The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Ohh Baby!

Just kidding! But seriously, can you imagine? I wonder if this has been done before! I’m guessing at super drunken office holiday party.

I bet Meredith on The Office would rock this look.

It’s a habit of mine to throw a finished project on my dress form, mainly so my terror kitties don’t rip out the yarn strands before I get a chance to weave them in. And so they don’t get a chance to eat my project before I get to wear it or give it away.

Mommy's Stockings

I knit a pair of these Christmas stockings a couple months ago for PT and I and, naturally, my mom had to have them! I used the same yarn, Caron Simply Soft for the red and cream, and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for the light green.

The pattern is here. The only change I made was when I started the heel flap. With the MC I K11 STS from needle 1, SL remaining STS to needle 2, turn. P22 STS, SL remaining STS from needle 3 to needle 2. This just makes much more sense to me.

As we inch closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m feeling good about the progress I’m making on my knitting list! I should, right? I started about two months ago.

Veggie Packed Pasta

We’ve got a ton of vegetables in the house and, specifically, a lot of mushrooms to use up. Mushrooms make me think of two things! Veggie packed pasta from my recipe, this time with broccoli and mushrooms, and…

Mushroom and Pumpkin Risotto

Risotto! I still hand pumpkin left over from the ravioli we made last weekend, so I made mushroom and pumpkin risotto. Risotto is pretty much the best thing to eat for dinner on a cold night. It’s like soup for people with more time.

Now that I’ve got those stockings finished the only thing left on my needles is PT’s Christmas Present! I’m shocked myself. I’m going to get an elephant going before I do something stupid like start a new sweater.

Me and My New Baby

I’ve had the same Dell laptop for 4 1/2 years. It was really slow (I got a lot of knitting done while it was loading pictures, though!), the internet barely worked on it. I couldn’t listen to iTunes and have two windows open at the same time. The CD tray started randomly opening whenever it wanted to, and not opening when I asked it to.

We’ve been through a lot, me and The Old Lady. We went to Prague together. She was my first laptop. I wrote many many many stories on her. But. Her time had come.

I was wheeling and dealing with my mom in the hopes that I could combine my Christmas and birthday presents with her and my grandparents in order to get a new computer in December. But The Old Lady and I had a rough week last week. She almost got thrown out the window.

And PT came to the rescue.

New Lady/Old Lady

He bought me a new computer. Exclamation points at this point are redundant. Needles to say, I’ll be picking up PT’s 10 cent wing night at Cleo’s tab for the rest of time. It’s amazing. I’m on it right now! Its the big time! It’s a Dell something something. Its got a ridiculously large screen, as you can see. The Old Lady is trying to share it’s files with The New Lady, but The Old Lady is so old it took pretty much the entire weekend.

There is a learning curve to new things (it’s taking me a ridiculously long time to figure out how to resize my pictures, save them where I can find them, and upload them in the blog), but so far so AMAZING. PT is kinda the best.

Grilled Cheese and Veggie Sandwich

Veggie Pasta

Tomato and Cucumber Sandwich

I don’t know if you were aware that this weekend was NFL KICKOFF WEEKEND Y’ALL! I’m a huge University of Michigan fan, and the Wolverines won a huge game Saturday against Notre Dame! I’m also a huge Lion’s fan.

…

There wasn’t a lot of time between football games Saturday or Sunday to cook, but we managed to eat a few delicious veggie sandwiches and I even sacrificed some football time Sunday to whip up some Veggie Pasta.

Renegade Craft Fair

Crafty Ladies

We also managed to run to Renegade and check out the crafty goodness. And there was a lot of crafty goodness to be had. There were so many booths we didn’t even get a chance to really look at most of them. We did find our friends Jamie, Caitlin, and Kelsey, who were rocking it out (despite how they look).

Stockings!

In Three Months They Will Look Like This

With football season comes LOTS of knitting time. I like to watch at least two college games on Saturday and three pro games on Sunday. That is like 9 hours of sitting in front of the TV! At least.

I’m being productive, though. I’m not just sitting drinking beer. So I don’t feel bad about it at all. I did this weekend because it was 80 degrees and sunny both days and I was inside screaming at my TV…

But I finished the Christmas stockings! I love how they turned out. I’ve got to knit another pair because my mom caught sight of them and wanted some. They are coming, Mom!

Soon To Be Pillow

Pretty, Simple Cables

I also got a ton done on some cabled pillows I’m making for an upcoming wedding present. I can’t do much more because I don’t have a pillow form to size it over, but I think I’m pretty close to being done with this first one. I’ll just fold it in almost exactly in half, seam it up, add a button closure flap and call it good!

I’m playing around with the idea of dying or covering the pillow form in a solid cover fabric, so the contrasting color shows through. What do you think?

(Anne, if you are reading this, happy wedding!)

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.

I grew up in a house that always had food in it. My mom is an amazing grocery shopper, and she got it from my papa (who is doing much better now, thank you). We often discuss the amazing deals we found on our recent grocery trips over our Sunday meal. I suck at this game. Everything in Chicago costs so much more than in Michigan that even when I get a good deal here, it’s like paying full price for something in Michigan.

Which is why PT and I have been building our grocery list in anticipation of our trip! We leave late tonight!

Which is why PT and I have been needing to get creative with our eating this week. But when I say I’ve got no food in the house, it isn’t like when other people say they’ve got no food in the house. I’ve just got a lot of pantry staples with no way to bring them together. I’ve got a pantry full of food because my mom always has a pantry full of food, because she is an amazing shopper. And she taught me well, despite my Chicago cost of living.

Pantry Staple Stir Fry

Wednesday night I cooked up some potatoes in the wok to get them crispy, and I dumped in a can of corn (Forgive me. A can of corn during CORN SEASON? I wanted to cry.) a can of black beans, and some taco-y and spicy seasonings. We topped it with some shredded cheddar (stolen from my roommate) and dumped some salsa on top. Served with chips (also stolen from the roommate)! This was great! Filling and fun; kind of like eating a whole lot of corn and bean salsa, with potatoes.

Toe Up Socks!

Sock are the Sweetest!

Wednesday night was Toe Up Sock class, finally! I have been trying to teach this class forever, and something came up every time. So I was so happy when Tara, Gil, and Lori signed up!

But, quickly, my delight turned to their horror. Really, they are only laughing to stop from crying. Toe up socks are hard to get started, but I kept saying the more stitches you get on your needles, the easier it gets!

Yeah, it’s a lot of needles. And yeah, that figure 8 cast on is hard. But they got it! And I bet if you ask them now they would recommend the class!

… right? I mean. Probably.

Oatmeal for Everyone!

Yesterday all of my meals looked like this. Random stuff mixed into oatmeal made on the stove, with a piece of toast. I love oatmeal, I do, but. But. But I’m excited that we are going to have some new food in the house real soon.

Soon to be Stockings

My Knit Picks order came in today! I ordered that Wool of the Andes yarn on top for the Christmas stockings I’m going to knit for PT and I. I love off color Christmas stockings, so when I saw that green I had to have it. It looks great with that Caron Simply Soft red.

Cucumber Sandwich with Swiss, and Leftover Potato Stir Fry

For lunch today I heated up the leftover potato bean thing, and had another cucumber sandwich. It wasn’t as exciting as I’m making it sound.

Off to Michigan in a few hours! I’ve got to pack. Have a great holiday weekend!