. It’s fun. It’s pretty.” See? Even as she’s saying “it’s not profound”, she’s saying something profound. Thanks, Ann. I plan to spend less time dressing and more time decorating myself!

It’s time again for the Bloggy Giveaways! I enjoyed participating in this carnival for the summer, and I have held off on other giveaways since them, because I wanted to do something neat for this one. I’ve been attempting to review a book a week here at CassKnits, and my prize is your choice of one of the books. Here are the links to your prize choices:

Mason Dixon Knitting
Continuous Cables
Glorious Patchwork
Sweater Renewal
Two Dudes One Pan
Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines

To enter, visit the pages above and choose the book you’d like to win. Then leave a comment on this entry with the name of the book you’d most like to have. And yes, tomorrow is Tuesday, and I’ll be reviewing another book. I’ll update this post to include that book after I review it. DONE! This giveaway ends at midnight, October 31st, and the prize must ship to a US address. I’ll announce a winner next Sunday, the 2nd. Please be sure your email is correct on your comment, since that’s the only way I have to contact you!

More giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

If you have not commented on this blog before, your comment will go to moderation. No need to leave it twice, I’ll approve it as soon as I get back to the keyboard. Good Luck!

Well, guess what? I have…….nothing! Again! I am seriously wondering about the benefit of having the Online Craft Club when I have no time to knit! But you know what? Football/cheer is almost over. And when it is over, I. Will. Knit. Oh yes, I will. I will knit something lovely and warm, and special just for me. I will also publicize my little craft club a bit, so more people than me and Mama play along.

In the meantime, will you look at this pashmina shawl? Isn’t it so pretty? I love the pink, and the pattern is so pretty. Did I mention it’s cashmere? And did I mention that at less than 28 bucks, I think the pre-made shawl would cost less than the yarn to make one, ykwim? And it is perfectly pink. Why do I feel like you are all laughing every time I say pink? Quit. Do I laugh at you when you say breath of life? No? Then just stop already. I wear other colors. Sometimes. A lot, actually. Like red, for instance.

Back to the Craft Club. Since I’ve got nuttin’, it’s all on you, Show me what ya got!

Take a picture of your current project, whatever that happens to be. Or maybe one you recently finished. Or the materials for the one you are about to start. Let’s say materials for a project in whatever state it happens to be in at the time you snap it. On Friday, post the picture and tell us about your project. What you did, or what you are going to do. How much you are enjoying it, or hating it. You know–show and tell.

Just copy & paste the code below the graphic and get crafty with me!

<a href=”http://www.cassknits.com/category/online-craft-club/”><img src=”http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff136/cassknits/online-craft-club-sidebar-sized.jpg” alt=”” /></a>

Be sure to come back and leave a comment so we know where to find you!

[tags]Online Craft Club[/tags]

So, that crazy Ted is up to snuff again. I swear, I want some of his drugs.

—In fact, while I am here, I said something about him he should know about. I was trying to describe to several perfect strangers in a cab/15 passenger van (Ted, did you read those last two phrases?) on the way to the hotel in Orlando, the pure adrenaline that is being with Ted and the team at IZEAfest, and I said “You don’t need to sleep the whole weekend. You just feed off Ted’s amazing energy.” —

So, back to his latest crazy idea. Ted is starting a new program call IZEA Insiders, and he’s inviting posties to apply for the ten positions. In order to apply, we have to make a blog post kinda bragging ourselves up a little bit, and letting him know that we are fabulous and perky, and all that stuff. Yay! Another opportunity to hype myself! I’m awesome, totally awesome, and all that. So, here we go with this cyber interview thingy:

# Provide some personal background. Where you live, what you do for a living, etc.
I ive in coastal North Carolina, close to North Myrtle Beach and a little further from Raleigh. That’s a much info as I want to give out on the blog. Those who live in my local area can identify it from references I make, and I’m fine with that, but you’ll have to grant me a second interview (or, you know, look at my address that’s already in your system, or some of my social profiles) to get the name of the town out of me.

As far as a living, I strive to be a kept woman, but that’s not working out for me so well just now. I’ll have to let you know when I get it figured out, okay?

# Show me you know a thing or two about marketing. What have you done to promote your own blog? How has it worked out? Why would you be successful in recruiting a crew?
Marketing, uh? Honestly, I have just begun to think about marketing in a more-than-abstract way. In the the past few weeks, I have used car magnets to publicize this site, and I have had my business cards inserted into balls of yarn at a certain local store. *cough* I’ve got a craft show coming up on November 1st. This will be a new thing for me, my first one. I’ll be selling some hand-made jewelry, and handing out business cards, and I’ll be wearing my new “Cass Knits!” t-shirt. I don’t pay much attention to the numbers, so I can’t tell you how effective it’s been. I just know I am getting out there and talking it up more, and having fun meeting people. As far as recruiting a crew, I’ve had several local people ask me lately about “this paid blogging thing”, and I would like to refer you to this twitter exchange from a few days ago, that started with:

mommysphere @CassKnits Do you like Izea? What are your thoughts on paid postings in terms of your blog’s “voice”?

I totally pimped IZEA out, Ted. Here, here and here. For free! Just because I like you so much!

# We are looking for people that are highly social both online and offline. Link to your profile pages on facebook, twitter, myspace, socialspark, etc.

Facebook
@CassKnits
Social Spark

MySpace? Ted, seriously. I don’t do MySpace. But I would do it for you. Do you know why, Ted? Because I want it, Ted. I really do. See?

And that’s just an outtake!

# What blogging or social media conferences have you been to this year? How often do you travel? Where do you go? Do you have a laptop? A wireless card?

Sad to say, the only place I have gone this year is IZEAfest. Isn’t that terrible? Frankly, I could only afford to go to one conference, and that’s the one I picked. This isn’t to say that this is the only conference I wanted to attend, mind you. I was seriously leaning toward the BlogHer mini-conference nearest me, but it was canceled. I also wanted to do ConvergeSouth and others. If your real question here is whether or not I am willing to travel, the answer is not only am I willing, but I am able and also excited by the possibility, and I’ll even go exactly where you tell me to go. Provided I can get there on public transportation, or by driving. Yeah, I know I have to watch you, put limits on you. I know how you are.

Yes, I have a laptop. No, it’s not portable, because the display is broken. I’d replace it if I got the position. Estimated time needed: 3 hours. That’s long enough to drive to town, pick up an eeepc, get back home, and get my passwords transferred over. They come with wireless cards, memory card slots and webcams. I’d be ready when you called.

# We want photos and video. Share some snapshots or short videos with us from events you have attended.
Photos? I think you might recognize these:

And as for videos, I don’t have any from events. The ones from IZEAfest you’ve seen, but I have made a few interesting ones here at home. Here’s one from today, just for you, after the out take above:

And here is one I made awhile back for an advertiser:

Also, I once sang a song about PayPerPost. Wanna see it?

Also, you know what I need to get? A Flip Video. The good news is, that’s already on my Christmas list.

Kay. So. There we go. Blame it all on Ashley.

Man, do I have a lot of stuff to tell you about this week! And let me begin with the most important thing: my camera is at Mama’s. Yay me, and woohoo, right? Well, actually, that’s not an entirely bad thing, because if it was here, it would take me all morning to upload the pictures. I’m estimating that I have about 50 pieces ready for the craft show on the 1st. If it all sells, I’ll do well, but until then, it’s just another expensive hobby, right?

I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time beading since my husband quit his job. If Mama is off, I am over there and we are beading. This past week, we’ve been playing with sodalite, uncanite and jasper and other such stones. There’s even some amethyst over there for me to work up today. I’m finding that just like different yarns lend themselves to different projects, so, too, do different types of beads. In fact, I have some now I wish I could show you! They are so funky looking that Mama calls them “those SpongeBob beads”, and I just cannot imagine what to do with them! I guess that shouldn’t much surprise me, given my penchant for natural fibers, huh?

Oh yeah, one more thing. I didn’t lie, my camera really is at Mama’s. Today’s picture come to you via the miracle of Zemanta 😉