The Sweatshop of Lovers Blog

All summer I’m going to feature guest bloggers talking about knitting and other crafty pursuits. Lase week Marissa Explains It All shared some handmade dress stylings, and this week I’ve got Cindy from the fit blog A Sparkle A Day talking about what knitting means to her and how she fits it into her busy life.

Cindy is a great example of a woman who makes time for what she is passionate about, and she is passionate about a TON of stuff! I feel lucky that one of those things is knitting and that through knitting we can be part of each others lives.

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My name is Cindy and I host a healthy living blog called A Sparkle A Day. One beautiful morning a little while ago, Allyson asked me if I wanted to write a little bit about knitting.

That’s like asking a Cheetah if it likes to run.

Plus I’ve never been asked to contribute to anyone else’s blog before, so I was thrilled at the offer.

I have been following Allyson here at the Sweatshop of Love, for gosh, quite a few months now, and I have to say her blog is one of my absolute favorites! Allyson’s flair and spunk makes me smile and inspires me to yarn up, on a regular basis.

If only she’d quit taunting me with her sewing…I am so jealous.

I’ve been a knitter for well over a decade but had never really progressed past scarves until a couple years ago. While even then my projects were nice, they were still very simple.  A cardigan, which was a big deal for me, and a toy rabbit for my niece, things like that.

Cindy Killed By Snake!

At the beginning of the year, I joined Allyson for her Sweater A Month Challenge; fully anticipating to duck out after one, maybe two sweaters.  I figured with my busy schedule of being a Mom with a full time job that I’d just be thrilled if I’d manage to start and finish one complete sweater in a month; or at all.  Allyson graciously let me “play along” and a beautiful thing happened; I began knitting, like crazy.  And I started reading more knitting blogs and I joined Ravelry (mariposagirl); knitting became my new full time outlet.

I have 2 children, ages 16 and 2. YIKES I know.  In my return to work full time last year I realized a few things:  I missed free time, and I needed balance.  I think that is really the premise of my blog.

A little over a year ago I also began running.

All these hats I wear, motherhood and family life, fitness, cooking, blogging and knitting are all so very important to me.  The job, I have to have.  I won’t complain about it in this economy, however it’s a 10 hour day; 11 if you count my commute.  I miss my happy faces at home, I need knitting, I need my cardio, and I love my blog.

Look Familiar?! Traverse City Tube Top!

A much respected psychologist I know once told me (as I sat in his office crying my eyes out, and knitting yet another crooked scarf, many many moons ago) that he has come to find that knitting is an amazing hobby for people. (I won’t say woman because anymore, men all over the place are clicking away, and making AMAZING garments)

Anyway, he told me that knitting is amazing to him (in regards to therapy I might add) in that it IS an addictive hobby;(Don’t I know that) but it is also meditative.

In that you may be obsessively driven to get that one last row finished before the sun comes up, or get that sweater done in 3 more days, or in my case…it’s been 4 hours and I need to put some needles in my hand, but it’s also relaxing.  It’s calming (unless you are trying to do cables or lace) ha-ha and it’s meditative.  This is good news!

There are a few tasks I absolutely need to put in my day to help me feel complete, whole, and balanced:

I need QUALITY time with my children and husband.  No TV.  No Wii. No Texting.

I need TIME outside; talking, laughing, playing, and gardening.

I need GOOD NUTRITION.  It’s vital.

I need some form of EXERCISE; from some yoga and an easy walk to a 5 mile run and even recently, circuit training.

And KNITTING; I am not saying that soon, like very soon, I won’t trade my July or August sweater in order to paint something or spin yarn (more addictive I might add), but for the moment I am “meditatively” addicted to yarn and needles.  And to date I’ve made 4 sweaters.  ME!  That still amazes me.

My favorite thing about knitting is you get hours of free, relaxing therapy, and then in the end you have an adorable garment to wear when you are done, or a gift for your sister’s kids, or your friend’s birthday.  Knitted products are cool again.  Knitting is becoming fashionable.  I love that I am a part of that revolution.

My only regret is that Allyson lives far far away from me or else I’d be at the Sweatshop of Love, clicking, sipping coffee and learning a few new techniques that would undoubtedly HELP me!

What do you love about knitting?

What are you most proud of?

Me? Cables.  I never thought I had it in me to do that!  I still stare at my FMA Sweater (that would be my February, March, April Sweater) and shake my head.  I made that!

Holla! Cabled Sweater!

Thank you for reading.

Thank you Allyson for giving me the podium for just a few minutes!  It’s nice here!

Have a great day everyone!

~~~

Thanks so much Cindy! Be sure to run and say hi to Cindy over at A Sparkle A Day!

All summer I’m going to feature guest bloggers talking about knitting and other crafty pursuits. Last week Jeanna talked about her adventures in knitting, and today I’ve got Marissa from the fun fashion blog Marissa Explains It All. Not only does she rock some sweet store-bought style, she works her own handmade pieces into her everyday wardrobe, too.

To inspire us I asked her to share a couple of her handmade dresses styled in different ways. Because once you make something you want to wear it as often as possible!

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Hey bloggers! I’m Marissa from Marissa Explains It All. I’ve been asked by Allyson do to a little guest post on The Sweatshop of Love! I was so excited when Allyson contacted me about doing a guest post on my handmade clothing that I have and how I style it. I’m newer at making my own clothing so I’m very proud of something when I first make it and try to style it as many ways as I can so I can show of my new handmade pieces!

I took two of my dresses that I’ve made (which are the easiest to make by the way, especially if there’s no sleeves!) and styled them two different ways so I can show you guys how I use the dresses with more than way.

Dress One: I made when I was still in high school close to three years ago, it was my first real piece of clothing I made on my own, and I still love it to this day. Now the dress is really summery so I wanted to show how I would wear it in the summer and in the winter. Anything you own can be styled for both seasons even though they are so different.

Handmade Dress for Summer!

Handmade Dress for Winter!

For winter I paired the dress with all black, even though the dress is a light color black makes it look more for winter. The tights help when its cold and so does the cardigan and boots. Add tights and a cardigan to your homemade pieces and it will make anything work in the cold weather!

Dress Two: I made this dress last semester at my university in my sewing class, it was a lot more of a challenge with inserting my first zipper, gathering, making straps and more! I’m in love with it but I picked a fabric that is a little more dressy. I wanted to show how to style a dressier outfit down for a more casual look.

Handmade Dress Looking Fancy!

Handmade Dress Looking Casual!

To make the dress more casual again I added a cardigan, a big purse and some switched the heels out for flats. Dressier looks always can be casual when wearing cardigans and flats it adds a more laid back look to your dressy outfit and makes it perfect for going to class or out to lunch!

I hope this helps when thinking about your next homemade piece of clothing! Go for the summer fabric or dressier fabric and remember that you can wear it all year long!

lovelove, M.

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Thanks so much for taking time out to write this post, Marissa! Please show her some love by commenting and sharing her post! And be sure to click over to Marissa Explains it All and say hi!

I had an eventful weekend:

1. My Summer Tour Ebook of Knitting Patterns got some hot press on Chicagoist!

2. Then I got hit by a car while I was riding my bike:

Upper Thigh Leg Bruise!

Holy Ouch!

Luckily I landed on the car that hit me instead of the ground, so I only ended up with this intense bruise from where my handlebars tried to catch me.

PSA: Y’all take a glance over your right shoulder BEFORE taking an abrupt right turn into the bike lane, ok?

3. I didn’t do too much moving around this weekend besides alternating hot and cold packs on my leg, so I made these:

Bow Headbands!

Six Bow Headbands! And not one is Detroit Tigers colors. I made them using left over yarn, mostly cotton scraps, from other projects.

Why did I make six bow headbands? Because…

4. I got into Renegade Craft Fair Chicago! I’ll be sharing a booth with Caitlin (yes, Caitlin’s Cardi Caitlin) who makes Sweater Toys. Cute right? I’m going to mostly be pimping the Sweatshop Knit Kits, but I might as well have some bow headbands ready, just in case.

I’m so grateful:

a) To be alive and (mostly!) well and that I have so many people around me concerned for my well being and so willing to help me when I’m in need.

b) That the ebook has been so lovingly received!

c) That I have the ability to make the most of kinda crappy situations. Any excuse to knit a lot!

d) That I’ll get to spend an entire weekend pimping my kits and hand knits with other amazing crafters doing the same.

e) That I think it’s ok to use both numbering and lettering in the same post.

So I’ve got 3 months to get ready for Renegade, pump out a fall knitting class schedule, perhaps maybe release another ebook *cough cough*, get some Summer Knit Kits out (JULY 19TH! SAVE THE DATE!). Holy hell.

All summer I’m going to feature guest bloggers talking about knitting and other crafty pursuits. Today I’ve got the hilarious and super craft adventurous Jeanna of Do What Now?, her blog about how to keep sane in a 9-5 world. I asked her, simply, What does knitting mean to you?

Check her on twitter at twitter.com/Yoj228.

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Scene: Christmas 2008 at the in-laws. Living room.  I’m on the couch facing my husband.
Married: 3 months.

Me: “Oh wow! Look at all my presents! Babe, you shouldn’t have!” as I gather up all sorts of little boxes in my arms.
Husband: *smiles*
Me: Unwrapping paper
Husband: *nervous smile*
Me: Holding up eight balls of yarn, confused. I open a box containing needles and I look at him with my head cocked slightly.
Husband: “Well, you said you wanted to learn how to knit!”

And thus began my love/hate relationship with knitting.  My husband was actually the one to get me started into this little hobby after some off handed comment I made, obviously.  I often remind him of this when he gasps, “You spent how much on yarn?”  Tsk, tsk darling.

Without fail that Christmas day, I ran upstairs to watch hundreds of You Tube video’s on how to cast on. How to knit. Purl. Knit and purl? Use circular needles? What the… By the end of the week, I’d spent more time crying and throwing things than actually producing anything that remotely resembled a garment, let alone a square.  But I didn’t give up. I believe my first project was a knitted loin cloth (which should’ve been a scarf). And two years later, I can proudly tell you that I can now read a pattern (however, that doesn’t mean I can actually knit it).

Penis Hat

For me, knitting is an escape.  A chance to reclaim a lost art.  These days, my life is full of technology (as I’m sure all of ours are).  I’m a desk jockey who’s job revolves around emails and spread sheets. Then there’s Twitter. Facebook. Blogs to keep up, celebrities to gawk at and patterns to drool over. Everything is online.  Everything can be emailed. Everyone is connected in some form or another.  What is left to be created or touched by hand anymore? So to come home, brew a cup of tea and create something with my hands, well, it’s like giving the finger to technology while screaming, “Oh yeah, I’m unplugging you.  Right now.  Yep.  Oh you don’t believe me?”  Sorry about that. That was my Mom voice talking.

I’d like to tell you I spend all my free time knitting up fabulous little keepsakes that make all my girlfriends squeal with delight.

Cute Booties!

But I don’t.  By time I leave work, sit in hellish traffic, pick up my son, get home, make out with my husband, get supper on, maybe catch the news, and take a piss, it’s already 10pm.  So when I’m in need of a mental break, I pick patterns that require me to, how should I say this politely, not pay too much attention.  This gives me the ability to knit and watch tv.  Or knit while I watch my son play drums or draw.  I knit in the car (only as a passenger, remember, I’m not that good of a knitter yet) and on little vacations. I knit on my lunch break while fielding the age old question, “How do you do that?”

When my friends found out I was knitting, the most common response was, “Ok grandma! You gonna knit me a dino sweater?”  Each smart aleck comment was met with an equally exciting quip from me.  Something like, “Well, you just got marked off the gift list for Christmas sucker” or “Of course I’ll knit you a dino sweater! Your granny said it would go great with your knitted Power Rangers cape!”  Eventually they wised up though and over these two years, I’ve been able to give away some thoughtful gifts.

There are times though, where I just can’t knit.  I can’t bring myself to do another round of K3, P1 for that damn baby blanket.  I couldn’t even muster the energy to do a couple YO for another scarf.  It’s then that I take a break.  Maybe just a day or so, something to give my brain and my wrists a break.  After all, you don’t want people to point and laugh while you’re wearing a scarf I’ve made you, do you? Of course you don’t.

Knitting for me, will always be a work in progress.  I’ll always be the one to say, “Sooo… you knit that sweater in how long? TWO DAYS?! WHAT?!” I’m that friend that will probably remain an “advanced beginner” and I’m totally cool with that.  Believe me, your patience will thank you should you ever feel the need to show me how to do the moebius cast on method.

And if you ever come across a pattern for a knitted bra, garter belt or fake beard attached to a hat, you can bet your ass I’ll be first in line to say, “Oh yeah.  I’d knit that.”

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Show Jeanna some love by tweeting her knitting story and saying hi to her on her blog. Thanks so much lady!

Whitney Harrod recently interviewed me and a couple of my students for Crafting Chicago. She put together a really fun an interesting and exciting picture slide show with sound clips running over them.

Check it out at The Sweatshop of Love: Bringing the Love to Knitting

I a) sound like a slow child, and b) say ‘really fun’ about 12,000 times.

A big thanks to Lucinda, Lori, Laura, and Diane for both looking interested in what I’m saying in class and saying fun awesome things about their projects and their time with The Sweatshop.

And thanks to Whitney for including me in her project and somehow editing out all my swears. I know that was challenging for me when I was making my vlogs about the ebook.

You know when you read someone for a while and you get an idea of how they sound in your head? Well I’m about to bust that image you have of me wide open.

Fact: I’ve got the voice of a 12 year old.

Fact: It took 5 takes for me to not swear. Though I do say ‘shake your boobs’, and ‘booblacious’.

Fact: I don’t know what I was trying to say at the end of this video. It’s like 3 sentences in 1 and it sounds like I have a speech impediment.

Fact: I don’t have a speech impediment, despite what you are about to see.

Fact: I make a joke about how $18 is not a lot of money in this video. I don’t know why! $18 is a lot of money to me! For anyone to pay me $18 for anything is a big deal to me and something I don’t take lightly. Sometimes I try to pretend I’m much more cavalier about money than I really am.

This is HUGE and I couldn’t just write it! So, without further ado, The Conquistador and I are breaking some Sweatshop news:

Cool right?

But the problem with vlogs is that you need sound to watch them. My computer at work doesn’t have speakers so when I find a video I want to see I have to save it to watch at home and it’s so annoying! So if you don’t have sound or time, here is the condensed version (still with The Conquistador):

I’m partial to the second one because, thinking that no one with sound would watch it, I left my iTunes and TweetDeck on. So you can watch the condensed version and rock out to The Walkmen, with a side of TweetDeck tweeting.

However, I do know sign language, and trying not to use it on this video was really hard. A few signs sneak in. ‘Bring you’ and ‘thank you’, being two of them. I couldn’t for the life of me think of how to say ‘pattern’! You get the idea.

So exciting right?! The ebook is going to hit your inboxes, this blog, twitter, and facebook, on June 1st! It’s chocked full of fun projects and other little tidbits and me and my 12 year old voice couldn’t be more excited about it.

Save up your pennies this week because you are going to want to be spending 1,800 of them on The Sweatshop of Love’s Summer 2010 Ebook of Knitting Patterns on June 1st. Promise!

So, I don’t know if you could tell yesterday by my rant about sewing cute dresses and sewing pattern searching, but I’m kinda over Knit and Crochet Blog Week. I love the idea of all these crafty bloggers answering the same questions across the internet, but. Well. These questions aren’t soliciting very interesting responses.

For instance, today’s question is where do you like to knit?

Where do I like to knit? Naturally everyone’s answer to this question will be, ‘EVERYWHERE! I love knitting so I love to do it whenever I get a chance! I drive peoplecrazywithmyknittingevenwhenimatthedentistlolol.

It’s just boring. And maybe it’s because I’m at work right now, inside, and it’s 80 degrees out and beautiful. But maybe it’s because that isn’t an interesting question.

So, Knit and Crochet Blog Week, it’s been fun. Kinda.

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Continues!

Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way.

I hate to look like a creeper but I have an ultra knit-crush on Julie over at Knitted Bliss. I stumbled upon her pattern for a Turkey Finger Puppet and have been reading her blog ever since.

She always picks projects that I want to knit! She likes pattern stitches, easy to wear sweaters, and earthy colors. She is an engaging writer, she takes lots of fun pictures of her projects, and she is just so darn cute! And I have revisited so many great projects that I originally overlooked because of her Modification Monday posts.

So, Julie, thanks for writing your fun blog! And be sure to zip over and check out Knitted Bliss. It’s well worth adding to your reader.

Knit and Crochet Blog Week continues with a question about patterns:

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

Here at The Sweatshop of Love there is no such thing as a pattern that cannot be knit. We take a tough love approach to people saying they can’t knit something. And by tough love I mean slapping and yelling have been used. But it always gets knit!

Y’all are better knitters for it, right?!

That being said, no, there isn’t a pattern that I’m waiting for the skills to knit. I always say learn by doing. I’m not a swatcher. I don’t practice skills before starting a project. I just jump in and hope it works out! And that is how I teach.

#05 Fair Isle Cardigan Vogue Knitting Magazing

There is, however, this sweater. I possess the skills necessary to knit this cardigan. I do not possess the patience. Color-work makes me nuts. That intense color-work would drive me to my grave. It’s LACE WEIGHT, for god’s sake, and size 3 needles.

There is a reason that of the 19 active projects on it’s ravelry project page not one person finished the pattern as written.

So while I don’t aspire to knitting this project, I can’t get it out of my brain. We even brought it up in class this weekend again as a project that would drive someone to alcoholism. And I’m just too young to be a knitting-induced alcoholic.

I’m loving all the posts I’ve been reading so far for Knit and Crochet Blog Week. The idea is for all the knitters and crocheters out there with blogs to answer the same questions for a week. Fun, right? I’m learning so much already about the bloggers I read.

So, naturally, I want to participate, too!

DAY ONE:  How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting?

I learned my senior year of high school. My English (and everything else cool, like drama and humanities) teacher, Mrs Reniche, taught knitting on the side and knit and designed these amazing intarsia sweaters that she sold for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. My friend Theresa and I thought it was the coolest thing ever and the three of us got together after school and Mrs Reniche taught us to knit. Every week more and more people came, and we had the best time hiding in Mrs Reniche’s room, talking and knitting. And I haven’t stopped since!

Most people assume that it’s your mom or grandmother that teach you to knit, but I actually taught my mom to knit, and every time my grandma sees me knitting she says, ‘Allyson, you are going to give yourself arthritis.’

I started teaching knitting four years ago when I was graduating from college and I love every second I get to spend knitting, with knitters, and talking about knitting. And, luckily for me, that is pretty often!