That’s a pretty good combination, isn’t it? First the cashmere show and tell. Elf Roberta knit up this beautiful scarf for her sister-in-law out of Sweet Georgia’s CashSilk Lace in the Summer Skin color. The pattern is Felicia’s CashSilk Fern Lace Scarf, which is free on Ravelry. It uses just one skein. I can tell you, it turns into a beautiful, lightweight luxurious scarf. I think that pattern would also look beautiful done up in fingering weight yarn – something like Madelinetosh Sock or Three Irish Glenhaven Cashmerino Fingering.
We tried a new dessert recipe at our house last week. It’s similar to this one (in a rather anemic looking photo) that I’ve shared with you before, but with the addition of peanut butter. YUM.
Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle
1 brownie mix (for 9 x 13 pan) + eggs, oil, water
1 large containter Cool Whip
2 large boxes of instant chocolate pudding
(prepare each box as directed, as you assemble)
1 bag of peanut butter cups, chopped
3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter
1 (8 oz) pck. cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Bake the brownies as directed and let cool. When cool, cute them into bite-sized pieces.
Put the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and add the peanut butter and powdered sugar. Beat until well mixed and smooth. Fold in 1 cup of Cool whip.
Assemble the layers:
1/2 of the brownies
1 box of the pudding prepared as directed and not yet set
1 cup of chopped peanut butter cups
peanut butter/cream cheese/Cool Whip mixture (use the whole thing on this layer)
1/2 of the brownies
1 box of the pudding prepared as directed and not yet set
Frost with the rest of the plain Cool Whip
Top with remaining chopped peanut butter cups
Let set for a few hours (or overnight) and enjoy.
It was fun to read all of your comments on last Friday’s blog post. We’re so glad to have you all here with us on our Sixth Anniversary! I used the Random Number Generator to pick a winner from last week’s comments. The skein of Wollmeise Lace goes to Kimberly in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Congratulations, Kim!
We have another contest this week (since it’s our anniversary month, you know). This week’s question: What’s the best book you’ve read or movie you’ve seen this summer? (I’m looking to add to my book and movie lineup as we move into the fall.) Since this is our second contest of the month, we’ll be giving away two prizes – two of our Sixth Anniversary Kits, which will be making their debut next week. Leave your answers in the comments below and we’ll draw the winners next week!
Sheri goodgrief.OperaonthePandorastation.AbitmuchforFridayAfternoon.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, It’s the first book in a series and it was awesome!
I am not much of a reader of books. i read most of the time on Ravelry,patterns and such. we haven’t been to a movie since Titanic but we are watching a couple of seriews on AMC on TV, Breaking Bad and Hell on Wheels. They are both action filled series.
I’m just finishing Ursula LeGuin’s “Tehanu” and “Tales from Earthsea” There are 6 books in this series, 3 I read when I was young, 2 recently, and one to go. I would also recommend the animated movie of “Tales of Earthsea” directed by Goro Miyazaki.
A Ft. Collins Connection! The best movie I saw this summer, by far and surprisingly, was TEMPLE GRANDIN starring CLAIRE DANES. I liked it so much that I even watched the director’s cut with Temple Grandin commenting throughout. This movie gave me new insight into the experiences of autistic people and brought me a much better understanding of autism. Temple Grandin went through school with great enthusiasm despite her autisim and became a college professor at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. What she did for the cattle industry in this country is totally awesome and amazing. A must see movie.
I saw this a couple of years ago, and recently watched it again on Netflix: Between the Folds. It’s a documentary and it’s really fascinating.
Not a new book, but one I only recently had the pleasure of reading… “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. I couldn’t put it down! Bittersweet true-life memoir.
“Sacre Bleu, A Comedy d’Art” by Christopher Moore. Very unusual fiction, but if you love the Impressionists and have a yearning for or been to Paris, a must read.
If you have not seen it you should see Warhorse. While it is a movie about war and war’s hardships, it is also a movie about the bonds between humans and animals. I promise it has a happy ending. :o)
The most interesting book of my summer was Divergent by Veronica Roth. (And the sequel, which is Insurgent.) Light reading, with a touch of alternate future, scifi, kind of like Hunger Games.
If you have not seen it you should see Warhorse. While it is a movie about war and war’s hardships, it is also a movie about the bonds between humans and animals. I promise it has a happy ending.
Best book I’ve read this summer is the Hunger Games. And I finally watched Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Have to read that book now.
The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Its an older book, but Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is the best book I’ve read so far this year. I couldn’t put it down! It has a sequel too, but it wasn’t as good as the first.
The book I read the fastest because I couldn’t put it down was Divergent by Veronica Roth – it is another distopia book similar to Hunger games in theory.
City of Thieves by David Benioff is also a very good book. . .
Best Movie Brave. It’s a great movie for little girls. I have never shown a single “princess” movie to my daughter who will be 3 next month. This one is outside the norm.
My favorite book so far is Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson – a true story about a blind man and his guide dog during 9/11
Favorite movie has to be The Avengers. I didn’t want to like it after all the hype, but it really did deserve all the praise!
Best movie I saw this summer: Bernie (a docu drama — Jack Black and Shirley McClain and townspeople of Carthage Texas — funny, sweet, and sad)
Moorise Kingdom was also good.
I read (listened to audiobooks while knitting)
Maine — Courtney Sullivan
Gone Girl —
Defending Jacob
The Chaperone
What Alice Forgot
The Memory of Running ( may only be on audio)
Clara and Mr Tiffany
My summer reading is full of spy books. I am obsessed with the Karla Trilogy from John LeCarrĆ© (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People). They are pretty old books (the first one was written before I was born!), but they are still very good. After watching the excellent Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy movie (with Gary Oldman, by favorite actor ever), I was intrigued by the book and I found it so good that I had to read the rest of the trilogy.
I’m also into Swedish authors, after reading the excellent Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson (the girl with the dragon tatoo, etc). I really enjoyed The ice princess and The stonecutter by Camilla LƤckberg.
Last, but not least, I love Jean-Christophe GrangĆ© stories (very dark thrillers, but very good ones). I just read “Le Passager” in French (it hadn’t been released in English yet), but I highly recommend any of his books (the Crimson rivers and The flight of the Storks are my favorites).
I love summer time, as it’s when I’m reading the most š
The best movie I’ve seen this summer, even though it came out earlier this year, was The Help. It really makes you re-think how you treat people.
Hmmm…. best movie and book of this summer?
Well, I just finished The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman. It was pretty good, but not as good as the Golden Compass. I am currently reading Book 3 of the Song of Fire and Ice. It is consistent with the others. Wow, none of that really sounds good, does it? I guess the book I am most excited about is The Knitter’s Life List. It is full of fun facts about knitting and all things knitterly. It is divided into chapters such as Designers, Fibers, Techniques, etc. Each chapter has information about the title and is started with a list of things to see, do, explore and create. It’s a pretty fun book.
As for movies, well, we rarely go to the cinema because DH just doesn’t like to. But I watch a lot of movies on TV. I saw ‘Big Fish’ swim by on my way to post and I love that one, too. Last night we watched The Hangover II – definitely a hard R rating, but if you’ve seen the first one, you gotta see this. Even funnier than the first. Oh, and I watched the new(er) Star Trek movie about 10 times. I love those characters.
Favorite movie was Captain America (I missed it in the theater, but Netflix is my friend), and my favorite book is Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal.
“The Half-Stitched Amish Quilters Club”, which I found at Cokesbury in Austin, TX on a fluke. It’s a good read – strong characters, interesting storyline.
Gosh Sheri – I’d love to be entered in the contest but I don’t know when you think I have time to read books LOL – All I have done for 2.5 months is knit knit knit on Camp Loopy projects. Movies hummm – I’m not really that into movies either but as far as TV goes – I have loved Downton Abbey and can’t wait for it to return. At the other end of the spectrum – I am really enjoying the series Falling Skies. Thanks melody
I keep reading the Jennifer Chiaverini Elm Creek Quilts Series. I just love all the characters! (And yes, I am a quilter too.) I am waiting for the new Meryl Streep movie to come out: Hope Springs.
My favorite book was “The Peachkeeper”. A very sweet story and I enjoy all this authors writing.
No movies, it’s still baseball season, ya know?! Book…. working on the John Adams biography that came out a few years ago. Slow going when you read at bedtime, but still very good.
Ok, so twist on book or movie–audiobook for the road! I’ve decided to rediscover a series I read when I was a child and I’ve been sharing The Chronicles of Narnia with my boy! Such fun!
A really good book I read was Bowling Avenue by Ann Shane. And another was A Life In Stitches. I found this book very amusing as Racheel Herron described different times in her life.
I really enjoyed reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh this summer. It was perfect vacation reading.
Happy Anniversary!
Not much for the movies this year-however I have read the 50 shades of gray and loved it. What a great love story! Also just completed 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I have never read any of King, but my dad said it was a great read. He was right, not what you expect at all. A great story and very surprising
Best movie this summer–Hunger Games, though I only saw 2 this summer, and the other was Brave. Funny, both featured archery.
Best book–The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd. Love historial fiction.
The Avengers!!!
Best movie I’ve seen this summer is The Avengers!
Marie Bostwick—CobbledStone Quilt Shop Series, I used to quilt and I love the books and sometimes I just pretend they meant to say yarn store, or yarn instead of fabric and knitting needles instead of basting needles, etc.
I want to see HOPE SPRINGS because well it could be my marriage!!!
My favorite movie was the Avengers and all my reading this summer was bubble gum but I really loved reading Lin Stepp’s books
The best book has been The Paris Wife so far this summer!
I have been reading a lot of young adult fiction this summer (A side effect of studying it in library school) so the best YA book that I have read this summer is Divergent by Veronica Roth.
Read??? Who has time to read??? Working and household chores take up so much of my time that anything left is for KNITTING!!! I do have my priorities š
The best movie I saw was on dvd already, Red Tail. I didn’t expect to like it, but it was great.
The best book was Breaking Silence, I read the series and couldn’t put the books down.
I loved The Avengers and Abe Lincoln Vsmpire Hunter.
No time to read, go to the movies OR knit this summer since we just moved house. But I’ve been on vacation for three days, I’m enjoying The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and Super 8 was the perfect movie to enjoy with my twelve year old nephew!
In my world ‘best movie’ would be a tie–I *loved* ‘Brave’……and I just watched ‘My Week With Marilyn’ yesterday–adored that, too.
As for books….haven’t gotten much done this summer, unfortunately. But I’m in the midst of a collection of short stories by Neil Gaiman called ‘Smoke and Mirrors’……
I’ve also read an obscene number of Sandra Boynton books to tiny people….. š
This summer i got to see “The Greater Glory” It is about the Cristeros rebellion in Mexico. It is not a happy go lucky story, but if you are looking for something historical and with meaning, i would suggest it.
Best book I’ve read this summer – one with lots of pictures and great patterns – KNIT RED! It counts as a book right? I mean – yarnie stuff is a book?
And Movie – well…Avengers I loved!
My favorite book of the summer is “The Girl Who Could Fly”. Not because it’s the best book in the world, but because it’s from our mother daughter book club, and that’s always fun.
I haven’t read. I’ve been too busy working on camp projects and mystery shawls. I saw one movie this summer, Tyler Perry’s Witness Protection!
I haven’t seen any movies in a while but I really enjoyed the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Movies would be a tie – “Moonrise Kingdom” a fantastic, witty film and “Avengers” full blown, action packed fun!
Books – the last one I finished was actually a YA book & I loved it “A Monster Calls” (keep your tissues handy, though)
Best books in a long time: The Name of the Wind and A Wise Man’s Fear, both by Patrick Rothfuss.
Loved this book, The Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva
The latest in this series and a great thriller!