The Sweatshop of Lovers Blog

Bobbie Bear and Sheldon

I’m jetting (not remotely jetting, I’m taking the slower than molasses Amtrak) home to Michigan for the weekend and I’m all packed! I’ve got presents for my soon-to-be-born nephew Nolan. You might recognize them! Baby Bobbie Bear and Sheldon the Turtle. Nolan will not be at a loss for hand knits in his life.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Also packed is Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter! I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies last year and out of control loved every page of it. Abe is by the same author, Seth Grahame-Smith, and he is alright by me. The problem is that the Amtrak, in all it’s lateness and slowness, usually lulls me to sleep if I’m not moving my hands.

So I’ll be trying to read and knit! On the Amtrak! Wish me luck.

Next week is going to be quite exciting around here. I’ll bring my super awesome exciting Sweatshop announcement to you by VLOG on Tuesday. TUESDAY! I’m so excited I could jump up and down on the Amtrak to Michigan.

Until then I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. It is going to be HOT in Chicago so keep an eye out for stray bullets and cars on fire!

Target!

You know something is wrong when it is 12:30pm and you’ve been awake for 9 hours.

6AM!

Or something is amazingly RIGHT! I can’t really see the keyboard right now and I’ve lost track of how many cups of coffee I’ve had (Biggby!), but I totally snagged $1.50 towels, a $25 microwave, and $14 flannel sheets this morning.

Don’t judge. Black Friday is awesome. When I’m wearing my $4 tights I’ll be thinking of you sleeping, and me WINNING!

Meijer at 5AM

The only time I felt a little silly was when we got to Meijer and people are standing in line for TVs and PS3s and I make a beeline for…

Beets in Bulk!

I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to buy beets on Black Friday. My mom needs her beet risotto!

Pudge Rodriguez Loves Books

PT and I made it safely to Michigan yesterday during the most amazing game the Lions have played in … three years? Four? EVER? Even my mom got into it, losing radio coverage as time was expiring, moments before Matt Stafford threw his FIFTH touchdown of the game to win it!

Sorry.

Look at Pudge Rodriguez! She loves Coop, our book club book for December 7th. Can you believe I left her in Chicago?

I slept a ton yesterday and have finally recovered from the Yarn Crawl. And knit these!

Hand Warmers!

I bought some beautiful cashmere merino wool blend yarn on the Yarn Crawl Saturday specifically to whip these up as a birthday present for my friend Rachel. (Rachel doesn’t celebrate Christmas AND they are her birthday present, so the title of the post is completely off, but I wanted to keep the gift format. Silly? Oh yes.)

YO Lacy Diagnals

The pattern is CreativeYarn’s Diagonal Eyelet Hand Warmers. It was very easy to follow, clearly written, free, and they turned out super cute!

The Perfect Size

I made no modifications to the pattern other than I used size 7 needles. The Ravelry Project Page is here.

Buttons

I was on the fence about the buttons. Everyone is randomly adding buttons to things for no reason and I don’t know why. These buttons serve no purpose other than to CUTE!

Yeah... It's Cute

And they do cute. I get it! I’m ok with it! The gray and the pink are really cute together. I hope Rachel likes them!

Warm Hands

Does the lighting and background look familiar? That is right! I’m sitting in Biggby Coffee in Allendale, Michigan, using their free internet and sipping their Cinnamon-Toffee flavored coffee. When I finish up here I’m going to pick up my grandparents and head to Perkins for brunch. Then we are going to the mall! It’s a good old fashioned day off in West Michigan!

Back from a long weekend in Michigan and I’m feeling big/tired/groggy/just totally out of it.

I don’t sleep much when I’m at my mom’s house. I stay up late watching TV and hanging with my mom (I blame the Tivo – it’s just too amazing to stop watching at a reasonable hour), and I get up early so I don’t miss anything. My mom is an early riser, so by 7, or 6 central time, I’m up and at ‘em! And then it’s go go go all day long.

Cropped Jacket at Biggby

And I ate very poorly. Lots of sweets and pizza and cheesy potatoes. My body is so mad at me. I’m sore with no reason for it! It’s not like I got any exercise at all.

And I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures, either! I pulled the camera out at Biggby because I was wearing the Vogue Cropped Jacket I worked so hard on while I was home and working away on at Biggby every day a few weeks ago.

Notice how my buttons are a little floppy? I need to reinforce them with some more yarn in the backs of them. Otherwise, I love this sweater! I wore it at least a little bit every day I was home.

PT Loves Biggby!

While PT checked his email (and celebrated the delicious Biggby coffee!)…

Early Stocking

… I worked on my stocking. I started it Saturday because I couldn’t work on anything else, with my mom being around all the time, and PT’s present would be a no go.

Moving Right Along!

Aren’t they coming out so well? That light green was exactly what I was looking for. The contrast between that light green and the red is perfect! Christmas-y, but not hit you in the face Christmas-y.

Oat Bowl!

Tomato Sandwich and Cheesy Potato Leftovers

In Michigan PT and I shopped like people going into hiding for the winter. I’m pretty sure we won’t have to go grocery shopping for months! The combination of Michigan prices, fresh Michigan produce, and having a car are just too much for us to handle.

Let the detox begin! It was so nice to have an oat bowl this morning with fresh Michigan peaches and grapes!

My lunch today was a tomato sandwich with my mom’s tomato, romaine, a little miracle whip and a pickle, with a side of leftover cheesy potatoes.

I’ve got so many veggies in my fridge my brain is exploding trying to think of what to make for dinner! Best problem ever.

Velma

Pudge

Kitties say, ‘Please come home so PT will stop torturing us.’

I leave tomorrow for Chicago. Have I done anything I set out to do? Absolutely not. I kept up with my blogging. I didn’t gain any weight, which leads me to believe that I have a tape worm.

Sleeves!

I knit the whole body and sleeves of my Vogue Cropped Jacket that I wasn’t supposed to be knitting.

Mommy

Zucchini, Green Pepper, Carrot Pasta

And I made my mom some veggie pasta with the tomatoes, like I’ve been making myself at home. As you can see, she liked it!

So I’m just wrapping some things up here at Biggby for the last time. It’s treated me well! Creme Brule coffee this morning again, which I think is my favorite.

On my way out tomorrow I’ll stop by and get some fresh produce, a few more groceries, then hit the road. This trip has flown by, like most vacations.

The party continues, though! My friend Elizabeth from my year at Adrian College is coming to Chicago and it’s going to be crazy! I can use a little craziness after this easy breezy Allendale visit.

Chicago, here I come!

First of all, my grandma loved the Two Texture Mittens!

Happy Grandma!

You may remember that I’ve had trouble with my grandma liking things I’ve made for her in the past. The key here is to catch her off guard and not let her ask for things. She didn’t even know these mittens existed, or that she needed two texture mittens in her life, thus she loved them. I’m catching on.

Pickles

Second of all, my pickles! Which turned out super delicious. My mom put them in a beautiful jar and they look rustic and country, in the best way possible. They are dilly and sweet but not overly so, and a hit!

Monday I left you with a going to the casino teaser blog that I set up on Sunday, but I did not, in fact, go to the casino on Monday. Huge storms went through West Michigan Sunday night causing a ton of damage and knocking out power to a whole lot of the area, including the cabin, excluding my grandparent’s house, but, related or not, their huge fancy new TV went out.

Me+New TV=MESS

So Papa and I went to Best Buy, they told us to bring the TV in, we went back to their house, somehow I got that TV in the car, we drove back to Best Buy, we exchanged it, somehow I brought it back in their house and set it up, and by that time it was after 1pm, and there was no time for the casino. So we went to Meijer instead and Papa and I got groceries, which, to my papa, is just as fun as going to the casino.

We made plans to go to the casino the next day. I went home so tired from carrying 32 inch TVs and groceries around all day to find that we still didn’t have power in the cabin, and…

Bounty!

BEETS!!

…a whole lot of veggies! My mom got these from a coworker who offered beets, because no one ever wants beets, but I have been talking about my newly acquired love of beets for quite a while now so my mom said she would take some. Dawn must have been super excited about it because she threw in a little more than just beets!

Normally you roast the beets in the oven, but with no oven we threw them on the grill with an ear of corn. I was super hungry and couldn’t wait for the salad, though, so I made myself a sandwich.

Sandwich on the Grill

I used the grill since that was the only thing working. I toasted my rye/pumpernickel, melted my Swiss cheese and warmed up my chicken. I finished this sandwich with some mustered and it was really awesome.

‘You are full of shit,’ my mom said when I was making this. ‘You talk about how you are a fancy city girl and you are toasting bread with a grill.’

Fancy city girl? That is just the hipster talking again.

Beet Salad

My dad got home while the beets were cooling and got the power generator set up. It doesn’t make enough power to get the oven to work, though, so I got the electric wok out and sauteed the garlic and walnuts for the dressing with that! It worked great, and the salad turned out amazing.

My mom was very skeptical since she hates beets, but she loved it of course. My dad loved the salad and asked to finish it, which he never does. So basically I rocked this one out.

Mommy and Her Sock

And speaking of rocking things out, my mom is rocking out her sock. She can’t get use to the tiny needles, though. I ask her how she is doing all the time and she looks at me a little irritated and complains about how it is really small.

‘I’d like to knit socks for Big Foot,’ she says.

I had to remind her that we Dutch woman have enormous feet, and she should be happy for once that she has those size 10s.

Imagine knitting socks if you were Asian.

She finished turning the heel last night and it looks great! Just a couple dropped stitches I had to fix. But, it is small, and her first try! So, I’m very proud.

(And laying off any insults because she needs a break from me being a jerk to her on the internet. Love you Mom!)

I woke up this morning at 6. I made pickles. I still smell like pickles; you can’t get that smell out of your hands. Like garlic. Or lemon.

Pickles are not something you  make by yourself. Making pickles is ridiculous, and Oliver and Batley just didn’t appreciate the ridiculousness of making pickles at 6am to the extent I needed them to.

And I did something stupid.

Work? No Thanks, I'll Start A Sweater

I started the Vogue Cropped Jacket. Yesterday. As you can see, I made some progress, because I don’t want to do anything but knit this sweater. I didn’t even turn my computer on at all yesterday. Get this! I READ THE PAPER to get scores. I felt like such an old dude.

Seed St Bottom, Bell St Body

My mom and I ran to Hobby Lobby yesterday morning, through torrential rain, to pick up Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool in the dark tweed, and of course I can’t just sit and do some actual work, like I’m supposed to be doing, I have to start my sweater, and not stop working on it for one moment.

Isn’t it pretty?

I’m at Biggby this morning. Made pickles, came to Biggby. I’ve been sitting here for about an hour and a half now; I’m the only one sitting, and I 3 couples have come and gone. Sunday morning in Allendale is not a big morning for coffee, apparently. And everyone has said the exact same thing:

Coffee Guy: Morning!

Man: It’s a hot one out there!

Coffee Guy: Iced coffee? Haha!

Man and Woman: Haha!

Woman: Iced ___________

(Coffee Guy makes drink): This will help you stay cool!

Man: We’ll need it! Haha!

Woman and Coffee Guy: Haha!

Have I mentioned how much I love it here? I got a small coffee, and when I moseyed over to the self serve area I found the Michigan Cherry medium roast. Halla! It is delightful.

'Sunday' Dinner

I’m extraordinarily lucky to have grandparents I’m very close to and that live 15 minutes away from my parents. They have been coming over on Sunday afternoons to eat a huge meal and play cards for as long as I can remember. We moved our Sunday meal up a day this weekend because today is supposed to be 95 degrees and my parents don’t have air conditioning in the cabin. The ‘Sunday’ dinner spread was my papa’s potato salad, which is the best potato salad in the entire world and has spoiled me away from every other potato salad there is, that huge fruit salad, grilled potatoes, and grilled lemon pepper chicken.

And please take a moment to stare with amazement at my mom’s table runner! She knit that with her yarn scraps. The contrast of that table runner on the dark wood immediately catches your eye and lights up the entire room.

My Plate

Here is a closer look at her work! And my plate. I had a heeping serving of both potato salad and potatoes, with ketchup, and a few pieces of the grilled chicken. And a lot of fruit salad! The fruit salad had watermelon, blueberries, nectarines, early apples, and apricots all from Michigan, and grapes, but I’m not sure where the grapes came from.

I whipped up the marinate from the chicken with the zest of four lemons, the juice of 6 lemons, maybe a tablespoon of olive oil, and a whole lot of pepper.

(And my mom is going to kill me, but I have to point out that the woman uses paper plates, paper bowls, and beautiful hand made by her cloth napkins. The ridiculousness of that is exactly why I love my mother so much. Of course she would use the napkins she made because they are beautiful and look great with the table runner she made, but she doesn’t want to wash all those dishes. It’s logical and ridiculous.)

I also finished my second Two Texture Mitten in 24 hours, because today is my grandma’s birthday and I wanted to give them to her. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries and the battery charger is at home, so I won’t be able to take a picture of them, of her, or of the brunch we are about to have at The Peppermill Grill, (Papa: The Butter Wagon, The Butterball. Dad: The Buttermill. Matthew: The Butterbutt – I don’t know where they all got butter from) which has a yelp page now! But no reviews. (cough, PT, cough)

Church Wear: A dude in his early 20s just walked into Biggby wearing tan flip flops, white cargo shorts with a newspaper sticking out of his back pocket, a tan fabric belt, a black button down with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a silver tie. Oh! And he ordered an iced peanut butter cup latte.

I’ve got to pack up quick if I’m going to catch him before he jumps back into the Jeep Grand Cherokee he took the time to back into a parking spot for a 30 second stop at the coffee shop!

I woke up this morning with a huge man in my bed.

Me and Arnold

I had to take pictures because it might never happen again.

HEAVY Kitty

Arnold is the loudest purrer I have ever heard. Waking up with all like 20 pounds of him on my chest, purring like a motor boat, I thought I might have somehow been run over by a car in my sleep, only to wake up with it still running and on top of me. But, it was just Arnold, looking for a morning cuddle, which I was more than happy to return. I miss my babies.

Biggby

So here I am at Biggby Coffee, which, after having been sitting here for two hours, is a lot bigger than it needs to be.

Two Dudes, One Fireplace, and Fox News!

It was me and these dudes when I got here at about 8:30. Now there are two other people here with computers, one guy with a broken arm, and two old women drinking mochas. The internet is fast (maybe relatively, everything moves kinda slow up here), and they have six different kinds of self serve coffee. 16 oz for $1.90 and all the internet I could ever want? I’ll take it! I’ve been uploading pictures with reckless abandon all morning.

Breakfast of Nappers

I kinda took yesterday off. I woke up early because it is freaking cold here and the tent was not warm. I moved to the living room with a blanket, a cup of tea, and Chocolat, which I’m loving. But, again, we picked a book for Knitting Book Club that everyone will agree is excellent! I can’t imagine anyone not liking it, it is just universally appealing. I read half the book yesterday, between naps, the Tigers game (on real TV! It was awesome), more naps, and eating. Breakfast was lemon yogurt with fresh raspberries and raisin bran, with an English muffin with peanut butter. I love that my mom has yogurt around all the time! It is nice to mix up oats now and then.

VERY Good Sandwich

I couldn’t have been more excited to see some pumpernickel bread in the bread basket, and I quickly decided on a Swiss, (Mommy) cucumber, and roasted red pepper hummus sandwich on toasted pumpernickel. Amazing! The Swiss and the pumpernickel should be best friends forever.

Matthew's Sandwich

Ok, Look Closely!

My baby brother Matthew and I were watching the Tigers game, and I must have dozed off, because when I looked over at him he was eating this sandwich.

“Shit, dude, when did you make that sandwich?”

“Just now.”

“What’s in it?”

“Two eggs, ham, cheese, and spicy Doritos.”

I love him.

Asparagus Strudel

ASPARAGUS! And Corn

My mom picked up this asparagus strudel  on her road trip around Lake Michigan with my dad last week (yeah, it’s weird), and it was awesome! PT and I had a savory strudel in the winter that his mom gave us, so I was all about it. The asparagus was tender and very juicy and the herb-cheese was perfect. I biked over and picked up some fresh corn sometime when I wasn’t sleeping, and it was a perfect accompaniment.

I also, over the course of the day, had three pieces of cherry pie with ice cream. 4-7 pounds, y’all!

Socks Finished!

Next Sweater!

I also finished my socks yesterday. I guess I wasn’t as big of a bum as I thought I was. They turned out so cute! I even got my mom to start her first pair of toe up socks! She is using size threes instead of size 2s, so I’ll have to keep an eye on her. I would hate for them to be too big when I’m sitting right next to her and could stop them from being too big.

AND I was glancing through my new Vogue Knitting Magazine and found this sweater. How cute is that?! I need to knit it. Yes, I see the seed stitch front, and the seed stitch edging. I’m pretending I don’t. It can’t be that much, right? I don’t care. I must knit this jacket.

I’m going to go buy a cookie, because I’m on vacation. I’m going to chill here at my new favorite coffee shop in Allendale for a couple more hours, then I’m headed over to the g-rents to make some peanut butter pies for the week.

Oh. Oh yes. More about those later.

You know that moment when you realize people think you are weird? Before that moment you think everyone is like you. You think everyone likes to lay in fields to let bugs crawl on them and watch old black and white movies with their moms and hand sew Barbie clothes out of quilt squares.

Home Sweet Home

We moved into this house when I was five. Isn’t it cute? But, I was the girl who lived in the log cabin who didn’t go to church. I come back and I’m still that girl. I still don’t like leaving the compound while I’m here, despite being a grown woman.

Home Sweet... kinda

But why would I want to leave? This is my tent.

Oliver

Batley

These are my puppies.

They Couldn't Fly If They Wanted To

The ducks, making a run for it around the barn.

Pete The Llama

Is a Happy Llama

This is Pete the Llama! I kept telling him to get the hay out of his teeth for the picture but he said he liked it and was going to eat it later. What can I say? He lives in a barn.

Marshall the Goat

Marshall the Goat wears a dog collar attached to a long rope tied to the clothes line because he is a very bad goat that likes to escape and eat the neighbor’s garden. This is quite a feat since the neighbor’s garden is quite a walk.

Marshall: GAH! DUCKS! PLAY! DUCKS!

The ducks, who wander free, like to torture Marshall the Goat by playing very close to him, but just out of reach, so Marshall runs up to them, only to have the rope snap him back. This is what you get when you are a very bad goat.

Cherry Tomatoes

Cucumbers!

My mom has scoped out areas around the house that get the most sun and planted there. The house is mostly covered by trees so there isn’t a lot of room. But the tomatoes and cucumbers are thriving! I spent yesterday morning watering in my bare feet with the animals.

Arnold, The Big Man

Arnold came out to see what I was up to. He is a hunter and spends a lot of time wandering through the woods, eating bunnies, squirrels, and birds.

VERY Cute Killer

But he is so cute you don’t mind he is a ruthless killer.

Garden Memorial

My uncle died last summer and his ashes are in this corner, with Uncle Dave’s, who has been there for a while. It’s a really nice spot to have your ashes, I think, and they get visits by ducks and cats and dogs and people.

2/3 of me thinks: I’d be really happy here if I were dead, too. 1/3 of me thinks: I’d be really happy here. My little brother is looking at buying cute brick houses on some land for like $60,000. If I could figure out a way to make money living in a cute brick house around here with land so I could garden and have chickens and not need to interact with anyone, 33% of me would jump at the chance. That is, like, a leg.

I would really need a way to make money that didn’t involve anyone else, though, considering I’m still a total freak to everyone who lives here. So I like killing babies, taxes, gays, and socialized health care! Does that make me a bad person?

… yeah, I can’t live here.

The laundry that needs to be clean in order for me to pack is in the dryer. I’m eating a quickly melting blueberry truffle. And licking the side table it melted on.

Sure, last year was a little more dramatic; I quit my big girl job to Sweatshop full time with my almost six year live-in boyfriend as financial/everything blows up in my face buffer, only to have us break up 2 days after giving notice. So I went home to collect myself and work out a plan while he moved out.

A year later I have quit no job, but PT and I broke up and he needs to move out of my apartment. It’s less of a total life change, but I’m much more emotional this time. Last summer I was in a total zone; right decision finally, doing what needs to be done. I was more of a robot. This year I’m kind of a mess. I have been in denial of actually going home until today. I still have no idea what train I’m taking home, what time I’m leaving. Have not packed. And I’m sitting here while the laundry is drying blogging about being a mess.

Goodbye Chicago Pizza

Last night I made PT a pizza. I wanted to on Sunday, but Sunday was kind of a bust. So yesterday I made PT a pizza.

Broccoli, zucchini, roasted red pepper, half olive, and pepper jack cheese pizza. It was good.

We ate it and watched baseball until I left for book club. I made PT laugh really hard by impersonating potential base stealers getting thrown out by the Tiger’s catcher Gerald Laird. I flailed. I screamed. I fell over. It was much funnier than I’m describing now.

I’ll be back next Friday, and PT will be gone, and I remember that moment when I got back to Chicago last year to an empty apartment and it sucked. So I’m crying, which has to be directly related to how much weight I’ve lost in the past three weeks. No water weight.

Goals for Trip Home:

1) Work on my book.

2) Gain 4-7 pounds. (I thought my head looked big this morning, like when anorexic girls look like bobble heads. Problem.)

3) Knock off this crying thing. I’m annoying myself.

That is kind of a lot right there. Might just stick to three goals.

Bag O' Cards

The boys at the office gave me a little task. Actually there is nothing little about it. When they handed me this bag I thought it was of paint samples. No. Oh no. That is a bag of business cards that need to be put into a spreadsheet, and I’m just the girl to do it.

The old lady (my sad old computer that may or may not be losing the ability to charge) is of course coming with me. I got my fancy new USB wireless internet thingy that is going to help me post hilarious/happy blog entries from the comfort of the Allendale Biggby Coffee, a mere 5 miles from my parent’s house. And while I’m home watching cable I can be going through these cards. All twelve million of them.

So the next time you will be hearing from me I will be in the lovely town of Allendale, Michigan, much happier, much more chill, with tales of llamas and goats being best friends and Batley the chihuahua and LOTS of fat duck sex.