The Sweatshop of Love Blog

So now that it’s after Christmas and all of my handmade gifts have been gifted, I can show them off in all of their glory right here!

Batman and Friends, framed and… boring!

I showed off my nephew Baby Nolan’s cross stitched batman and friends wall hanging a few weeks ago, when I had finished the cross stitching. I didn’t get a frame for it until just before Christmas, and it was severely lacking. Not at all fun, right?

Better!

So I got out my glue gun and some quilt binding that I had laying around, and built a border. It adds so much, right? Now it really looks like it belongs in a kid’s room. And Nolan loved it! As much as a 2 1/2 year old baby can love cross stitch, anyway. Win!

Now that the holidays are over I can show you even more holiday FOs I finished for friends and family! Starting with this ridiculous monstrosity.

Orangutan!

I had a really normal present picked out for my mom for Christmas, but then she threw down a challenge! Could I top Nestor the Long Eared Donkey from last year? Turns out that no, I couldn’t, but I went down swinging with this gigantic orangutan.

Quite a Dignified Profile!

I used Red Heart Boutique Fur Sure yarn (yes, that is the real name) and I can’t imagine why you’d ever use that yarn for anything other than knitting animals. It’s super chunky and fuzzy as hell. The finished monkey looks like it was sewn together! No stitches are visible. I used size 6 needles and it was a struggle the entire time.

I had a hard time with the yarn substitution and have no idea what the finished orangutan is suppose to look like! The pattern, My Pet Orangutan, called for Ice Yarns Eyelash, which of course I couldn’t find anywhere. I figured I’d sub Fun Fur for it, but that looked much too thin in the store. A lot of my pieces, particularly the head, just did not match up with the rest of the pattern pieces, which I’m sure is the fault of my yarn substitute mistakes. I even had to email the designer to ask how things fit together because I couldn’t figure it out! But I made it happen.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Orangutan

His legs are also very short because when I saw I was going to run out of yarn for the second time, I said forget it and worked with what I had. The yardage requirement was meant with 3 skeins of the Fur Sure. I quickly noticed I’d need more and picked up 2 extra. I’m pretty sure I would have needed ANOTHER 2 had I followed the pattern exactly! That is just how far my gauge was off on this thing.

But it all worked out! He was a huge hit with my mom and I’m sure is currently keeping company with Nestor.

PS – Christine Grant, the designer, has a ton of other amazing toy patterns! A white elephant, a super realistic panda, chicken, and even a triceratops!

Pattern: My Pet Orangutan by Christine Grant

Yarn: Red Heart Boutique Fur Sure in Camel and Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Whisker

Needles: Size 6 straights, size 3 straights

Ravelry Project Page

Yesterday was my last day in Chicago for quite a while. Today I’m off to Michigan for the holiday, then next week I pack all the rest of my Chicago belongings up and bring them to Minneapolis. I’ve got a friend subletting my Chicago apartment, and I won’t be back until May.

Tiny Knit Nativity

So yesterday I blew it out. A four hour boozy lunch with my most loved coworkers rolled into an evening of tiny knitting with a few of my best knitting friends. We fashioned this nativity featuring chicken baby Jesus complete with his first meal (hot dog), gnome Joseph and Mary, a lion serving as security, and an exit strategy (plane!)

A Few Angels

My contributions were these three angels, Teeny Tiny Mochimochi Angels, I knit a few days ago. I brought them to show off because they turned out so adorable! I’m so glad I did because they added greatly to our nativity scene.

Gnome!

And while we were hanging out last night I knit up this gnome. It’s really fun knitting these with an appreciative audience, because any tiny finished part of each object gets a huge delighted squeal! It really is the only way to knit.

Blasphemy? Nah

Yesterday was an amazing way to say goodbye to Chicago, all the things I love about this city, and the people I love here. So it’s time to start embracing another winter in Minneapolis! It’s just as well I have no plans to leave the house between January and April because I’ve got so many amazing projects on the horizon. But more about that later.

In the mean time, happy holidays! Sneak in some knitting between gigantic meals and parties!

Pattern: Teeny Tiny Mochimochi Angels and Tiny Things Collection 3 by Anna Hrachovec

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette

Needles: Size 2 DPNs

Angels Ravelry Project Page ~ Gnome Ravelry Project Page

Every single gift I’m giving this season is handmade. 100%. If I didn’t make it with my own two hands, I bought it from someone who did.

My Knit Gifts

I knit 15 gifts this year. I started in July! I worked in other knitting along the way and I’m taking a break from putting the finishing touches on a few things to write this post, 3 days before Christmas. There is stuff in that pic I haven’t written here about yet because I want them to be a surprise! So yeah. I’ve been a really busy knitter.

I’m lucky to have a lot of people in my life who appreciate handmade gifts. And I’m pretty good at finding patterns for ridiculous things that are joke gifts, which helps!

Soldier Field L Sign by CitizenShay

I’ve also got people on my list that don’t appreciate hand knits as much as others, so in those cases I’ve found other people to fill in the gap. I got this print of a Chicago L sign for Soldier Field for my dad, because while he is a Lions fan, he comes to Soldier Field every year for a Lions Bears game, and Chicago is awesome, so this printed canvas is a fun reminder of that. CitizenShay has lots of fun Chicago L signs and are worth checking out!

Octophant Print

I thought my brother Matthew would like this print from Octophant, who does a lot of crazy interesting prints and illustrations. My brother is really into history and music, and the medieval feel of this gig poster I thought fit the bill.

So there you have it! I’m 100% handmade for the holidays. There is always room for improvement, of course. I bought my holiday cards and never got to the mitten gift tags I wanted to make. Next year I’ll be even MORE hand made. Because that is just how we roll.

You know that project you have laying around for ages and keep telling yourself you’ll get to and then forget about until you wake up in a cold sweat after having a nightmare about it?

… no? Wait, that’s weird?

Hot Stripes Dish Towels and Dishcloths

According to my ravelry page, I cast these on in September. Back then Christmas knitting was something I could ease into, and I knew two special ladies that would love a set of my Hot Stripes Kitchen Towels. In a million years, because Christmas was a million years away, and I had a lot of other things to work on in the mean time.

One Hanging Towel, Two Dishcloths Each

Then about a week ago I was looking at my holiday knitting list, thinking I was doing pretty well, and saw this WIP. WHERE?! WHAT?! HOW?! I dug a finished hanging towel and half a dishcloth out of the bottom of a knitting bag I hadn’t looked at in 2 months and went into Hulk-smash mode to finish the rest.

Ready to Wrap!

These are really fun to knit, if I do say so myself. I used all the original colors from the pattern because they’re, well, really hot. So if you are looking for a last minute gift, hit this pattern up! You can knock out a dishcloth in about 4 hours, and a dish towel in about 5.

Pattern: Hot Stripes Hanging Dish Towel and Hot (Diagonal) Stripes Dishcloth by me

Yarn: Lily Sugar’N Cream in Green, Hot Green, Hot Orange, and Yellow

Needles: Size 7s

Ravelry Project Page