Knittin' & Cookin'

The Mermaid Shawl & other Beauties:
Shawls, Cocoons and Wraps 
by Kathleen Valentine
Why do what has already been done? More than a book of patterns, The Mermaid Shawl & other Beauties, is designed to help knitters create their own works of knitted lace art. The featured shawl was introduced in 2005 on this blog and subsequently described in a knit-along but throughout the knit-along Valentine encouraged knitters to make different choices to make their shawl unique to them. Now, using the same principles, she offers techniques, diagrams, charts and tips that offer knitters the opportunity to make choices and decisions that will make each shawl their own unique creation. The book contains instruction for three versatile shawl styles, how to turn a rectangular shawl into a cocoon, a chapter on knitting on the bias, and an original short-story, The Mermaid Shawl*, inspired by the featured shawl.


NOW AVAILABLE!!!
From AMAZON     |     From BARNES & NOBLE
Worth every cent, In my opinion. This is one I will read and re-read. - MMario on Knitter's Review.

I just purchased and downloaded your e-book. How fabulous it is!!! The download was easy and zippy fast. - kknitterkc on Ravelry

OR AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT FOR INSTANT DOWNLOAD! $14
 
Note: As soon as you complete your purchase your screen should be redirected to the download site. If you wait more than 2 minutes and do not see the PDF file (7.5MB) please email me and I will send you the link for downloading. Please be advised that some email programs have been filtering out the redirection, AOL especially may do this. If you are not redirected, email and I will send the link.


Just got my hands on your e-book "Mermaid Shawls", and am absolutely delighted! Thanks for all the tips, suggestions ~ and heart ~ that are in the book. It is wonderful!
- KathyO in Ferndale, WA
I just bought your book, after looking at the inside. It is just what I have been looking for, Your illustrations and  commentary have eased my fear of starting a shawl.
- Margaret in Canada

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Whether you are ready to work with silk or not the projects in this booklet can create beautiful bags that any knitter would be proud to make and share. The three bags are the Entrelac Silk Bag which teaches the techniques of entrelac, a form of modular knitting, the Recycled Silk Bag, a simple design (just knit and purl) made sophisticated by using recycled Tibetan yarn, and the Gold Basketweave Bag, knit in a pattern ideal for experienced beginners from the popular banana silk.


Kathleen Valentine, author of the popular book on lace knitting, "The Mermaid Shawl & other beauties", provides complete instructions, charts, photographs. Plus there is a section on the different types of silk yarns available, working with them, and advancing to additional projects using entrelac.



This is Part 2 in Kathleen Valentine's Knit Your Tail Off instruction booklets. Part 1 is the Pooling-On-Purpose Project, also available for Kindle.


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Knitters who love working with hand-painted yarn will welcome the projects in this booklet. Instead of avoiding pooling (colors "pooling" into one area on a garment), Kathleen Valentine, author of The Mermaid Shawl & other beauties: Shawls, Cocoons & Wraps teaches techniques for forcing colors to pool. This booklet contains instructions on how to work with the yarn and three projects knit in stockinette stitch (knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side): a simple wrap, a ruana-style shawl,and a kimono.

This is an ideal project for knitters who aren't ready for complicated stitches or shaping (all the projects are composed of straight strips) but who want to create something with a sophisticated look.


This booklet is the first project in Kathleen Valentine's Knit Your Tail Off series. Part 2 is Sumptuous Silk Bags: Learn Entrelac and More, also available for Kindle.
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The new expanded and redesigned edition of
Fry Bacon. Add Onions: 
The Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook:
five generations of good eating
  • Paperback: 178 pages
  • ISBN-10: 0978594045
  • ISBN-13: 978-097859404
In this combination memoir and family cookbook blogger and novelist Kathleen Valentine combines 30 posts from her blog with nearly 400 recipes collected from family and friends. Growing up in a "mostly Pennsylvania Dutch" family she collected and recorded recipes from grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, cousins, friends, etc. which were combined in the first Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook published in 1981. This was expanded in the 1992 edition and now, in this third edition, nearly 400 recipes combine with essays recording memories of growing up in rural Pennsylvania and photographs from six generations. 

Essays topics include making sauerkraut and soltz (sultz) (a German pickled meat loaf), toasting marshmallows and catching fireflies, the old-country Christmas traditions of making stollen and visits from Belsnickle, old world ghost stories, their grandmother's quilts, and more. 



Traditional family recipes include schmarn, panhaas, moultasha, a variety of sausage recipes, hassenpfeffer, and liver dumplings, a wide variety of pickles and relishes, as well as keuchels (a type of fried dough), apple dumplings, and rhubarb crisps and pies. Contemporary recipes from the younger generations of the Valentine family expand the collection with everything from dips and cocktails to chowders, cakes and cookies. Among the more popular recipes first featured on Valentine's blog are:

  • three maple syrup pies
  • apricot-apple crisp with maple cream
  • caramel peachy-pear pandowdy
  • honey & white peach pie
  • Pennsylvania Dutch hot and sour soup

Though this collection is a memoir in food of the Valentine family it could be the story of any first, second and third generation immigrant family.












__________What People Are Saying:_______

Comfort food at its best, March 22, 2010
By 
watchful critic (Boston) 
I just got the best present, a charming little cookbook, "Fry Bacon. Add Onions The Valentine Family and Friends Cookbook." A recent introduction by an independent publisher in Massachusetts, my copy came from my cousin who heard about it from another cousin, who had borrowed it from a friend. The attached note said: "This
reminds me so much of our family."

"Fry Bacon. Add Onions", the title alone alerted my saliva glands. I flipped the pages, pausing on almost every one to study the photos of the author's family (stretching back six generations) and to inhale the domestic lore associated with short, simple, mouthwatering recipes. The theme is largely Pennsylvania Dutch, such as the Potato Pancakes, three kinds of cabbage rolls and corn chowders, apple dumplings, mincemeat tarts and an assortment
of homemade pickles and relishes that were once the pride of every cook. There are some sophisticated surprises too; to wit, Whiskey Fudge Cake, Matt's Bourbon Slush, Sinful Orange Zest Brownies.

This deeply personal yet universal work of love could represent the culinary history of any American family whose interactions were framed by a tradition of delicious, wholesome food. We should all be so lucky as to have an Aunt Kathleen in the family to preserve our precious moments in snapshots and recipes for the generations to come. 

WHAT A NEAT COOKBOOK!, April 16, 2010
By 
Sunshine (Boston, MA) -
I took this book to bed to read the charming commentaries that introduce the recipes. Each little vignette adds so much to our knowledge of the Pennsylvania Dutch culinary traditions that by now how become part of the fascinating crazy of "American cooking." The recipes I've tried have been delicious. I highly recommend this book to cooks who want to expand their repertoire of basic, homey, do-again-and again dishes.

Family History, March 24, 2010
By Bonita L. Heindl (St. Marys, Pa United States)  Amazon Verified Purchase - Ijust received my cookbook and it was wonderful!!! To not only see all the recipes that were forgotten over the years but to step back in time to remember days gone by of family were precious to me. Wonderful old time German and Pa. Dutch recipes. - Bonnie H. St. Marys Pa.

A Heartwarming Family History, March 17, 2010
By 
V. Reider Stabile (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)  (Kindle Edition)
Kathleen Valentine has produced a very special personal family history evolving through the recipes of German immigrants to St. Mary's, Pennsylvania, USA. Her touching photographs and colorful, poignant memories guide the reader through the decades in the Valentine family's saga. Her love of family, food and tradition comes right through the pages.

This reminded me of a German/Pennsylvania Dutch version of "Moonstruck."
I loved the book and highly recommend it!

_______from Good Reads_____
Ruth rated it 5 of 5 stars
Got this as my free copy for First Reads and it is a lot of fun. The first thing I did was make the one called Lisa's Mile-High Brownie Pie and it was delicious! I also made the Whiskey Fudge Cake which is decadent beyond belief. I haven't tried any of the Dutch recipes yet but the desserts are winners so far.



There are lots of family stories in the book which are fun to read. Some people complain about not knowing the people but why on earth would anyone buy a family memoir if they didn't want to read about other people? Just dumb.



This is an entertaining book and, so far, the recipes are terrific.


Nicholas Reardon rated it 5 of 5 stars

A very nice book which is a cross between history book and cook book 


Well produced and very useful, would be able to say more about it but my wife has taken it off me and it will vanish off to her cookbook shelf hopefully coming down regularly to test out the ideas.


Steph Elias rated it 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. From the stories, to the fantastic recipes, to the pictures, it was an all around pleasure to read. I look forward to more books from this author.






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