Good Morning! GiveAway! Menu Plan Monday! Ghandi!
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.
GiveAway Reminder. Also, apologies.
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.
GiveAway: A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd
I knew I would like this book when I read the first paragraph of the introduction. The author said, “I tell a story with my yarn and my stitches, building one upon the other until, chapter upon chapter, the story is complete.” and I nodded my head in agreement and understanding. I totally knew what she meant, and I think you probably do too. You can tell the story of your days in your projects, after you’ve been doing it awhile. This is the blanket I worked on for a year, sneaking out of the house to go to my mom’s so it would be a surprise for dh. These are the socks I finished while laboring with DaBaby–see how this toe is different because I lost track of my short rows?
The difference between me and the author, though, is that I don’t spin. Yet. Luckily for me, she has shown each project in this book in commercial yarn as well, and mighty fine projects they are! A couple of them have to go on my list. The Kearsarge is one of them. The play of textures across the different elements of the sweater is just fun to look at! The body is basket weave and the sleeves are mistake rib. The placketed neck open makes for a sweater that is both dressy and comfortable.
And what’s with the cable trim lately? Espresso is a simply divine cardigan with cables on the edges. And it’s modeled in an absolutely luscious shade of pink. I think I might have mentioned that I have a not-so-passing fancy for pink. I mean, I really like pink. Given a choice between pink and not pink, I’m almost always going to go for the pink. Unless the other color is red, and then we’ll have to flip a coin.
You know, I haven’t had the dye post out in a while, and while I would love to learn to spin, I have to be honest and admit that I cannot cram one more piece of crafting gear into this house. And then there is that no buying stuff thing. Maybe I should dye the yarn for these projects. In the spirit of creating the yarn and all. Not because I enjoy it or anything. Of course, by the time I get to these sweaters, I may be able to order anything I want, including a spindle!
~~~
Edited to add:
I wasn’t ready to do another give away when I wrote this review on the 8th, so I held off. I am, however, ready to start one now! So let’s do it. Okay? okay! Here’s a re-cap of how to enter:
The contest will start when I hit publish, and will run through midnight April 27th. I’ll announce the winner via random number on Monday May 5th. You can get an entry by commenting on this post. You can get another entry by “stumbling” this post. (You can use the button right under the post (or your toolbar) to do that.) You can get two more entries by writing about this give away on your own blog with a link back to this post. And let’s throw in an experimental entry method: if you are a member of a crafty type forum, and you post about this giveaway with a link back, you’ll get another entry. You’ll need to come back and let me know you’ve done that by leaving a link to your forum post in the comments.
If you have never commented on this blog before, then your comment will be moderated. I’ll approve it as soon as I get back to the keyboard
I think that’s enough fine print, let’s get started!
Good Luck!
Congrats Sherri!
Congrats Sherri! Please send me your address to claim your new book!
That’s all I’ve got today, folks. I spent some time doing other needful stuff.
More Big Girl Knits: Review and GiveAway
Let me tell you, the gals have done it again. I got my hands on the book 2 days ago, and I have already picked out three projects that I want to make. There is one in here, the Susie Hoodie, it’s a cross between a swing coat and a hoodie, and it has such wonderfully cable-y cables on the edges. I am totally making that for myself. I even have the yarn for it already! And the sweater on the front cover? That’s a must have right there, though I am pretty sure I don’t have the yarn for it. The Hot Cocoa Jacket, that double breasted piece of loveliness? Likewise. And the Goddess Shawl? Ditto. Okay, apparently I meant four, not three. Whatever. And Country has her eye on a couple as well. Though if she thinks she gets the first Susie Hoodie, she’s got another think coming.
Oh my. I think I just sorta committed to TWO Susie Hoodies. *GULP*
It’s a great book, and just as in the last one, Jillian Moreno and Amy R. Singer give you the whys and how to’s you need to design your own better fitting garments. My TBK(nit) pile is rapidly reaching the proportions of my TBR pile, and this is a very bad thing. Or a good thing, depending on how much housework I can avoid over the next decade. More Big Girl Knits will be hitting the book store shelves next Tuesday, but! Hahaha, you knew there was a but, didn’t you? Yep, you can win a copy right here. The contest will start when I hit publish, and will run through midnight April 6th. I’ll announce the winner via random number on Monday the 7th. You can get an entry by commenting on this post. You can get another entry by “stumbling” this post. (You can use the button right under the post (or your toolbar) to do that.) You can get two more entries by writing about this give away on your own blog with a link back to this post. And let’s throw in an experimental entry method: if you are a member of a crafty type forum, and you post about this giveaway with a link back, you’ll get another entry. You’ll need to come back and let me know you’ve done that by leaving a link to your forum post in the comments.
If you have never commented on this blog before, then your comment will be moderated. I’ll approve it as soon as I get back to the keyboard
I think that’s enough fine print, let’s get started!
Contest Closed
Calling Anastasia!
Is there an Anastasia in the house? I surely hope so, because you are the winner of the Martha Stewart cookbook. Please get in touch with me in the next 48 hours to claim your ooey-gooey prize!
Loving Martha, Baking Cookies, Buying Stuff and Give Away
Welcome again to Cass in the Kitchen. First, get coffee: as you can see from the title, we have a LOT of ground to cover. I was a busy girl this week, and I took pictures of everything. In fact, the kids are now used to me shooting the food before they can eat it! So seriously, get coffee, and let’s see how many shots I can upload at once without freezing the laptop. And relax, I’m not going to show you everything today, just what’s in the title. You’ll have to wait for the green chili recipe.
Loving Martha
I have to tell you all before I begin, that I really dislike Martha Stewart. When she’s on tv, I’m changing the channel. When I see her wares in the store, I go the other way. I mean, it’s much a part of me as curly hair, this dislike of Martha. Until now. Now, I like Martha. How can you not like a woman who designed a table of contents that looks like this?
I mean, that’s pure genius, because how often do you think “I want a cookie,” and you can already feel the texture of it on your tongue? Yeah, me too. Also, this book will be responsible for me buying a new cookie press, since I can’t find my old one. And it has already cost me two silicone baking sheets, which you will meet below.
Now, when I looked over the book, I had firmly intended to make those brownies shown above, because they looked so good. Don’t they look good? Yes, they do. But I still haven’t made them. No, Because I found this recipe for Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies instead. So, I went to Wal-Mart for groceries, and the stuff to make these ended up on the list somehow, and I followed the recipe exactly except that I used baby food bananas instead of fresh (my hands aren’t what they used to be, so I save them for the important stuff) aaaaand, I kinda got excited and we poured in the walnuts before we remembered to roast them. Roasting nuts for your cookies is one of the bits of advice I gave over on Mothering Many at Christmas, so I am appalled that I forgot to do it. Blame the book.
Baking Cookies
We did have a wee accident:
I also had amazingly beautiful helpers:
The dough, it was divine:
And the cookies, they were so good my eyes crossed when I put them in my mouth. See?
Buying Stuff
And right about when I took that last picture, I was forming a mental shopping list:
cookie press
cookie scoop
cookie jar
cookie baking mat
mixing bowls
mixing spoons
extra measuring cups and spoons
You’ll note that most of this is pictured below. The scoop is on it’s way from Pampered Chef, and I haven’t purchased the press yet.
This baking and the taking of pictures? It is fun.
GiveAway
NOW THEN! This book, this book filled with delicious cookie recipes which make people cross their eyes, will be the next giveaway here on Cass Knits! If you want a copy of your very own, that can happen! To get one entry, leave a comment. (First time blog commenters are moderated, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up right away. I’ll approve it when I get back to the key board.) If you blog about the giveaway and link back to this post, you’ll get two more entries. And if you stumble his post, you’ll get another entry! The giveaway will commence when I hit publish, and it will end at midnight, March 23rd. Yep, that’s Easter! I’ll announce the winner on Monday the 24th.
Good luck!
Winner: Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse
I know ya’ll are just waiting to know who’s getting the book! First, I want to thank you everyone who entered. The response was awesome! The posts spreading the word about the contest were fun to read, and I appreciate them. I do have several more giveaways line up, and I will announce the next one on Thursday the 13th, just three days from now.
Now, while I was out shopping this weekend, I did buy an icing bag and a set (umm, a large set of 29 pieces) of decorating tips. I had so wanted to make th the ladybug cupcakes, but I could not find the red nonpareils, so I will be making something else instead. After we finish the cookies I made yesterday that I plan to tell you about Thursday.
To answer your burning question: yes, this is still a knitting blog, but cooking goes so much faster than knitting, unless you are at a church business meeting, in which case the length of the meeting is inversely proportional to the amount of yarn you bring with you. Or in the case of chili.
That wasn’t your burning question? Have I strung this out long enough? Are you sure?? There were 59 total entries, and the winner is number 23. Congrats
Valmg of A Contest Blog
Please email me your mailing address, and enjoy your cupcakes! Perhaps you should go buy decorating tips while you wait for the mail, LOL!
