This is a pattern that was handed out free at Mass Ave. Knit Shop. I took a photo because the print copies were all gone.
Three balls of cotton (300 yards or so).
Needles: Size 7 or 8
Cast on 22 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: K 8, turn and knit back.
Row 3: K 6, turn and knit back.
Row 4: K 4, turn and knit back.
Repeat 4 rows to desired length, ending with Row 4. Bind Off.
I’m taking off on Friday for SXSW in Austin, Texas. I’ve been there a couple times in the past in 2007 and 2008. I’m having a bit of anxiety about the trip after the doozy of a time we had in 2008 (stuck on a plane on the tarmac for 6 hours in Dallas, then driving from Dallas to Austin) so I’m kinda keyed up. The weather forecast is much better this year, but then again, it was fine last time, too. 🙂
But I’m trying to stay optimistic about the trip; it couldn’t possibly go as bad as last time, right? I’m hoping to learn a lot and see a bunch of cool new stuff. I need to do a bunch more prep work; this time I’ll have a much better camera with me, and Austin is a really cool city.
servings – 6
Estimated Weight Watchers points – 3
Place chicken in the bottom of your crockpot. Mix 1/2 c. water and the salad dressing mix. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours. Mix cream cheese and soup. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken and let cook for 1 hour or until juices run clear. You can cut the time in half by cooking it on high.
Note- There is a lot of sauce. Try cuting up baked potatoes and put the chicken and sauce on top. It would also be good with pasta.
I’ve been dissatisfied with the navigation methods here on my site for a long time – I was very frustrated by the long, unwieldy category list from the sidebar – I’ve always organized by category, but the display of that navigation sucked, because it was hard to tell that there were categories and sub-categories, and the list was way long. The sidebar looked cluttered, and in general I didn’t feel like writing because I hated the way my site looked.
I knew the solution was to approach it differently; I needed a drop-down, fly-out menu bar along the top of the site. But I was afraid to tackle the task because tangling with the lack of support materials for Movable Type has been problematic in the past. (see the related categories at the bottom of this post.)
But I spent a bit of time with this post: “Creating Drop-Down Navigation with Movable Type” and worked it out. I knew I didn’t want to use the MooTools solution he offered, so I adapted his work and integrated it with this “Simple jQuery Dropdowns” solution, because I knew I want to use jQuery for some other rich behaviors on the site in the future.
Now the categories make more sense because you can see sub-topics and sub-sub topics. And it’s all neatly folded up along the top of the site. I had some testing problems in IE7 – dunno if I cleared them up completely yet or not. I may need to do some fixing there still.
Because it’s cleaner and neater, I didn’t mind adding some categories that I needed; stuff I’ve been writing/posting links about like feminist issues and photography, and yes, your favorite and mine — knitting. I still need to step back through old blog posts and move them to the appropriate categories, but going forward, things will land in their own spots.
And the change in categories helps me re-think and get excited about things that I used to write about that have fallen by the wayside.
The removal of that long category list down the side means I had a lot more room in the sidebar and you can see items there much better. Many of the pages aren’t as long now, and all of them can breathe more. I rearranged my ads a bit because those help pay for the site.
So I’m feeling fresh and clean and exciting, like a feminine hygiene ad. I may go walk on the beach. While knitting. And then I’ll tell you all about it.
From the episode of friends “The One with Frank Jr.” (season 3, episode 5) in which the gang all consider what five celebrities would be on their “freebie list”–people they can sleep with without anyone getting upset… my list:
Tina Fey
Mary-Louise Parker
Anne Hathaway
Kate Winslet
Felicia Day
alternate: Susan Sarandon
POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 4 (two tacos)
Preparation Time: 12 min
Cooking Time: 13 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; heat over a medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add beef; cook until browned, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 5 to 6 minutes Add cumin, coriander, salt and diced tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is almost absorbed, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Place tortillas on a flat surface. Top each with about 1/4 cup beef, 1/4 cup lettuce, 1 tablespoon cheese and 2 teaspoons salsa. Fold tortilla in half, repeat with remaining ingredients and serve. Yields 2 tacos per serving.
*To toast tortillas, coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place tortillas on top and coat with cooking spray. Heat in a 300°F oven until slightly crisp but not too crisp that they break when folded.