The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Bumpy Lace Pattern

Wavy Front Panel

In the Girl Friday pattern she says that the lace pattern blocks out really well, and the few people who have finished it and posted it on ravelry have said the same thing, so I thought it would be another great example of a blocking before and after.

These two pictures are of Girl Friday before I blocked it. The sleeves are a tiny bit short and small. The front is very wavy and smaller than the sweater itself, and the lace pattern is bubbled. The sweater itself is shorter than what I was aiming for.

Was I worried? Of course not! I know the amazing powers of blocking.

(Honestly I was a little worried about the front. It was much shorter than the sweater, very wavy, and I thought I was going to have to take it out and bind it off using an even looser bind off than I already did.)

DRUM ROLL!!

Pretty Lace!

Perfect Sleeves!

Hello, perfect sweater I knit. How are you? My name is Allyson and I’m going to wear you ALL THE TIME!

The sleeves stretched out perfectly, width-wise and length-wise. The lace pattern calmed down and isn’t bumpy at all anymore! The entire sweater itself stretched out to a really nice length, and, most importantly, the front is perfect! Not wavy at all and the same length as the sweater.

So I made some modifications to the pattern, but not many of them.

I’ve been saying that I knit the  body all in one piece, which I think turned out really well.

I held the top stitches, from the fronts and back, and did a three needle bind off for the shoulders and just picked those stitches up when I picked stitches up for the collar, instead of binding off then picked up bound off stitches.

I only did the collar short rows for about an inch, because I didn’t want the collar to fold over.

And I used a k2tog bind off, because I thought a stretchy bind off would be too much, but the regular bind off would be too tight. It worked out great!

My cats, though, want to eat this yarn! I had to beat them off the thing while I was blocking it because they were literally trying to chew threw the sweater. I had this problem with the yarn itself, too! I kept having to tie pieces of it back together that they had chewed through. I used the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool! It’s wool! And they didn’t do this with my Vogue Cropped Jacket.

So, I have to keep it in a vault, but other than that I’m in love. It’s so cute and simple looking, I will be able to throw it over anything. Dress it up or down. Basically it’s the perfect sweater!

And now, present knitting. For the rest of the year, Allyson. I’m serious now.

First of all, thank you so much for all your kind words. It’s good to know that there are so many animal lovers out there, and that they are all my friends. I couldn’t even write those two sentences without getting a little teary!

All of your facebook, twitter, and blog comments meant a lot to me. Thank you so much. I keep spontaneously hugging poor Velma and Pudge Rodriguez, and I know they are sick of it because they have started hiding under chairs and tables, but they will get the brunt of my Oliver missing from now on.

Mommy's Shawl

What better time to finish my mom’s Glorified Necklace! Mommy, I hope it makes you feel better! It’s really pretty. Pre-blocked it looked like a big mess, but post-block it looks fabulous. You will get it in about two months, and then we can be twins.

Body Finished!

And since I’m not even ashamed anymore, the body of my Girl Friday sweater is finished! I was about to finish the back when I last check in, and now both fronts are done. I didn’t bind off the tops because I feel the need to pick up stitches in my future. I’m just leaving them all live until I figure otherwise.

Sleeeeeeeves...

And now. I’m working. On these. Sleeves. I’ve hit a wall with the sleeves! I don’t know why. I feel like I’ve been knitting them forever! And I’m pretty sure I started them Tuesday.

Girl Friday might take a back seat this weekend, though. I’ve got my sights set on my sewing machine.

Blue Room Wall Organizer

So yes, the blue room is done and we love it and I’ve got my work table up and functioning and it’s great.

But I need this wall organizer!

A couple years ago I bought this easy sewing book, Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing, for a friend’s birthday, but then I got sick, and then I didn’t see her for two years, and now the book is mine!

And it’s got this great pattern in it for this walk hanging organizer. So I’m going to attempt it.

...um?

Even though there are like 4 pages of directions and this chart with lots of numbers on it that I’m going to ignore.

But, it is going to be a rainy weekend, and I’ve got the blue room to spread out in. I’m guessing it’s going to be a smashing success! (nervous laughter)

I also want to make a message board, kind of like this, but, you know, not really ugly.

So I’ve got my hands full! First up, though, I’m having a couple girlfriends over for dinner. I’ve got a pumpkin in the oven, bread rising on the stove, and a bottle of cheap wine in my purse.

Any menu guesses?!

Terror Kitties Strike Again

It has been a slow recovery from the weekend. PT and I got back into Chicago around 5 Sunday afternoon and we were both out for the count. We had sad tummies from all the eating/drinking and we were tired from all the lack of sleeping.

We had a little vacuuming to do before we could relax, however! Somehow Pudge Rodriguez and Velma found a bag of instant oatmeal, ripped the crap out of it, and framed that poor bear.

But, now it’s Wednesday.

And despite how it looks, I have been knitting!

… for myself.

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Back and Sides

I feel very passionately that you need to be a selfish knitter to really love knitting. Knitters get a lot of shit for being selfish, but non knitters have NO IDEA how much time goes into knitting something.

I only knit for knitters, my family, and my very very closest friends. No, I’m not going to knit my friend’s boyfriend a pair of socks because that would take me like 16 hours. No, you can’t pay me to make you a pair of socks because if I charged you minimum wage for the time it takes me to knit a pair of socks it would cost you, in Illinois, $128. Yeah, they are sweet socks. But damn!

So, yeah, it’s the holiday knitting season and I’m knitting myself a sweater. What’s it to you?

I’m loving the Girl Friday sweater! The stitch pattern is great, though it did take me quite a while to memorize. The pattern blocks down flatter, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

The pattern calls for making the back and both front pieces, so when I cast on the sweater, which started at the bottom, I just figured out the ribbing and went from there. When I got to the lace pattern I had to do a little adjusting; a decrease there and an increase here, just so the pattern would be even over all three of the pieces and match up. It’s working out! I’m almost done with the back panel.

Glorified Necklas #2

And I haven’t ONLY been knitting that sweater. My mom demanded I knit her a Glorified Necklace, and I can’t blame her. Have you been noticing how much I wear this thing?! I ripped up another sleeve and am a few rows into the lace pattern. I love it! I just wish I had the yarn to make it in a different color. I feel like an OCD freak when I’m wearing the same project I’m working on.

I’m also working on PT’s Christmas Present, but I’ll get to that later.

Roasted Potatoes, Beans, and Veggies

Lentil Soup

We were putting off the grocery shopping because of our trip to Minnesota last weekend, but now we just don’t know what to do. We need to go grocery shopping, but we need a car sized grocery trip. With no car and no real solution to this problem, we are pretending it doesn’t exist! And you know how good I am at pantry eating.

A winter go to meal is roasted potatoes, beans, and veggies. It’s filling, costs like 3 pennies to make, and is delicious. We will recipe this one out soon.

And yesterday I made some lentil soup with pinto beans and carrots. I finished it off for lunch today! How much do I psychotically love lentils?

I stopped by Emilio’s Produce on the way home today for a 1/2 gallon of milk, a bag of onions, broccoli, and an impulse buy – an avocado. That should get us to the weekend.

… SPEAKING OF THE WEEKEND! YARNCON! It’s Saturday! Come say hi to me and my hot sign.

Shrimp Stir Fry with Brown Rice

The cold rain was a nice motivator for PT and I to stay in last night.

(Another untimely Tigers loss and Twins win made it seem like we were both home alone. The Central is still up for grabs. If the Tigers win and Twins lose today the Tigers will win the Central for the first time since 1987. But if the Tigers lose I have to be pissed all day and they have to win tomorrow.)

We made some teriyaki shrimp stir fry with red pepper, broccoli, pineapple, shrimp, and onion, with brown rice. It was so good! I love just throwing things together with some teriyaki stir fry sauce and getting a meal like this.

Cute Packaging!

Note, Pin, and YARN!

I mentioned earlier this week that I won a skein of Kitchen Sink Dyeworks yarn, and it came in yesterday while I was watching The Office!

It was wrapped really cute, came with a handwritten note and a KSD button! It was so sweet, like getting a present from a friend. I will be buying yarn from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks in the future. See what little special touches do?!

And I’m blown away by how beautiful this yarn is! I can’t wait to dive into it.

Any suggestions? I’ve only got 390 yards. I’m thinking lacy shawl? Help!

Workout Fuel

Today was the Michigan/Michigan State game and the Minnesota/Wisconsin game. These are big games; Michigan and Michigan State hate the crap out of each other, and PT was telling me that it’s the same kind of thing with Minnesota and Wisconsin. Neither games were being broadcast on regular TV so we planned to go to the gym to watch them. We made broccoli and onion omelets with pepper jack cheese and a piece of PB&J pumpernickel toast to fuel our workout!

Burritos and Fresh Guacamole

We ran/walked for about two hours while watching Michigan AND Minnesota lose. It was a painful bike ride home! We were tired, sore, and deflated by two close losses. So we made burritos with red pepper, pinto beans, onion, fresh guacamole, black bean and corn salsa, and cabbage.

Girl Friday Started (!)

And I did a bad thing. The Tigers were getting blown out last night, I was sad, it was 8-0, it was rainy and I was cold and baseball sucks and before I knew it I had Girl Friday cast on. Yes, I should be working on presents! But I couldn’t help it.

I figure it’s better to indulge in knitting than, like, a pan of brownies.

And it’s providence because Girl Friday (my Ravelry page) is a Kitchen Sink Dyeworks pattern!

That counts as full circle, right?

I cast on for both front panels and the back, though. I hate knitting a lot of separate pieces. I’m using Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool, the same yarn I used for the Vogue Cropped Jacket, but in natural.

I checked the gauge at it was so on I creeped myself out. It was exactly exactly exactly on with size 8s. I have never seen a gauge so perfect, even when I used the exact yarn and needles a pattern called for. I can’t wait to start the lace pattern!

… right now!