The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I’ve been talking about it obnoxiously, but here I go again: I got into the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this September! I’ll be focusing almost exclusively on selling my knit kits and, since I won’t be in Chicago from July 30th-Sept 6th, I want to get my entire kit inventory finished and ready to go before I leave.

Knit Kit Project Bags

Which means I’ve got to sew my ass off.

I make every drawstring project bag for every kit. I buy hanks of muslin. I dye the muslin yellow in a bucket in my kitchen. I cut all the bags. I sit at my sewing machine and stitch them all up.

Stamp!

I iron them. I stamp them!

LOTS of Stamps

I iron on all the stamps.

It’s quite a process. I want to have a huge inventory for Renegade and I’ve got just over two weeks to get it all finished. Back to the sewing machine!

Twin Cities Headband and Socks

It’s been about two and a half months since we cooked up the Madison Cowl and Madison Hand Warmers kits and we couldn’t wait any longer to bring you another set of knit kits!

Both Twin Cities Headband and Twin Cities Anklet Socks Knit Kits come in Blackberry and Flamingo.

Twin Cities Headband in Blackberry

Twin Cities Headband! (rav page)

This ruffle headband with plaid button closure is so cute I haven’t taken mine off since I finished it and I know you won’t, either! The seed stitch boarder keeps it from curling, the ruffle is just big enough to make a statement but not so big it takes over your head, and the handmade plaid fabric button is the perfect accent. In short: You need this headband!

Twin Cities Headband Knit Kit in Flamingo

Included in this kit:

Laminated pattern
Cotton yarn
Handmade plaid fabric button
Drawstring project bag

You will need:

Size 4 needles
Yarn needle

Can’t wait to wear this headband? We don’t blame you! And don’t forget to order the matching Twin Cities Anklet Socks!

Order them on The Sweatshop of Love’s Etsy Page!

Twin Cities Anklet Socks in Flamingo

Twin Cities Anklet Socks! (rav page)

A shout out to the ruffle ankle socks we wore as little girls, this big girl version will send any outfit from cute to seriously adorable.

This basic toe up sock pattern with a double moss stitch top, eyelet rows and ruffled finish is a slightly more advanced pattern, but if you’ve knit socks before you can tackle the Twin Cities Anklet Sock for sure. Email me if you have questions about the pattern.

Twin Cities Anklet Socks Knit Kit in Blackberry

Included in this kit:

Laminated pattern
Cotton yarn
Drawstring project bag

You will need:

Set of 5 size 4 double pointed needles

Can’t wait to wear these socks? We don’t blame you! And don’t forget to order the matching Twin Cities Headband!

Order them on The Sweatshop of Love’s Etsy Page!

If you have any questions about these patterns don’t hesitate to email me at allyson[at]thesweatshopoflove[dot]com.

Chicago knitters! Keep your eyes peeled for the classes for these kits! They will be scheduled in the next few months. And email me if you want a kit! I’ll be happy to bring one to class for you so you can avoid shipping costs.

Now you get why I had to jump the gun Friday, right? If you were sitting on these cute knit kits you would want to share them, too!

I can’t wait to share with you what we’ve got cooking for our next set of The Sweatshop of Love Knit Kits!

So I won’t.

They will be available Monday! Holla!

Madison Hand Warmers Kit!

I was packaging the Madison Cowl and Hand Warmers kits up the other day and I was blowing myself away with how amazingly cute these things are!

I mean that in a non braggy way, of course. It is kind of like when you finish knitting something and someone compliments it, and you yell out immediately, ‘I know! Isn’t it amazing?!’ Because you are just so surprised it turned out so well. Kind of like you weren’t even responsible.

As you can see, this kit here to my left is about to get packaged up! It’s a gray hand warmers kit.

The hand warmers take about half a skein of yarn, so that ball is wrapped up with a Sweatshop tag. The laminated instructions (see that laminated shine?), designed by Tara, is popped into the drawstring project bag.

Buttons!

I was always terrified I was going to forget the buttons every time I packaged a bag up. I’m pretty sure I double checked every bag.

Ready to Go!

See the cute Illinois stamp in the corner? And that the color of the draw string is the color of the kit? Yeah, we kinda thought of everything.

Madison Cowl Kit

For the Madison Cowl Kit, each project bag gets a full skein of yarn, again with our cute tag!

Instructions!

Buttons!

Again, laminated instructions and fabric covered buttons round out this kit!

One of my favorite parts of this project was pairing the fabric for the buttons with the colors we chose for the cowls.

See all the button/cowl match ups here!

Ready to Go!

Our tag on the bag makes it happen! This kit is ready to go!

We got our first feedback yesterday! Lori said:

I love everything about it! The bag, the pattern with your notes, all the tags, the buttons, everything! You and Tara did such an excellent job on those!

Thanks, Lori! Order your own kit on our etsy page.

Thank you all for entering my Madison Cowl and Hand Warmers kit giveaway! I say this every time I have a giveaway, but this was our biggest response yet!

The winner of the Madison Cowl Knit Kit is Katie! Who said: “Red, Gray, Blue ahhh decisions, I LOVE them ALL!! I think red is my favorite. The cowl would go wonderfully with my black coats!!!”

And the winner of the Madison Hand Warmers Knit Kit is Beth! Who said: “Happy Blogversary! It is one of my favs and I already have it in my RSS google reader. I like the hand warmers, my self.”

I’ll be emailing both of you right now to get your info.

Thanks again to all who entered and stay tuned for more fun Madison Knitting Kit info soon!