The Sweatshop of Love Blog

One of my favorite things about being back in Minneapolis for the winter is that all of my cooking materials are up here. I’m back with my pots and pans, my crock pot and gigantic stock pot, my emulsion blender, my bread maker! We are all back together again, and I’ve been cooking up a storm.

Bagel Sponge!

Making my own bagels has been on my list for a long time, and after visiting my friend Katie the other week right after she made her own bagels, I was re-inspired.

Bagels Boiling!

I found this recipe on pinterest and, without reading it, started working. And, JUST LIKE WHEN YOU DON’T READ AHEAD IN A KNITTING PATTERN, after I was about 8 minutes into kneading for 30 minutes, I glanced at the recipe and noticed it was divided into two parts: day one and day two.

Soysage, Egg, and Cheese Bagel Sandwich!

The bagels turned out great. A little dense, but very good. I’ll be making more soon, since PT and I are eating like 4 a day. I’m sure as hell trying a different recipe, though! A one day recipe.

Gratuitous Cute Pudge Rodriguez Pic

A couple other fun things to mention! I was included in Lisa Shroyer’s 8 Designers to Watch in 2012 list, which blows my mind. But, let’s be honest, it’s completely true. With Holla Knits launching in a couple months, my work with WORK+SHELTER and a trip to India scheduled, and the (secret) promise of a book, 2012 is going to be my bitch.

I was also included in this week’s Best of the Web collection on Pocketchange!

Slippers off and I’m back in the kitchen! This barefoot only rule is killing me, though. It’s cold up here!

Happy new year! I wasn’t going into last week thinking I would take it off, but that is just how it happened. I was just having a lot of fun playing with babies and eating fudge. I got a nasty cold somewhere in there, too, and packed it in.

Baby Ryenn

But between my niece Ryenn here being cuddly and adorable, and playing a ton with Baby Nolan, you can’t really blame me, can you?

My New Yarn Bowl!

We’ve been talking a ton about all the gifts I’ve made for my friends and family members, so it’s about time I get to talk about all the beautiful handmade gifts I’ve received this season. Starting with this amazing yarn bowl made for me by a friend’s husband.

Button Coil Scarf

My friend Stefanie made me this beautiful coiled scarfy cowl that I have been wearing nonstop since getting it! It’s Ann Weaver’s Button Coil pattern, if you are interested.

Yarn Ball Wreath

My mom knocked it out of the park in the handmade gift department this year, making me this beautiful yarn wreath! It’s really fun and a year round decoration. I hung it up really high so the cats wouldn’t be tempted.

New Bag!

And she made me this beautiful knit bag! Aren’t the colors fantastic? I already rocked this bag at the Mall of America this weekend! She used this Lion Brand free knitting pattern, Cable Ready Bag.

Woven Place Mats

And she made these beautiful place mats! They are woven, and she said making them was a huge bitch and she is never going to do anything like it ever again. I’m lucky to be the only person with her only woven pieces!

Pom Pom Rug

And last but not least, my sister in law Emily (who just started a new blog!) made me this beautiful pom pom rug! I’m in love with it, but not as much as the cats are. It’s right next to the radiator in the bathroom, so it’s like kitty heaven.

I’m so lucky to have so many creative people in my life. Trading handmade gifts is one of the best feelings ever, and as you can see, I’ve done it a lot lately! What amazing handmade gift did you receive this season?

I’ve been pretty much constantly wearing my half fabric half crochet scarf since I finished it back in September.

Sweet Scarf!

I know that if you had one you’d love it and wear it as much as I do, so I’m having a party!

Half Fabric Half Crochet Infinity Scarf Workshop!

When: Saturday, November 12th from 12-2pm

Where: Knitting Workshop at 2115 N Damen

What You’ll Need:

• 44″ by 16″ square of fabric that is the same on both sides
• 330 – 400 yards of worsted weight yarn
• Crochet hooks, size 1 (2.35 mm), and size J (6 mm)

Knitting Workshop has been kind enough to host our event! Mary will have yarn and crochet hooks available for purchase before our workshop, and some coffee and treats. Yay!

I’ll have a hole puncher and a ton of help to offer to get you started on this fun project.

Scarf For The Win!

Please RSVP for this event by emailing me at allyson[at]thesweatshopoflove[dot]com, commenting with your email address on this post, or RSVP on the Facebook Event Page!

Excited?! Me too! I can’t wait to craft with you all on the 12th!

I hate to admit this, but by yesterday I was over Hobby Week. I finished that scrap map and I was done with my sewing machine. I didn’t want to look at fabric anymore. The thought of poking myself with another pin just was not appealing in the least.

Belt! And a Tap Pants Cameo!

But, when you say you are going to do something, you do it. And you half ass the shit out of it.

The 4 Minute Belt

Originally I got this fabric belt idea from Elegant Musing’s beltmaking tutorial, but when I looked it over again yesterday it was not making sense to me at all. And then I discovered I bought the wrong belting! They had no stiff belting at JoAnn, so I got some belting that looked more like a handle for a tote bag, so I knew it was not going to work with this tutorial.

Does the Fabric Look Familiar?!

So I cut out a 3″ wide strip of the same fabric I had out from framing my scrap map the day before, and 38″ long, about 8″ longer than my waist measurement. Because my belting was like a thick tapestry, I could sew right threw it, so I sewed down one side of my fabric, then folded the fabric around the rest of the belting and, giving it a hem while I sewed, sewed the other side of the fabric down right in the middle of the belt, as you can see.

The 4 Minute Belt!

I then sewed one end of the belt into a point. I bought some metal D rings for the closure because that sounded like the easiest way to do it, and it totally was! I just looped through the two rings and sewed the end down to the inside of the belt. I made a little fabric ring and slid it onto the belt to hold the free end of the belt down.

And voila! I made this super cute belt in like 4 minutes. Two sets of D rings came in the package so I’ll be making another belt in a different fabric soon! Just not for a couple weeks.

I’ve been working like crazy on this scrap map, so it’s a good thing I love how it turned out!

DONE!

The tutorial says that the top stitching takes the longest, but the cutting took 10x longer than the top stitching! I was prepared for sewing this thing to take forever, but I whipped through it, whereas it took probably 6-8 hours to cut out all those states, iron them to the interfacing, cut them out again, and attach them to my muslin.

With a Border!

As you can see, I added a border around the map, which I love. It really looks like a finished piece of silly art with the border!

I bought a foam poster board at Michaels, pulled out my hot glue gun and attached the map to the board that way. Then I cut out a 3″ strip of fabric and hot glued it to each side of the map. A little more hot glue attached the back of each strip to the back of the board! I had a little left over for a hanger that I, again, attached with hot glue.

The Heartland

I talked about it on Monday, but mistakes were made here. It’s hard to cut and fit all those states, so there is some overlapping, scrunching, and even a state that is just plain missing (sorry, Delaware). Somehow I managed to make Illinois and Kansas out of the same fabric without noticing until I had top stitched both to the map.

Hanging, Looking Awesome!

But, if it were perfect it would be boring, and I really can’t love it more. It’s done! I made that, I love it, and I can’t wait to see yours.