The Sweatshop of Lovers Blog

Olive Garden, or: The Worst $15 I've Ever Spent

Clever bloggers figured out that we were traveling to North Riverside last night to eat at Olive Garden, and were very confused, I’m sure. Long story short, Rachel ate a strange boy’s cake and as a reward we took her to Olive Garden. I remember Olive Garden being completely tolerable! We went there while I was in high school and had totally satisfactory meals! This was some of the worst food I’ve eaten in my life. Whats worse is that it costs PT and I $36. On the way home we tried not to think of all the things we could have bought with that money:

1. Dinner at Handlebar including appetizers and drinks.

2. Three weeks worth of groceries.

3. Nine burritos.

4. Three tickets to a Sox game.

5. Two and a half plates of this:

Germanapalooza!

PT and I recovered today by biking up to Lincoln Square for Maifest! PT at that brat, we shared the potato salad and sauerkraut. That mound of goodness next to it? That is the best pretzle we have ever eaten. We also got a huge piece of very delicious cake and a stein of bier, set to live, costumed, German music. Total cost? $17.

Suck it, Olive Garden.

Loving Frank Cram Session 2009 – I’m up to page 182! Which is halfway. With three reading days left I’m on my 60 pages a day pace to finish by Knitting Book Club Monday. I haven’t forced myself to read this much for a deadline since my Columbia days.

Remember back in 2008 when I had a beet off? I knew I was supposed to like beets but had no idea what to do with them? I put them in a salad and wanted to die. I cooked them up with onions and garlic and also wanted to die. But I just knew that beets and I would someday get along, I just couldn’t think of a way to do it on my own.

Beet Salad

Behold the Mark Bittman Beet Salad. What is amazing is that in the same picture you can see the fanciest thing PT and I have ever made. And maybe the most delicious.

With no food processor we just used a garlic press and chopped the walnuts. Without orange juice we used lemon juice. We roasted those beets, we mixed them up in the dressing, we did top it with some fresh Parmesan (AMAZING!), and served it over romaine.

Last night beets and I turned a corner. Thank goodness, because I really don’t want to live in a world where I don’t like a vegetable.

List of foods I don’t like:

Olives (including green and black, especially black)

The end.

Summer Sweater

Not only have I been making progress on Loving Frank, but I’ve been rocking out this Summer Sweater! Don’t you love the little leaves? I also love a sweater where I don’t have to worry about the sizing. It is supposed to hang! And with tonight’s impromptu car trip to the suburbs for a very special evening, I’ll be able to get even more done.

But more on that later.

First of all, I’m on page 79 of Loving Frank! I figured out that if I read 60 pages a day I’ll finish by Monday. Today I need to get to 120, so I’m well on my way. Lots of sex and shirt waist ripping makes for excellent afternoon reading.

Last night I got to thinking about the sweater I’m knitting for Sweater Club. I knew I had a half finished sweater I hated laying around here somewhere that I was planning on ripping out so I could use that yarn for the sweater. While looking for it, though, I struck gold.

Knit Picks ShineSport! Four Skeins!

I completely forgot I bought seven skeins of Knit Picks ShineSport like three years ago for a sweater, started it and seriously hated every minute of it. I have four of this Cherry and three Butter. It is the perfect yarn for the sweater! I found the light blue half finished sweater, too, but that yarn would have been a lot harder to work with. The Knit Picks is a cotton blend, which softens it up.

Can't Stop Myself

So I of course got really excited about the yarn and had to start the pattern. But I figured if I kept up with my reading I could reward myself with a tiny bit of knitting, right?

The lacy leaf pattern is really fun! I love the yarn overs and the three stitch decreases. It makes me want to knit it. (glances lovingly at the 11 rows already on the needle) It is a nice change of pace from the socks. Once you finish turning that heel its over, just ribbing for like 14 inches. (glances lovingly at her two pairs of pretty self stripped socks)

So, my next few days are pretty set. Knit through baseball, read while not knitting. I’m expecting another great series for the Tigers this weekend and it is a good thing since this pattern takes a little concentration. I don’t need to be screaming and throwing things AND trying to lace! No one deserves that.

I feel like I might ‘-apalooza’ too much. Not every post I write falls into the ‘an all out amazing party’ definition that ‘-apalooza’ brings to mind. In any case, Lots of Status Updates:

Loving Frank Status Update: Page 7. Vr Bad.

Toe Up Sock Status Update:

Vr Good

Finished them last night! …while I should have been reading but couldn’t pull my eyes/8 year old boy away from a most certain, and ultimately confirmed, Tigers loss. And now I’m not starting another project until tomorrow night’s Sweater Club. I will be starting my summer sweater in class, meaning I will be going the next 29 hours without knitting.

3.1 Pound Michigan Weight Gain Status Update:

Vr Good

PT and I threw together this cold pasta salad without ever having done it before! It turned out great. In fact, I made another one for lunch just now.

We also made some amazing corn, but I made an alarming discovery. I eat corn around, PT eats it type writer style, which I’m pretty sure means we aren’t meant to be. But I’m already down 2 Michigan pounds so I’m not worried about needing to find a non-type writer style corn eater.

High School Classmate Status Update Told Through Emails Between my Friend Susan and I:

Me: Jodi Bosch now Overweg something just friended me on facebook and is preggers with her THIRD child. She looks exactly the same. THREE. How fucked is that?

Susan: shut up. wow.  i feel so empty and unsuccessful now when i think of what might have been…. but seriously, did you think THAT girl was going to grow up to be anything besides a mom?

Me: I didn’t think she would grow up at all! She has to be the same retard we knew in high school, but now she has three kids. I was hoping she would just fall into a hole and wouldn’t be able to find her way out of it.

Susan: being 25 and a mother of three certainly sounds like falling into a hole to me.

Awake and camped out at New Wave.

My first job ever was working at The Advanced Newspapers. I started when I was 15 filing ads and doing layout and typing for editors and helping the photographers. I got paid $6 an hour for like 15 hours a week during the school year and close to full time for two summers before getting a valet parking job at the Gerald R Ford International Airport. There are only two outstanding life experiences I garnered from The Advance: 1) somehow I managed to have two boyfriends without realizing it, meaning that I cheated on First Ever Boyfriend and Second Ever Boyfriend, setting myself up for a lifetime of dating debauchery. And 2) it was always fucking COLD in that office! I had to dress like it was January every day for two summers, looking like an 85 year old woman right up until I stepped into the office, where I fit in.

I’m flash backing big time right now! In my little skirt and wife beater (for the outside world), and long sleeve t shirt and sweater (for the FROZEN New Wave world). I also accidentally have two boyfriends.

1 – PT:

PT and His BF - Pronto Pup

2) Food:

This Face... All Weekend

Am I drinking tequila with a spoon? Could I be eating some alcohol infused soup? Or a Brandy Alexander?

Regular Old Mint Oreo Blizzard

I love food. I love eating. And I did a lot of it this weekend in Michigan. It had been a few months since I’ve been home so we had to make up for lost time. Grilling, baking cakes and cookies, ice cream. Grilling. More grilling. Smores. You know the drill. It is the most American thing about me, my vegetarian love of grilling every meal in the summer months. My dad, who is about as adventurous as an 87 year old Baptist from Georgia, commented to his coworker, ‘When my daughter comes to town we eat really weird food.’ This time ‘weird’ was fish tacos. Bygones.

Me Beating the Shit Out of My Brother Adam

I hung with my bros, we went to the drive in, we played bocce ball and bean bags until our arms were sore. Mine still is, honestly. But now we are back to the daily grind. You know, afternoons spent at New Wave blogging. GRIND.

But this week grind is going to include reading all 356 tiny print pages of Loving Frank, which just came in, before Monday’s Knitting Book Club. Yikes. I finished The Hours this morning and was left feeling appropriotly depressed, which means the book was good, right? Loving Frank better be a page turner or I’m going to be unprepared for my own book club. Talk about embarassing.

I’m barely awake right now. Having just gotten done with my inbox, I don’t have the energy to do this right, but just to set it up for tomorrow, I’m a huge failure.

I set some straightforward goals for this weekend:

1) Finish my sock.

Sock, Not Finished

No. I’m close! But no cigar. Not a lot of knitting time this weekend. You just can’t knit and throw a bocce ball at the same time.

2) Finish The Hours. No. Brought it, didn’t even open it. I’ve still got 18 pages left. Pathetic, really.

3) Tigers at 25/18. Yes! Actually, they are at 25/18, though I can’t really take this as me winning. I’m reminded almost daily that I have no effect on baseball, no matter how much I try not to curse them.

4) Gain four pounds. Weight upon arrival? 135.1. Weight upon leaving? 138.2. Failure, though those 3.1 pounds are for sure rumbling in my tummy tonight. I’m glad there are only 3.1 of them to gurgle.

Full report tomorrow, when I will be in Portion-Control, No Dessert land.

Have you signed up for Sweater Club yet?

There are a few spots left in both the Thursday class and the Sunday class! Sign up for one day a week or two days a week for maximum sweater help.

Signing up for this class gets you eight weeks of classes, one or two classes a week. The goal is to finish your cute summer sweater by the end of the class. This session of Sweater Club starts next week! Thursday, May 28th and/or Sunday, May 31st. Sweater Club continues every Thursday night 7-8:30 and Sunday morning 10-11:30 until July 16th and/or July 19th. The one class per week option for eight weeks costs $75, the two classes per week option for eight weeks costs $120. Email me at allyson@thesweatshopoflove.com if you have any questions or to sign up for this class!

My Sweater!

Need examples of the knitted summer sweater? I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction. I’m very excited about the sweater I’ve picked out!

** Please note that the Cabled Change Purse Workshop has moved from Saturday Summer Classes

Pattern Reading How-To: Have you been looking at patterns and feeling like they must be written in a different language? Not sure what k2tog, skp, kfb, m1 means? This class will help you sort it all out, from the yarn type to the gauge. Learn to read and knit a chart pattern, too! Monday July 20th, 7-9pm. $20

Beginner Crochet: Want to learn to crochet? This is a great opportunity to learn the basics of crocheting! In this class we will learn to make a chain, single, half double, double, and treble crochet stitches, and how to crochet in the round. Tuesday June 23rd, 7-9pm. $25

Beginner Knitting: Did you get on this mailing list in the hopes that eventually you will have the time to learn? Sign up for this beginner knitting class and learn how to cast on, bind off, and knit and purl. Wednesday June 24th, 7-9pm. $25

Simple Knitted Shawl/Scarf: So, you learned how to knit, now what? This makes a great first project! I hate to say the word scarf this time of year, but this shawl turns into a great scarf in cool weather! A simple pattern that knits up very quickly, this shawl/scarf makes a great last minute gift, or knit a bunch for yourself in different colors! Tuesday June 30th, 7-9pm. $25

Scarf/Shawl

Simple Crocheted Shawl/Scarf: So, you learned how to crochet, now what? This makes a great first project! (see where I’m going with this?) I hate to say the word scarf this time of year, but this shawl turns into a great scarf in cool weather! A simple pattern that crochets up very quickly, this shawl/scarf makes a great last minute gift, or crochet a bunch for yourself in different colors! Wednesday July 1st, 7-9pm. $25

Group Class: Come get help starting a project, finishing a project, picking a project or learning something new! $15
Tuesday June 2nd, 7-9pm
Monday June 22nd, 7-9pm
Wednesday July 22nd, 7-9pm

Toe Up Socks

Toe-Up Socks: I’ve been knitting these like crazy the last few weeks! One ball of sock yarn makes one tall calf sock, and when you knit the sock from the top down you have to guess when to start making the heel and hope you don’t run out of yarn. With the toe-up sock you just knit until you run out of yarn! Part One is the toe, Part 2 is the heel. Tuesdays June 9th and 16th, 7-9pm. $40

World Wide Knit in Public Day! Grab your friends on Saturday, June 13th and some knitting needles and let’s show our love of knitting to all of Chicago! Sure, Sweatshoppers aren’t shy about knitting in public every day, but let’s set a good example for knitters stuck inside, ashamed of their knitting-nerdiness. We love nerdy! Let’s cross our fingers for nice weather and bring lawn chairs and blankets to Logan Boulevard, outside of New Wave Coffee at 3103 W Logan Blvd.

Little Mouse!

Cat Toy Workshop: I know this is playing into stereotypes, but crafters love cats. I’ve got two that I know I talk about way too often. Let’s just stop fighting it and knit up some adorable cat toys! For this class all you need is some scrap yarn and small double pointed needles (sized 2-4). This class includes stuffing, catnip, and even bells! Saturday June 20th, 1-4pm. $40

Knitting in the Park! Chicago’s outdoor movie festival begins July 14th and The Sweatshop of Love is going to be there! Every Tuesday evening starting July 14th and running through August 24th Grant Park plays host to a different movie. This year has got a great line-up, including Sunset Boulevard, Duck Soup, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Born Yesterday, Psycho, Young Mr Lincoln, and Tootsie. Movies start at sundown, but we plan on getting their early, with food and our knitting needles of course! Want to join us? Be sure to email me so we can coordinate.

Cabled Change Purse Workshop: Don’t know how to cable knit? Never lined anything before? Ever added a zipper to a knitted project? We are learning it all during this Saturday afternoon workshop class! Knit a small cabled purse, seam it up, line it, and add a zipper! It sounds like a lot but you will be well on your way to having this adorable little purse by the end of the class. Bring some scrap yarn and mid sized needles and I’ll take care of the rest! Sunday July 12th, 1-4pm. $40

Knitting Book Club: Our Fourth book is Loving Frank: A Novel, by Nancy Horan! We are meeting Monday, June 1st to talk about it and get some knitting done. If you are interested in joining us send me an email. Please don’t come with knitting questions as I won’t be teaching anything (so the book club can be free of course), just come to knit and chat about our book!

View From My Outside Desk

Eat your heart out, New Wave. Actually, don’t, because I will be seeing you in like 4 hours. Actually, I don’t even know what ‘eat your heart out’ means. Bygons.

I set up the card table on the porch and, as you can see, I’m enjoying a big salad, the sunshine, the fresh air, and working! Right now all I can thinking about is the Peanut Butter Cup and Mocha Almond Fudge ice cream in my freezer that wouldn’t be a temptation if I were at New Wave, but still. There isn’t a cloud in the sky. I’m rocking my outfit of choice this summer, the wife beater/skirt combo, and feeling good.

Ok I just got some ice cream.

Sock at the Sox's Game

Last night Mother Nature appologized to us about the last two games we tried to go to by handing us the nicest baseball night yet. It was so warm I got a waffel cone. My hands didn’t need to be hidden away in mittens so I turned the heel on my second sock.

Sad Boys

The Twins did not have a good night. PT’s face says it all.

(Yes, the Tigers won. I know that is what you were really concerned about.)

Despite the loss, the anti Detroit sentiment (so I wore my Tigers shirt! Whatevs), we had a great night. Anytime you can see a ballgame without getting wet/hypothermia, it is a great time.

I feel like I haven’t taught in a long time! Group class tonight, then Pattern Reading 101 tomorrow night, then we are off to Michigan for the Memorial Day weekend. My mom is texting me up a storm, my grandpa already has our Friday planned, starting off with a big breakfast at The Peppermill, followed by baking. Snickerdoodles and carrot cake, to be exact. The forecast is looking great for little Allendale; upper 60s, lower 70s and sunny through Monday, which is what we need considering we will be residing in a tent in the front yard. But, anytime you can sleep in a tent without getting wet/hypothermia, it is a great time.

That said, Allendale=dial up internet connection=no Allyson till next week. My goals for the weekend? Finish sock, finish The Hours, the Tigers at 25/18, gain 4 pounds. I can do it!

Have a great long weekend, blog friends.

In an effort to be more productive this afternoon/not be depressed, I’ve decided to get out. I don’t know what the deal is lately; I get home from work between 1:10-1:30, make some lunch, do some cooking, sit to do some work on my computer and at 3:30-4:00 I hit a wall. Why am I sitting at home? Why aren’t I a) working a real job? b) trying harder to be a real person? c) at least cleaning the bathroom? d) standing on a street corner begging for students? e) being MORE.

The funny thing is that I do a lot. I never turn the tv on in the afternoons unless there is a baseball game to watch. I’m pretty dedicated to this blog, I do a lot of writing and reading and cooking. I plan classes and write patterns. I’m not sitting watching Maury. I guess when you are kind of self employed not feeling like you do enough comes with the territory. I could always be doing more. There are always things I mean to do but still don’t get around to, even with all the time I have to do everything. I think everyone feels that way, though.

So, here I am at New Wave Coffee, where I teach most of my classes. It is good to be with people and not just with the cats (sorry Pudge and Velma). It is good to have an excuse to keep my clothes on. And it is good to have an excuse to sit at a table, at the computer, a notebook open next to me, my planner open next to me, and feel on the ball.

Busy New Wave!

Feeling pretty pretentious, though. PT let me borrow his fancy new Mac because my old lady doesn’t have wireless internet connection, so I’m sitting here with PT’s Mac, listening to my Ipod, however old and refurbished, blogging. The only thing missing is my black rimmed glasses, Threadless t-shirt, and pink leggings. My friend Nomi came in a bit ago and we are sharing a table out of necessity; I was lucky enough to snag this table just as someone was leaving. She spotted the Mac and grazed it lovingly with her hand.

“Oh is this the new one? Its so nice.”

“Oh it isn’t mine!” I was quick to point out. “It is Pat Tracy’s. He let me borrow it.”

“Wow,” she awed. “He must really like you.”

Seriously. Only 1% of all laptop owners have Macs, which I find hard to believe considering I look around New Wave and all I see are Macs. I can safely say I will never own one, I’m just not that high of a roller. I hope to always be dating a boy with one, though.

PT's Mussels

Thanks to Mark Bittman, PT and I made this amazing meal last night. Mussels and homemade linguine in spicy garlic sauce. We pretty much just made the recipe up, but if it hadn’t been for Mark, we would have just eaten out of the fridge. Mussels are only like $2.99 a pound! Who knew? This was one of the most expensive meals we have ever made, and it cost under $8 for both of us, and PT’s lunch today.

So, here I am at New Wave. I’ve emailed everyone that needs to be emailed. I’ve written this blog. Now for the real work. I’m writing a book. That is right. I’m sitting in a coffee shop, writing a book on my boyfriend’s fancy Mac. GOD. If the 15 year old Allyson could see me right now, all skinny and cool. The 15 year old Allyson, still 180 pounds and zitty, never having had a boyfriend, living in the woods of Allendale, MI, would lose her shit.

Yesterday PT and I got up early and biked downtown to check out the new modern wing at The Art Institute. It has been a LONG time coming and we were both really excited that it was finally ready for visitors!

Modern Wing Bridge

We biked down Monroe towards the Art Institute and right away we saw something we had never seen before; people were walking on the bridge over Monroe, connecting Millennium Park with The Art Institute! We parked our bikes and were immediately greeted by people from Target with chips, water bottles, and pamphlets about the new wing. Target was sponsoring the opening weekend festivities, including free admission, and the chips were a delicious snack.

First Look

We walked through the doors and into this gigantic room! It opened at 10:30, we got there at about 10:35 and this picture was taken at maybe 10:42. I think all of Chicago was as pumped as we were because the place was packed, and this is as empty as we would see it.

View From the Balcony

We worked our way through the first floor, which was where the featured exhibits were. By the time we got upstairs and to this balcony, opposite the entrance where the first inside picture was taken, it was hard to move around comfortably, there were so many people there. We didn’t mind.

We were here checking out some free art!

Not Sure Who Did This One

Mom – LOTS of Picasso.

These Sculptures Have a Great View

To say that the setting for The Modern Wing is distracting isn’t right. ‘Distracting’ has a negative connotation that I certainly don’t mean. The way that all the outer walls are all glass keeps reminding you where you are. You are between the beautiful and historic Grant Park and the biggest rooftop garden in the country, Millennium Park. Both parks are between Lake Michigan and the breathtaking Chicago skyline. Why would you want to have walls when you can see these unique landmarks and monuments all the time?

Design!

My favorite part of the Modern Wing was the Architecture and Design exhibits, naturally. I loved this display of chairs and lamps.

Spider Lamp, Big Blue Wall Cancer

I really wanted to sit on that wire chair. It can’t possibly be functional, right? And I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to give my wall blue felt cancer sometime very soon.

Terrace

While we were looking for the balcony and the bridge we were so excited about walking across, we stumbled upon this terrace that everyone was very adamant no one walk on.

We Found It!

After some serious searching we found the balcony. We think you can only get to it by walking through the coat check and into the elevator hidden around the corner, but it could just be all the people were hiding the normal entrance.

Bridge Meets Museum

When you walk out of the museum and onto the bridge you get the full scope of the Chicago skyline. This picture is looking north west back onto Monroe, where Target rolled out the red carpet to welcome everyone into the Modern Wing. Below are the South Shore and Metra train tracks.

Up Monroe

Down at the Museum

You can see the balcony at the top of the museum.

PT and I kept having those ‘holy shit, we LIVE here’ moments. If the opening was in January we would probably be less amazed, but this city is amazing from May-October. It is tolerable in November, December, and April. But it is May, yesterday was beautiful, the view of the city from the balcony and bridge was breathtaking. The new Modern Wing is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. All of these things are less than 5 miles from my house.

Millennium Park

Despite getting yelled at for:

1) PT’s bag was too big

2) No water in the museum

3) No water on the bridge (but chips are ok)

4) No flash (that was an accident!)

and awkwardly running into a boy I kinda dated for about three seconds, the Modern Wing gets two enthusiastic thumbs up.

Lake Michigan

We took a walk over to Lake Michigan and said hello to Opera, and the fishes. I tantalized PT with stories of what Lake Michigan is like on the other side, which we will be seeing next weekend!

Buckingham Fountain

We were tourists in our own city, which is good for you, once in a while. To get a chance to be a tourist in the city you live in is something not a lot of Americans get to do. PT and I took advantage of it yesterday.

Amazing Toe Up Sock!

I finished my sock during the Tigers game last night! I got to knit happy because they have been looking great this series (told you).

Next Sock

I even got started on Sock #2.

Potato Stir Fry

For lunch we had potato stir fry with broccoli, carrots, onion, and green pepper.

Avocado and Mango Chicken

To get me to not dump him after the baseball debacle this week, PT made me Avocado-Mango Chicken for dinner last night.

Taco'ed It Up

It was excellent! I told PT I could still dump him at any moment, and it is all resting on the next Tigers Twins series, but I appreciated the dinner.

I’ve just been notified that tonight’s dinner will have a clam element. PT discovered Mark Bittman’s blog this morning and might be getting carried away. He is talking home made pasta with spicy red clam sauce and muscles? This is going to be good.