Weekend Update

So, what's been happening in California?  You sort of know what I've been up to lately.  I got an epic three hour haircut. 

 We celebrated Valerie's birthday at a Chinese restaurant in Columbia.  I don't think I've sewn much since I got home from our visit, but I have been knitting, or more important, finishing up some knitting projects.  I think putting the finishing touches on MG's sweater was a good influence.  There's this sweater for me.

 This picture is from just before I put in water to block, and it looks even better now.  My bathroom mirror doesn't really though.  I've even worn it to work, though it doesn't have buttons yet.

 This is a peek at a gift shawl being blocked.  I actually have finished photos of this, but they're all on my camera and haven't been downloaded.

 And finally, a hat for me to replace the one I lost last year.  This is soo soft, knit from Blue Sky Alpaca Suri Merino, which must be from the fleece of a golden angel or something, it is so soft.  I was also running out of yarn so I did crazy steep decreases the last few rows.  So it's still slouchy, and I think it looks ok, but it isn't supposed to look quite so ruffly.

I also put together my new post-earthquake white Ikea Hemnes bookcase.

I'm liking it.  And the empty spaces and now mostly full.

On Saturday I went to the Scottie book discussion at Valerie's house.  We read the same book that the first years read, a collection of stories called How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer.  It made for interesting discussion, but I wouldn't recommend it to you, since the stories all involved child death/endangerment and/or mothers dead or dying.  It was a tough book to read.  But Valerie made yummy food and I got to hang out for a little while afterward and play with this cutie.

Please excuse my many chins and focus on the happy guy.  It's hard to juggle the phone and the baby and not look totally crazy. 

So to balance Saturday's relative craziness (book discussion, eyebrow appointment, errands at Target and JoAnn [where I have to return things in part because of cashier error :( ]) I did not much on Sunday.  At least I didn't really leave my house.  I finished a Christmas ornament I had started before the trip, cut out pieces for a quilt I'm making as an online class/quilt along, and did some cross stitch.  I watched a movie - It's Complicated, which was funny, but also sad.  I did not read the book club book I should be reading because it's due on Tuesday.  It's called Wench and it's about a group female slaves who are their masters' mistresses and have to decide while on vacation in the free North whether to escape and leave their children behind.  Heavy stuff, and I'm still recovering from the Scottie book choice.

I also cooked!  I made the Chicken Stew with Biscuits from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style.

 It was good, though it made a ton, considering this is half of the recipe.  I had a bunch of extra biscuits and I stuck those in the freezer. It was super delicious.  I ate a lot of it out of the pot, although I think I liked it better before I added the peas and pearl onions. 

And here is a random picture of the sky the other night.  This was around sunset, and it must have been reflected or something, because that's the east.