The Sweatshop of Love Blog

1. Look at lots of yarn.

Twisted - http://twistedpdx.com/

Happy Lady!

2. Shop for records.

PT in Mississippi Records

3. Cause trouble in the Portland Children’s Museum.

Lucas and PT Disregarding the Wobble Warning

4. Drink a lot of wine and eat a lot of food at the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival.

Crunk!

PT Loves the Sushi

Look at that Hot Cowl!

5. Touch a tsunami!

Oregon Coast

Lucas, PT, and Random Dog

What Tsunami Advisory?

6. See bald eagles!

Eagles We Haven't Killed!

7. Find a new place to live.

Cape Foulweather

8. Admire very large rainbows.

Whoa!

9. Finish your Dollar and a Half Cardigan!

Dollar and a Half, Pre-Block

10. Start your March Sweater, Mrs Darcy Cardigan.

Mrs Darcy!

DinoSweater!

Seriously? Seriously. I mean, seriously?

Duplicate Stitch Dinosaur Head/Tail

SERIOUSLY!

Dino Spikes!

If there are words for how cute this sweater turned out, I don’t have them.

I’m trying not to think about how big a pain in my ass it was to make all those spikes, seam them up, knit them all together, and then seam them to that sweater.

I’m also trying not to think about how much I hate doing duplicate stitch. The dinosaur head/tale part was super annoying.

Cute! But super annoying. I really hate when things have lots of colors.

There are a ton of pieces. I had to seam together. Like seven, not counting the spikes. It sucked.

Bear/Dinosaur/Bear/Dinosaur/Bear/DINOSAUR!

But if this bear looks this cute in this sweater, then imagine how cute a real baby will look in it!

Bad Bear/Dinosaur

Especially if the baby acts up and has to go sit in the corner as a punishment! Look at the back of that sweater! That is one hot back.

So, look at me sacrifice for the love of a baby! I think this means I’m a grown up!

Rav Project Page

When we last saw DinoSweater, he was just some bottom ribbing and a couple body rows.

Real Live Normal Sweater!

Then he turned into a normal baby sweater! Complete with PU button hole and button bands. I’m seaming as I’m going because there are a ton of pieces to this sweater! If I waited to the end this sweater would languish in a pile of pieces forever.

On With The Hood!

I knit this hood separately and attached it.

Baby Sweater+Hood=CUTE!

I’m not around babies very much. My friends who have babies don’t live in Chicago. And when there is a baby around I’m not one of the first to jump up to hold it. I just figure I’d let the baby loving girls hold the babies while I just keep knitting. So the idea of something fitting into this sweater blows my mind.

Bear Sweater?!

Like, my teddy bear from when I was three fits into this sweater. Very well, actually. He looks quite dashing!

But yeah. Someone fitting into this sweater makes me nervous. It seems like it would be easily kicked or squashed, like my cats are constantly.

What Now?

This also makes me nervous. Stegosaurus spikes, why you gotta? So much seaming. So much crap! If I were to make this sweater again I would change the entire pattern.

… Yeah I said it. And I know you are all going to hold me to it. I’m ok with it.

Also! Anyone reading this living in Portland?! I’d love to meet you! If you are in the Portland area send me an email at allyson[at]thesweatshopoflove[dot]com so we can have a knitting coffee meet up this Sunday, February 28th.

I’ll be there avoiding snow, so we should get our knit on together for sure!

So I’ve had my Ravelympics plan for quite a while. Hoodie Devoted, which is just waiting for some lining, (pictures soon), and the Bella’s Mittens, which I was going to switch to be hand warmers.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, probably because I’ve got some reservations about it and am trying to focus my attention on the good as opposed to all the issues, but my little brother and his girlfriend are having a baby.

As a sister of course I want my brother to be happy, and he is, and despite his age, etc etc etc, etc. etc. etc. He and his girlfriend are really excited about having a baby, and I, of course, have to follow suit.

DinoSweater!

I’ve had this sweater in my brain since seeing it in the Holiday 2003 Family Circle Easy Knitting Magazine. That is right. For SEVEN YEARS.

I Mean, SERIOUSLY?!

Adam was huge into dinosaurs when he was little, and even if he wasn’t, this would still be one of the cutest sweaters ever!

DINOSWEATER!

I accidentally bought yarn for it yesterday. Lion Brand Wool Ease Worsted in Avocado. And it was staring at me. I put it in a bag and hid it in the closet and I could hear it yelling, ‘DINOSWEATER! DINOSWEATER!’

What’s a girl to do?

And this is seriously throwing off my Knit a Sweater a Month Challenge! I’ve still got Dollar and a Half sitting on my work table like 90% finished. So I might just make this my February sweater, finish up Dollar and a Half as a bonus sweater, then knit something else for March.

You know what? I don’t even really care. LOOK AT THAT DINOSWEATER! It’s got stegosaurus spikes down the back! Come on, now.

Hoodie Devoted!

(You ever see a picture of yourself and not really believe that is you?)

Hoodie Devoted, my first Ravelympics project, is complete! Started Friday night, finished Thursday afternoon. How is that for devotion?

Hoodie in the Sun

I’m in love. The stitch pattern was fun and interesting and the bobbles weren’t annoying. That is all you can really ask of a pattern, right? Ravelympics Project #1 Finished!

I made some serious modifications. I didn’t check my gauge, because it’s a hood, who cares?, but it was HUGE a gusset time so I changed that all up. I also changed it from being a pullover hood to being more of a cape.

Finished Hood!

Mods:

Gusset: Beg with Row 5, work even in cable pattern for 6 more row. BO all sts.

Attach Gusset to Sides: Fit gusset in to top, seam sides of hood together around gusset and down center of hood.

Rib Yoke: Not so much! PU 120 sts around bottom of hood, do not join. Starting with a RS row, work in K2, P1 to end, ending with K2. Cont in pattern for 4 rows.

Dec Rows -  Work 2 sts, dec1 st, work in pattern to 4 sts from end, dec1 st, work 2 sts.

Work Dec Row every row till ribbed section measures 5 inches. Loosely BO all stitches.

The... BACK!

I had a hell of a time figuring out what was going on with the back of this hood. There are only two pictures in the book and one of them is specifically to show the lining. The pattern calls for a gusset to be worked down from the center of the hood, and the sides to be seamed to the gusset. My hood was already HUGE, so I modified the gusset and just seamed the sides together.

It was seriously the right call to use my Caron One Pounder I had left over from a slipper project. I was worried it would be stiff and scratchy, but no part of your skin touches the yarn. My lining is this beautiful silk material I found in a remnant bin and feels like you have a seriously warm cloud wrapped around your head.

Spend money on what counts! For this project it was definitely the lining.

Pre-Lining

Of course I had to go out and buy ANOTHER pound of brown yarn because I ran out right as I was finishing the ribbed section. So I’ve got about 98% of that pound left. Again. This will be in my stash forever.