The Sweatshop of Love Blog

On, and Perfect!

Cute Thumb!

Done!

This weekend I finished the Two-Textured Mittens I’ve been working on this week. I think they turned out really well! I’m especially proud of the thumb, which was picked up after the body of the mitten was finished, and then shaped. I didn’t want one of those floppy thumbs on beginner mittens, and I thought working the thumb with different needles and different yarn while working the body would be too much. I can’t even picture how that would work.

But this way is simple and fun and cute and I’m really happy with this mitten. And hopefully I’ve got four months until I need it.

Fuzzy Yarn Balled

I balled up the huge mass of fuzzy yarn. I still don’t know what it is, but it was impossible to figure out what was going on with it; I was knitting from the outside of the ball which I hate doing. Yarn winder to the rescue! It wound up so nice! It is tight and feels really secure. I’m pretty sure I have enough yarn for 27 more mittens.

Oats and Banana Toast

Grilled Cheese, Zucchini, and Carrot Sandwich

Sultan's Market Falafel Sandwich and Spinach Pie

I had some pretty solid meals this weekend, starting with an abundance of oat bowls. I have so much fruit in the house, all over the kitchen, that every time I go in there I hear the voice of a little oat bowl, ‘Allyson, look at us! We are lovely blueberries and we would go VERY well in a bowl with oats, milk, cinnamon toast crunch, a little apple, a little coconut, and some raisins!’ Then the banana chimes in, ‘Don’t forget about me! My best friend is crunchy peanut butter on toast!’ So I eat that. A lot.

After the mini sandwiches from earlier in the week, I had that Dubliner cheese, zucchini combo in my head and had to repeat, with some carrot. Awesome! I love this sandwich.

And a falafel craving lead to a trip to Sultan’s Market. Though, that falafel is sitting pretty heavy in my tummy right now.

Ooh Velma

What is a Sunday without a cat in a box? Velma likes to sleep in very small spaces. Sometimes I wish I could fit in a box and just chill there until I have a reason to leave. I feel you, Velma.

Don’t you hate when you run out of bread? I make my own bread so you would think this would happen to me rarely, but last night I found myself with a mad cheese craving and no bread.

So I threw some ingredients in the bread maker, and 3 hours and 20 minutes later I knew I would have some delicious honey grain bread. Until then, I needed cheese in meal form, which is hard to come by with no bread.

Cheese and crackers really isn’t a meal; I could have cooked up some cheesy pasta but I wasn’t really feeling that, either. What I wanted was a fatty grilled cheese sandwich with some fancy Dubliner cheese.

Mini Sammys

Then I remembered the bag of frozen English muffins in the fridge that PT and I made ages ago that I always forget about. I dug out four plain ones (cheese and cinnamon raisin English muffins didn’t sound appealing), defrosted them, covered them in butter and threw them in a hot pan. I made an only Dubliner cheese one, a Dubliner cheese and zucchini one, a Swiss, zucchini, and mushroom one, and a cheddar and mushroom one. I just kept them on there until the cheese melted, which was hard because I was really excited.

Yummy

To say these turned out well is an understatement. The mushroom and cheddar one was out of this world and I should have made another one of those. The one I was most looking forward to, the just Dubliner cheese one, was my least favorite. STILL amazing, but, after eating the rest of them with the veggies cooked perfectly in the melty cheese! It just didn’t have enough going on.

Seriously.

I was thinking about how much work making those English muffins was, and it was a lot of work. An entire afternoon’s worth of rising and kneading and cutting and rising and babysitting and frying and cooling and dusting. But I would make them again just so I could have these sandwiches at my disposal always. It just wouldn’t be the same, I don’t think, cutting up regular bread into little squares and making them that way.

Sammy

Then I went to Margie’s with Sam, who’s place of employment just went under. Confused about the future? Feeling like no one will ever love you? Go to Margie’s Candies!

I tried to convince Sam to start a blog about all the internet dating he does, but separated into two identities: Douche Sam, who takes out Wrigley sluts, and Regular Sam, who takes out the nice, literary types. It would be hilarious! For me. It would totally be optioned into a movie or an HBO series.

(If you are looking for a nice boyfriend with a nice dog, also named Sammy, and you don’t have a peg leg, email me and Sam will be your boyfriend)

I got the turtle sundae that I ate too fast to take a picture of. It came, I inhaled it, I gave the rest of my hot fudge to Sam so he could mix it in his cookies and cream shake.

‘This is going to hurt later,’ Sam said.

‘I’m counting on it.’

And it did.

While I’m coughing a lot still and can’t quite muster up my regular energy, I’m feeling much better. I went for an afternoon walk with my friend Rachel yesterday and by the end of it I was wiped. What normally would be an easy 2 hour stroll around the boulevards felt like a half marathon. I hate it. Of course I get sick four days into my gym membership! I haven’t been in a week.

Sick Person Food?

More like cold person food. It is 57 and rainy and all I wanted was soup when I clomped my way home from work in my rain boots. I stole a can of PT’s Progresso lentil soup, which was pretty good. I made an amazing grilled cheese to go with it, and have been drinking chamomile tea all afternoon.

Egg Sandwich and Potatoes

For dinner last night mixed four eggs, a couple spoonfuls of chunky salsa, some onion and a splash of milk together and poured it into two big muffin cups. I baked them, sliced them, melted some cheddar on them, and ate them as a sandwich with potatoes. This little improvised egg sandwich was great! So tasty with the salsa and cheddar. And you see how beautiful my bread looks? This was a really good batch.

Toe Up Sock

Tuesday was part one of my Toe Up Sock Class, so I got to start my next pair! Last night after dinner PT and I walked over to Streetside to watch the Tigers Sox game and I worked on this the whole time. I’m about an inch away from where I need to be for Toe Up Sock Class Part Two – The Heel.

Tonight is Sweater Club. I just ordered more yarn for my Summer Sweater, and a couple skeins of sock yarn, so I’ll be working on my sweater pattern tonight. I’ve gotten a few calls for sweater help, so I’m not expecting much knitting time for myself, however. I’ve got to make sure my ladies are on the right track!

It is dangerous to be as erratic as baseball is. One moment you have a 5-0 lead and three outs later your are trailing 6-5. One moment you feel good about the decisions you’ve made in the past few months and one conversation later you are laying in bed on a rainy day questioning everything.

Tuesday at this time I was riding high. The Tigers were coming off a sweep of the Indians, the rest of their May schedule was looking relatively easy; all mediocre teams till the first week of June. I was thinking we could get up a few games on the Royals and hope things fall into place in June. Magglio would be back. Bonderman would be back. Carlos Gullien would be back. Two of three in the Metrodome seemed possible.

Now I’m reading about these games I had to witness over the past three days in bewildered awe.

A) How did I not kill someone?

B) How could I have thought I was watching a good team?

C) Why am I dating a Twins fan?

D) Why do I like this stupid, boring sport?

E) How do you blow a 5-0 lead?

F) How do you give up a walk off grand slam to JOE FUCKING CREDE?

G) How do you not score with two men on and no outs over and over and over again?

Bewildered. Awe.

So of course if I live 7 months of my life on the Detroit Tigers Emotional Roller Coaster how can I expect the rest of my life won’t get pulled along with it? I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. One of these days I’m going to wake up and think, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing with my life,’ and it won’t be immediately followed by me thinking, ‘You are young, it doesn’t matter’. Most of the time I think I know what I’m doing. Today? Not so much. Today I should have a 9-5 with benefits and an actual pay check that is direct deposited into my money market savings account. Today I should not be sitting at home at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon blogging, I should be in an office somewhere in heels doing some bullshit.

Tomorrow, though, I will feel better. The Tigers will win tonight. Jackson is pitching and the As are terrible. They can’t lose 4 in a row, they just aren’t that bad. And I’ve seen bad. It will be sunny tomorrow, which will help. The Modern Wing finally opens and is free through the 22nd so I won’t have to think about how I could have used those $12 towards food/my cell phone bill. That will help, too.

Grilled Cheese, Salad, Lentil Soup

Tomorrow it will be more important to me that I get to eat as well as I do, with all my cooking time. More grilled cheese with fresh bread. More homemade lentil soup. More freshly chopped salads. More homemade pizzas and cookies and crock pot things. More homemade pasta.

But there is a difference between knowing you are going to feel better and actually feeling it. Tomorrow I know I will feel better. Today I’m feeling down in the dumps – stupid for quitting my job, stupid for not valuing money like I should, stupid for not trying harder to make money, stupid for loving things I have no control over. Stupid for being sad. Stupid. In need of cupcake. Stupid. In need of bad romantic comedy on hulu.