The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Wednesday night at toy class I got started on my Fitted Knits Sweater Jacket!

Lionbrand Homespun and Carron Simply Soft

It is knit yoke down! Which is interesting and something I’ve never tried before. I originally wanted to use two strands of the Homespun held together to get the fuzzy yarn look of the original yarn, but it was expensive. It is a little hole-ier than I would like it to be, so maybe I’ll knit more and decide to spring for the extra 3ish skeins of yarn. I’m going to keep going this weekend and see how it looks.

I mailed out the Valentine’s Day presents yesterday morning, of course forgetting to take a picture of Grandma’s bears. I think it is safe to post my mom’s duck!

Mommy's Duck

She doesn’t check the internet at home and that is where she is for Valentine’s weekend! I hope the packages get there tomorrow! Its cute, right?

Fried Rice

I made some fried rice for lunch this afternoon. SOMEHOW I had a lot of broccoli stalk. SOMEONE doesn’t like the stalk and I’m too crazy to throw it away. Thus, veggie fried rice with carrots, broccoli stalk, and tomato. Thanks, Lori, for the hot tip! Use cold rice! I put it in some butter and stir fry sauce and it was a great lunch. It gets me looking forward to summer when all I do is stir fry huge mixes of vegetables and eat them on my porch. Sigh.

PT and I, despite our apathy towards Valentine’s Day, have some special food on the menu for tomorrow that I will share with you soon. I don’t know how good it is going to look…(hint!)… but it will taste amazing and that is all that matters, even if you have a blog half dedicated to food.

Yay!

Done! It is slightly bigger than I would have liked, like maybe 10 stitches around too big, but other than that I’m in love.

Pretty

Not that I’m complaining, by any means, but of course I finish the sweater and it decides to be 65 degrees. But I’m going to wear it soon! It is very warm and soft and will be perfect for another two months, I’m sure.

Since finishing the sweater I’ve been working very hard on Valentines presents that I’m almost done with. I don’t want to ruin the Valentines Day surprise for anyone (PT and Mommy), I’ll save the pictures for next week. I’m also fashioning a class around what I’m making! Stay tuned.

I feel like I spent the entire weekend in the kitchen! Slaving over the crock pot making chili and curry.

Veggie Pot Pie

We knocked it out of the park with an impromptu veggie pot pie on Saturday night. I made a quick pie crust, and we threw in all the vegetables laying around in my fridge with a can of cream of celery soup. Don’t let the portion fool you! PT and I ate all but two pieces that night.

Toy Class tonight! I’ve got to print some patterns and get needles ready. I think I’m going to start knitting my Fitted Knits Sweater that I was supposed to knit for sweater class, but that I’m going to get a head start on. I love it and am excited! It has taken everything in me to get these Valentines presents done and not just tackle that sweater. Pictures to come! I ended up getting some fun yarn at Joann that I’m excited to show you.

Ok class time! And now all I want is a huge pot pie to stick my face in.

I’m really excited about Sweater Club! Starting Thursday, March 5th, every Thursday night and Sunday morning will be dedicated to sweater knitting! When you sign up for this class you get two months worth of classes – the full Sweater Club is $120, Thursday nights and Sunday mornings, the half Sweater Club is $75, one day a week.

So far three people have signed up! As added motivation for you to join us, here are their sweaters:

Brijeet's Sweater

Brijeet has chosen this cute cabled tunic-y sweater knit in a round tube, then picking up the sleves seperately.

Laura's Sweater

Laura is knitting this cute tunic sweater which also has picked up sleeves and bottom panels, with button sleeves.

Lori's Sweater

And Lori’s sweater is this beautiful patterned cardigan. She wants a hood so we are going to extend the neckline up for a big, roomy hood.

We are picking out more inexpensive yarn to use as well. Brijeet’s sweater calls for baby alpaca, for instance, and god knows she isn’t buying 14 skeins of that. Laura found a great yarn on Knitpicks.com that is less than half the price of the yarn her sweater calls for and is very close to the same blend.

My sweater for sweater club?

My Sweater

Also out of Fitted Knits (where Laura found her sweater, and one of my favorite knit pattern books), this fun cardigan just has to be mine. I’m probably going to end up starting it early, since my lace and colorwork sweater is almost finished! I’m seaming the arms today! I’m going to use Lionbrand Homespun Yarn for the fuzzy inside, I think two strands held together, and Carron Simply Soft for the contrast yarn. I’m going to take advantage of the 50 degree weather tomorrow by walking over to Joanns and picking it all up! I’m excited to get started.

I also came to a realization yesterday. I’ve been trying to eat my pasta and veggie meals out of my biggest bowl, and it just doesn’t work anymore. I put in too many vegetables. I finally gave up.

Mixing Bowl

I used my smallest mixing bowl for my lunch. Normally I think it is bad to have to eat out of a mixing bowl, but when the problem is that I can’t decide which vegetable to mix with my pasta so I chose all of them – carrot, broccoli, green pepper – not to mention black beans. Maybe I need bigger bowls? Just so I don’t have to say I eat out of a mixing bowl.

Breakfast for Dinner!

And my favorite thing, breakfast for dinner, happened last night! I mixed up some amazing veggie filled omelets – corn, tomato, green pepper, onion, and black beans – with very crispy, onion and garlicy potatos. My mommy sent me home with a dozen eggs after our Michigan trip last week, and it was about time we used some up.

So sign up for Sweater Club! I’ll help you pick out a sweater and the less-expensive version of the yarn you need and we will knit it in two months. Email me with questions!

I really can’t think of a better way to start off the new Sweatshop blog than by knitting Happy Poos.

Happy/Sad Poos!

Please note that this pattern is my knitted version of the crocheted Happy Poo Pattern by Puchitomato.

Finished Measurements: Height 3 1/4 inches, Width 2 1/4 inches

Materials: Any brown worsted weight yarn

Size 4 double pointed needles

Fiberfill

Extra yarn for face

Directions:

Be sure to stuff Happy/Sad Poo as you go!

CO 6 sts and divide evenly.

Rnd 1: Inc 1 st around, 12

Rnd 2: [K1, Inc1] around, 18

Rnd 3: [K2, Inc1] around, 24

Rnd 4: [K3, Inc1] around, 30

Rnd 5: K all sts

Rnd 6: [K4, Inc1] around, 36

Rnd 7: K all sts

Rnd 8: [K4, K2tog] around, 30

Rnd 9: K all sts

Rnd 10: [K3, K2tog] around, 24

Rnd 11: [K2, K2tog] around, 18

Rnd 12: [K1, K2tog] around, 12

Rnd 13: [K1, Inc1] around, 18

Rnd 14: [K1, Inc1] around, 24

Rnds 15-17: K all sts

Rnd 18: [K2, K2tog] around, 18

Rnd 19: K all sts

Rnd 20: [K1, K2tog] around, 12

Rnd 21: K2tog around, 6

Rnd 22: Inc 1 st around, 12

Rnd 23: [K1, Inc1] around, 18

Rnd 24: K all sts

Rnd 25: [K1, K2tog] around, 12

Rnd 26: K2tog around, 6

Rnd 27: K all sts

Finish stuffing. Cut yarn and pull through remaining sts, secure. Make up the face on the bottom poo lump with scrap yarn of embroidery thread or googly eyes or whatever!

For a girl who used to spend 8 hours in front of the computer Monday-Friday, I’ve had a rough time these past few days! I transferred domain hosting sites, I redirected my Sweatshop email, I canceled my old hosting service, I built my website, I set up a new blog, all using a Mac! A computer I have no idea how to use. Basically, I was so lost these past few days I didn’t even know enough to form intelligent questions to help me. I yelled. I cried. I swore. I scared my cats. But here I am, at the end of day three, with a working website, a working email, and a (hopefully) working blog correctly linked to my working website. Whew!

Since I quit working the 9-5 I haven’t spent this much consecutive time in front of a computer. Or, in front of two computers! PT’s Mac and my old lady. I just had a misspelling and tried to Mac-double click. That might be a sign that I need to call it a day and Hulu me some Kitchen Nightmares and work on my sweater.

Coming Along!

I’ve been working at a pretty good clip. Somewhere with the yarn overs and k2togs I messed something up, but I’m just going to go with it. I was looking at the picture in Vogue and the lacework looks nothing like the picture to begin with so it might be a pattern issue. Which is irritating.

AMAZING Colorwork!

I still can’t believe I did that. I hate changing colors and doing elaborate shit like that. It turned out so nicely! Anymore and I would have thrown it out the car window on the way back from Michigan Sunday. That is about my limit, no matter how good it looks.

And, because I can’t blog without talking about food…

Potato Stew

I crockpotted this potato stew up Monday overnight. It doesn’t look like much, but it was very good. I had some creamy potato soup in mind, though, so I will still be on the lookout for that crockpot recipe.

And, it has been long enough. Knitted Happy/Sad Poo pattern is coming right up!