Here it is. I’d sent it to Ang. the night I took it, and she sent it back to me tonight. Behold Skimmer:

It’s amazing the things I forget, even after all the knitting I’ve done. And everytime I forget something, I have to do a bit of ripping. Today, I forgot which way k2tog leans. Well, the answer is: not the way I need these decreases to go. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiip! The good news is that I had not gone very far, so I didn’t have to rip back very much. And now, I am over halfway done with the other back of Skimmer, thanks to a school day that lasted forever.

I was surprised really, that I didn’t get any knitting or reading done while we were camping this past weekend. I thought I would have long stretches of free time. I made a fatal error there. I forgot that I am still the Mama around here, LOL! Even camping, ther e are no long stretches of free time for Mama. The closest I came was the eveining I was getting increasingly frustrated because the kids were firing off requests so rapidly that I couldn’t get one answered before another started talking. I just excused myself and walked into my room with my timer and a magazine. 15 minutes later, I emerged, ready to answer them, though I still made them take turns, LOL.

What’s that? I seriously cannot remember the last time I knit. It’s not been, like, months, or anything, and I could scroll back through a couple of pages and find out, but I do know that, at least for me, it’s been a long time. I’ve just been busy doing other things: reading, teaching, cooking, living real life. It’s a dilemma, see, for a blogger. I can either write about life, or live it. In some seasons, there just isn’t time to do both, and then we get what we have had lately: Silence punctuated by brief spurts of activity.

The good news is that the forecast looks very pleasant, and I’m hoping to get in a bit of knitting time at camp this weekend. We’ll see how that goes

I got my issue of Interweave Knits in the mail the other day, and finally stole few minutes to flip through it. I just love knitting mags, not only for the patterns and tutorials, but for the ads. Yes, I said the ads. Looking at all those new yarns ….. well, it’s exciting for a girl like me. And the sweaters in the ads! Gasp. They have an entrelac one in one ad that just boggles my mind.

I tell ya, as much as I want to finish Skimmer, this issue has made my hands yearn for tiny needles and delicate yarns. So much lace! And I find myself drawn to patterns now that I would have passed by a few weeks ago before I finally figured out that layering thing. (Yeah, I’m slow. Sorry.) I’m not going to start a new project today, but I am hereby committing to get the back of Skimmer divided. Ladies and gentlemen, start your needles!

Start your needles? Clearly I am still thinking about the NASCAR Sweepstakes I entered for dh. I know he’d be so excited to go to Florida for the Ford 400! Me, I’d go, but I would take my knitting with me, LOL. Maybe hang out with Colleen, even.

Sometimes, things just drag on and on and on. I have 20 rows to go on the front of Skimmer, and that purling back takes forever. Of course, it’s also increasing by 2 stitches every fourth row. I expect the back will go much faster, since it will be decreasing at that rate. Muhahahahhahah.

In other news, I have a headache. It is a new kind of headache, like a band around, but up and down, not across, my head, and with shooting pains down into my jaw, mostly affected my left side. Not fun.

Yes, I said morning! I’m posting in the morning again, because I think I am wittier and more entertaining then. I’m still going to be short and sweet, because, HI! it’s Monday, and Monday is just so dang Monday-ish. Of course, at a fluffy five foot nothin’, I am short and sweet all the time

Ok, today was the day I had planned to give away A Fine Fleece. I think I really messed that up by pulling an old entry and updating it and adjusting the time stamp. I know a lot of you read on the feed, and I think the feed readers disregarded that since in “cyber speak” it was not a new post. There were only 4 entries, and I feel like it’s a discredit to the publisher to complete the give away today when I usually get over 50. I know knitters still love books, so I know I must have messed up something somehow. Please look over in the sidebar, and you’ll see “Enter Here” over a picture of the book. That link takes you to the contest entry post. I will close the contest next Monday, abundant entries or not, and I am updating that post to reflect same. Or, if you don’t need to see a picture of the book, you can just click here.

Now for Menu Plan Monday. You will recognize these items. I just got to the grocery store Friday night. (No wonder I feel hard pressed if it takes a major maneuver just to get out to buy food, LOL). I now have the ingredients for the food I planned for last week, and so that’s what we will be having.

Corny bites (I’ll talk more about these after we try them) with refried beans and some sort of Mexican rice.
Chili with Cornbread
Beef Stroganoff
Tacos

And that’s all I am planning for now. You can participate in Menu Plan Monday by clicking on this banner, but don’t go yet, there’s more from me underneath it!

Ghandi: I put this movie in my BlockBuster Q awhile back, and it has been sitting here on my desk for a couple of weeks. I spent the weekend pretty much unplugged, as I indicated in my that post on Friday. That means that I did not get the lesson plans made. I realized that late yesterday evening, and then I realized that this made today a perfect day for watching Ghandi. I went to see it when I was in school, and I wanted to share it with my kids. FWIW, I also saw the Hobbit as a school field trip. Yes, I had one extremely cool teacher. I’ll work on the lesson plans while we watch. Then I’ll probably finish Skimmer AND read a book. Ok, maybe not all that, but it is over three hours. We’ll start right after lunch, and I’ll try to remember to let you know how it went when I post tomorrow.

This has been a real lackluster week at Cass Knits. See, I even left off the ! because it has been so. stinking. dry. I have been so busy with the house and the schooling, and all the other stuff and would you believe? Another wake yesterday! Therefore, there was no Cass in the Kitchen yesterday, there will be no Online Craft Club today, and I think I am going to take the weekend to basically unplug.

Oh. Except for the lesson plans I have to write. See what I mean? It’s just not letting up!

Anyway, please remember to enter the giveaway. I’m not quite sure what happened this time, but I think the fact that I used a previous post to announce it may have affected it. I’ll see you Monday.

and moving right along too! I took Skimmer with me Sunday, but I did not knit a single stitch. # hours there, three hours back, and I did not knit. That is incredibly strange for me!! Nonetheless, since I got past the boobs, I am able again to pick it up and work it while I help the children with their schoolwork, and I just finished up a ball of yarn a few minutes ago!

I am doing mine a little differently than I instructed last Friday. I know what I said will work, and I am not exactly sure how what I am doing will turn out. I am not decreasing on the arm sides, and those extra stitches will be the beginning of my cowl. I’ll just join the shoulders to the first X stitches, once I figure out what X will be, but I am thinking 9 (2 inches). That is enough to cover my bra strap, but I may put a safety flap on the shoulders anyway, just because I think it is such a neat concept, and also, who wants to be hitching at their clothes, yk?