Valentine's Weekend

Last week I had a little extra time off than normal and when I have extra time off I try to cram as much in as possible. My plans included sewing, baking bread, making deep dish pizza, making yogurt, and knitting a Valentine's Day toy for Marley. I did get Marley's Valentine's Day toy finished, and it is based on Kate from Knitty. I will try and find it and get a picture to show off, but unfortunately Marley's Kate is already lost. I left off the ears because I was not happy with my ability to attach them, and I left off the legs because of a time constraint. Valentine's Day morning after Marley found her next to her bed with a box of Conversation Hearts I asked her if she wanted me to make legs, and she said no. Good, that's settled.

I also was able to get some sewing done. Friday morning I got the itch to make bags for everyone I know. I had about 12 people in mind, and I was very particular about what I wanted in my bag. The people in mind were knitter friends and family, so I wanted something that could hold little knitting doodads, no buttons, no snaps, and minimal seaming. I went to Jackmans' while Abe napped at home with Declan and ended up getting some really great fabric. They have Amy Butler fabric! And Kaffe Fasset! <-- this I realized after I checked out otherwise that is all I would have bought. I also got a zipper to fix a jacket I knit for Declan a while ago. Once at home I started fooling around on the sewing machine, and after a couple attempts I ended up with one bag that only a mother could love, one that I will use, and one double pointed knitting needle holder. My 12 friends will have to wait as this took way longer than expected. I used ribbon to tie up the bags, and was pretty impressed with my ability to sew the needle case in an order that eliminated seams from the pockets on the outside. I am also very happy that I bought a seam ripper, because it got a whole lot of use. So here are my two finished products!

Unfortunately there was no time for the cooking after all of the sewing and knitting, but there is always another day.

Saturday night Declan and I enjoyed a nice dinner at Trattoria Marcella. We typically don't do anything like that for Valentine's Day, but we decided that after a new baby, all of the school Declan has been chugging through, and the work both of us have been doing that a romantic dinner was a good reward. Declan wore his kilt and appropriately but on accident ordered their "Cupid's Arrow" cocktail which was pink, fizzy, and served in a champagne flute with a curlicued lemon rind. The waiter and I decided that a guy that was man enough to wear a skirt in public needed a pink cocktail. My Dad stayed at the house with Marley and Abe, and after dinner we went out for a drink with some friends and came home around midnight to find Abe wide awake and playing with my Dad. The next morning I realized that drinking more than two drinks was not a good idea especially when that includes the combo of gin, champagne, Guinness, and red wine.

Marley was pretty funny about us getting ready for dinner and she made me try on 4 dresses, and wondered why I only had black dresses. She and I also tried on every pair of nice black shoes. She made Declan put on a tie and hat for this "romantic" dinner. She wanted to make sure that everything we did oozed "romantic" and even asked after I went to bathroom before leaving if I had taken a "romantic pee".