Yesterday was a great day! Not only was it my birthday, but America gave me a REALLY great gift! We watched the inauguration with our daughter (a first grader), our son (pre-K) was completely not interested in the proceedings.

We made a cake on the 19th, the Chocolate Cake from the Snoop Dogg cookbook. I decided to make a 9×13 single layer cake, since I didn’t want icing. We made some slightly sweetened whipped cream to go on top. It was awesome! My spouse got me awesome gifts! My gift card to Sephora, a necklace (emblazoned with my nickname from my besties), and a portable light box! Which was a complete surprise! I tried to rig something together from poster board and portable lights, but it was not as successful as I would have hoped.

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I also received my first trophy this week! I really have awesome friends. I love her, she reminds me that I am killin’ it on the daily (even if I feel like an imposter some days).

I finished my daughter’s sweater dress yesterday!! She tried it on, but I haven’t got a picture yet. I have a few more lines to add to the pattern, and I’m going to put it out in one size (the size I knit) for free. The notes will have how to make it a regular sweater length (requires less yarn!). I also tacked the neckline down because she said it came up too high. The ruffled bottom edge has a rolled edge. This would look really good in a solid or a planned stripe- not everyone has the aesthetic of my little one.

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Yesterday I also started the waste yarn tubular cast-on for the Merry Unbirthday Hat videos. I shot the videos for the pick-up and the cuts this morning before the kids got up. I finished them literally a minute before their alarms went off! What timing. They are impossibly loud, who knew that little kids were such a distracting cacophony of sound?!?!?! (As I type this my son is falsetto sing-humming jingle bells in the other room, and half scream/playing with legos). I need to do some basic edits to fast-forward through the boring middle bit on the pick-ups, but other than that, I think they are ok! I am going to shoot the pattern stitch tonight after they go to bed, I hope. My video set-up is awful, and its pretty difficult to keep my hands centered in the right spot without a lot of strain. Another thing I need to work on for 2021!! Shooting a good video is more difficult than you would think. Mine are middling at best, sorry.