The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Yesterday I admitted that I knit for around 19 hours this weekend. Freakish? Yes. But I have a lot to show for myself.

Dawson Sweater, Pudge Rodriguez

Including a hell of an amazing start on PT’s Christmas present, the Dawson Sweater.

Dawson Sweater

This is the first pattern that I’ve purchased as a Knit Picks download and I love how they do it. You buy it and it goes right into your Knit Picks library. You download it to print and just keep it in your library for safe keeping.

The yarn I chose is the Knit Picks Merino Style in Fedora, which I’ve used before for my Two Boyfriends Cardigan and really loved. The sweater calls for 16 skeins of Capra Cashmere, but, at $6.49 a skein, as opposed to $2.99 a skein for the Merino Style, it was a little too rich for my blood.

About 9" of Sweater Body

The pattern is written so that you knit the back and the front separately, but you know that is not how I roll. I cast on the back and the front, eliminating extra seaming stitches from each side, and it’s working out great! I’ve got about 9″ finished, and 6″ more before I separate for the armholes.

This stitch pattern is keeping things interesting and I’m liking how the twist is looking. This sweater is going to be a TON of work, though! DK weight yarn and size 6 needles? It’s a good thing I like PT.

Keep track of my updates on Rav: PT’s Creek

Another weekend survived with no computer, so another weekend of constant knitting. And when I say constant I mean constant. You are looking at around 8 hours on Saturday and probably 11 hours on Sunday.

I actually had to stop knitting Sunday night because the back of my left hand started hurting. Now THAT is some knitting.

Baby Snow Suit!

Last week I started this baby snow suit for Baby Nolan’s Christmas present, and this weekend I finished the knitting of it. And, holy hell, is it freaking cute or what?!

Ready for Cold Weather!

So I started with the regular Baby Sweater Buffet pattern and added pants! I’m working on the pattern right now and once I get my computer back I’ll type it up and make it available.

Tonight I’m going to block it, add buttons and weave in ends and then that will be ONE PRESENT DOWN!

Pattern: Baby Sweater Buffet (plus pants!)

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease in Gray and Blue, around 425 yards

Needles: Size 9 circulars and DPNs

Rav Pattern Page

I mailed off my computer to be fixed yesterday after, of course, some complications. And while I wait for Dell to tell me that they have to wipe everything off my computer to fix it (I know it’s coming, and of course I don’t have anything backed up), I’m dealing with being computer-less by knitting a TON and getting as much computer work in while I’m at my part time job as I can. Including writing this post, but excluding all of these things:

The Top 6 Things I’m Missing While My Computer is Broken

(in order of importance)

1. Baseball

Yes, the Tigers are out of it, but I still love to watch them. I’ve got the MLB.TV package where I can watch all the games, and I love it, and I miss my team. And I’ve gotten to the point where I want the Minnesota Twins to win the World Series, so I’ve got to start studying up and getting ready for the playoffs.

2. Fantasy Football Stat Tracker

So. I’m way into fantasy football. I like to stare at my team and my opponent’s team and get live point updates so I know who to scream at and which channel to watch to get more live coverage of the games involving the players I need to step it up/crash and burn. I’ve got it on my phone but it doesn’t live update. I HAVE TO CLICK REFRESH EVERY 30 SECONDS!

3. Video Chatting with PT

With PT still in NYC we like to have video chat dinner dates, and be on video chat while we watch football so it’s like we are watching it together. It’s kinda adorable. And I miss it. Though I miss it less than I miss baseball and my fantasy football stat tracker. PT is fine with the balance he has struck. Kinda.

4. Hulu

ALL of my shows are starting back up, ok? It’s hard to know there are new episodes of Hell’s Kitchen, The Biggest Loser, Project Runway, The Office, 30 Rock, and Amazing Race (and those are just the not-so-embarrassing ones) out there in the world that are unavailable to me.

5. Feeling Organized

I’ve got a googledoc file for everything. To do lists for everything from things I need to do today to things I need to do for the DIY Trunk Show that isn’t until November. Lists of blog ideas and pattern ideas and newsletters to update and all this little stuff I have access to all day every day because when I think of something to add to one of those lists I just pop open the file and write it down.

Now I’m carrying around a notebook with lists of lists and then bullet points for each list. It looks insane. It makes me think my system that works must be insane because it just does not work on paper. And it makes me feel insane, and that it’s not good enough that I’m writing things down on paper because what if I lose the paper? I still have to remember all the things I’m writing down just in case the paper blows away or gets eaten by a dog.

6. Feeling Connected

I cannot keep up with facebook, I cannot keep up with my reader, and I cannot keep up with twitter. I miss my blogs and my girlz on twitter. I’ve found that I can do without facebook (if not for my Sweatshop facebook page and the facebook group for my fantasy football league I would probably take this time to just delete it, but, alas, I’m networking, just ignoring other people).

But I’ve constantly got the feeling that I’m missing everything important that is happening in the world.

Honestly, it’s a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I got a HUGE box of yarn in the mail this week that I’m excited about knitting up into holiday presents, so I’ve got things to do that make me feel like I’m still being productive.

Would I like to be working on patterns that I want to release soon? Absolutely. Will this probably delay their release? Absolutely. But I’m alive. I’ve got two legs and two arms and everyone I love is safe and happy and healthy. So can I deal with refreshing my fantasy football stats every 30 seconds for 12 hours on Sunday?

Yes. Yes I can.

Last year I had a big dilemma about blogging my knitted holiday presents. This is a knitting blog and, if I’m good, I will only be knitting holiday presents from here on out. So if I can’t blog about the presents I’m knitting then what will I blog about?

So just to review, I decided that the title of these updates will be, ‘Christmas Present Update: ______’, and then the name of the person who’s present is blogged about in that post. That way it is up to you! You want to know what I’m knitting you? Read it. You want it to be a surprise? Don’t read it.

I would, of course, prefer that all my presents be surprises for everyone, but if you’ve got to look you’ve got to look. I’m a curious lady myself.

Baby Sweater Buffet SNOW SUIT!

First up here is Baby Nolan, my nephew, who I know is not reading this post since he is like 3 months old. His mom, on the other hand, surely is. That girl hates surprises. (Hi Emily!)

Since my computer was dead this weekend I got a lot of knitting done, including a start on Nolan’s present. Baby Sweater Buffet is going to get an upgrade! I’m adding PANTS to the pattern as a pattern add-on so give me a few weeks (or days, depending on how long my computer is out) and I’ll be sending the option out to everyone who bought the pattern.

And these are going to be cute! I’m using Lion Brand Wool Ease so it’s easy to wash, in gray and blue, so he is always looking classy.

So, the first holiday presents are well on their way, though checking through the blog archives I started on September 3rd last year and have many more big projects on the docket this year.

Have you started your holiday knitting yet? Should I be worried that I’m starting 3 weeks later this year?!

Friday night I’m minding my own business, partying really hard like my usual Friday night, and I come home and my computer is totally broken!

…

Ok, so I’m home Friday night working and watching baseball when I get the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, and my computer shuts down. I try to start it back up again and it starts beeping like crazy and I freaking out! I call Dell and the woman is telling me that the processor is dead and I have to send it in and, ‘wait, let me check your warranty… oh! You are good. It expires in three days.’

Can you believe that?

And I finally upgraded my phone to a Blackberry on Tuesday. Tuesday! Three days before my computer dies, and my computer dies three days before the warranty expires.

Knitting Weekend

So I tried not to be bummed and took a knitting weekend! I went to JoAnn and took advantage of some killer yarn sales they are having now and started working on Holiday presents like whoa.

Lemons into lemonade? Not really. I had a ton of stuff on my to do list, including a lot of necessary pattern writing and blog writing and class planning, all requiring my computer, and it took me a good 24 hours to not be just irrationally angry. But! All my knitting had to get done, too.

So things might be a little quiet around here until I get my computer back, since I lack the skills to fix it myself and, therefore, the sight of it fills me with irrational rage. IRRATIONAL RAGE! Like fantasy football.

But I’ll leave fantasy football rage for another day.