The Sweatshop of Love Blog

You know when you knit something so cute you can help but just laugh? And you show it to other people and they just laugh? And then everyone is laughing at something you knit and you feel pretty damn good about it?

SHEEP!

Am I right?

SHEEP BUTT!

Like I said last week when I cast on, I’m planning on knitting four of these hats for gifts over the next few months. The first one is for my coworker Patsy, who is building a hospital in Africa. Her foundation is called Ivory Coast Mothers and Children, and they are having a fundraiser this weekend. I knit a Dino Baby Sweater for her last year that brought in some money, so hopefully my little hat will do the same.

Giggle! GIGGLE! Giggle!

I used barely any yarn for this guy – not even half a skein of white and practically no green or brown. I followed a bunch of ravelry instructions for duplicate stitching on the legs instead of intarsia-ing them on and it worked out great.

One down, three to go!

Pattern: Sheep Baby Hat from 60 Quick Baby Knits, pattern by Renee Lorin

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in White, Dublin, and Squirrel Heather

Needles: Size 7 16″ circular and DPNs

Ravelry Project Page

Last week I had three projects on the needles, and despite the fact that I got my Wedding Shrug bound off, I still have three projects on the needles this week!

Sheep Baby Hat!

This is a pattern you’ll be seeing a lot of over the next few months. It’s Sheep Hat pattern from the book 60 Quick Baby Knits! Is it the cutest?! I hope I like it so much after FOUR of them. One of four got a good start this week! I’m using Knit Picks Swish Worsted, which is fantastic for baby hats because it’s washable and one of the softest yarns Knit Picks has.

Tiny Ruffle Rose Pillow Progress

The Ruffle Rose Pillow was the odd man out this week. It’s too big to carry around and when I had been home I’d been working on the wedding shrug and Vogue Sweater.

#25 Rib Yoke Topper

And that is where all the problems started. I finished the back easily enough, and ass you can see there is some crazy shit going on with the front. The bottom rib section got put on a holder to add pockets later, then stitches are cast back on and each side is worked one by one.

PROBLEMS

I finished the front as written and it was very wrong. The decreased section was way too long, and didn’t leave enough room for the side to increase back out. You can tell in the picture for the sweater and the schematics for the sweater that the decreases don’t go up that high, so I ripped one side back and tried something else.

In the picture above, the left side of the sweater is the pattern as written, then I fudged the increases to get back to the right stitch count in the short amount of space left. On the right side of the sweater I did a sssk decrease instead of ssk, and that got the decrease section in the place it should be by repeating that decrease 14 times to get down to 13 sts. That let me follow the increases as written in the pattern for the most part. I still ran out of room at the end and had to increase at a quicker rate, but as you can see it looks a ton better than the first try.

So I’ll be ripping back the left side, too, and matching the shaping for the yoke.

But how crazy is that? I don’t understand how the pattern can work out as written. My gauge is spot on. Even if it is a tiny bit off, following the pattern as written gets a REALLY bad result that can’t just be my gauge. I’m hoping there aren’t any other surprises in the rest of the pattern.

This is my project for the weekend, so hopefully I’ll have the majority of a sweater to show off next week! Baring any more incidents.

I’ve never been much of a shopper before spending extended amounts of time in Minneapolis and discovering the Mall of America: The Mall of Malls. I don’t think I can ever go to another mall again as long as I live! It’d be like eating chocolate cake and then only getting to eat Hersey’s Kisses for the rest of your life.

I was strolling along the Mall of America one day and came across this Floral Print Crochet Eternity Scarf at Urban Outfitters. I loved the idea of putting fabric together with crochet, and was determined to figure out how to do it myself.

Half Fabric Half Crochet Infinity Scarf

What You’ll Need

• 44″ by 16″ square of fabric that is the same on both sides – I used polka dot silk
• 330 – 400 yards of worsted weight yarn – I used three skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Bok Choy, Copper, and Dusk
• Crochet hooks, size 1 (2.35 mm), and size J (6 mm)
• Small single hole puncher

Directions

Holes Punched Along One End

1. With the small hole puncher, punch between 36 – 42 holes along a short end of the fabric, slightly less than 1/2″ apart.

Single Crochet Into Holes

2. With your smaller crochet hook, pull up a loop of yarn through the first hole in your fabric. Slide that loop onto your larger crochet hook. With your smaller crochet hook, pull up another loop of yarn through the second hole in your fabric. Slide it onto your larger crochet hook. With your larger crochet hook, yarn over and pull that loop through both loops on your crochet hook, completing your first single crochet stitch.

Continue in this manner – pulling up a loop of yarn through the next hole in your fabric with your smaller crochet hook, putting that loop on your larger crochet hook, and making a single crochet, until all your holes have single crochet stitches in them.

One Row Down!

3. When you are done with this first row of single crochet, chain 2 and turn. Work in double crochet until crocheted section measures 44″, so half your scarf is fabric and half your scarf is double crocheted.

All Done and Ready to Join!

4. Punch the same number of holes in the other side of fabric that you have stitches. Make sure to count so that if you lost or added a stitch along the way you can either correct it or adjust the number of holes you make in your fabric.

Joining

5. With your fabric laying over your crochet section, and being careful not to have a twist in your scarf (unless you want one!), with your smaller crochet hook pull up a loop of yarn through both the next DC and the first hole in your fabric.

Pull Up Loop Through Both Sections

And put that loop on your larger crochet hook.

Ready to Single Crochet

And complete the single crochet stitch!

Crocheting Both Pieces Together!

6. Repeat in this manner – pulling up another loop through both next DC and hole in your fabric with your small crochet hook, putting it on your larger crochet hook, and single crocheting  it, along the entire row.

Single Crocheting it Together

And you are done! Weave in your ends, and get ready to have a gigantic scarf to master!

SO BIG!

But this scarf is a winner whether you rock it doubled up or tripled up around your neck.

Triple Wrapped

I’ve been wearing it every time the temp drops below 75 and people are convinced I’m wearing two scarfs! It’s awesome!

Crochet and Fabric! Together at Last

Ravelry Project Page

I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided a sweater dress was what I needed for my next ebook. A sweater dress. It’s such a simple little concept. Just a long sweater, right?

Bubble What the What?

Not when you think it would be cute to have a ribbed bottom with a bubble skirt. I can’t even think about how many inches of this dress got frogged along the way. 15? 25? It was ugly.

But with every restart I got more determined to finish it. Because I’m stupid.

Baby Cowl, Cute Sleeves

First of all, about the styling: I finished this last weekend in Michigan. Check out my mom’s kitchen! I brought with me a bag of yarn and a backpack of clothes. If I were home in Chicago I would not be wearing a gray wife beater under it. Also, it was H.O.T. so I didn’t want to put on leggings. In a perfect world I would be wearing a black tank with leggings or fun tights.

Striped Mini Cowl

I would also be able to take a picture of the back, which has crochet button bands and a yoke button up back. But (don’t tell!) there are no buttons on this dress because I couldn’t bring myself to making anymore fabric covered buttons after my button making weekend.

Check that cute skirt!

But, while perfect these pictures are not, I think this dress turned out pretty damn cute, if I do say so myself. I’m a little angry with it, so angry I dropped it off in Chicago before I left for New York. But I’m sure once I get back I’ll love it, and once the temps drop below 80 I’ll be rocking this dress often.

Roll Cowl Neck, Y'all!

When all was said and done it is a pretty quick knit. I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted and size 9 needles so you wouldn’t die of heat stroke every time you wore it. It’s a nice loose gauge, short, with short sleeves. It took me a lot to get through but it won’t take you nearly as much strife.

EDIT: Test knitters found!

So yes, it’s a sweater dress and yes, it’s August but who wants to be my test knitter?! Just think about how cute you are going to be once fall rolls in? Email me at allyson [at] thesweatshopoflove [dot] com or comment if you are interested!

Pattern: Coming soon!

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Copper and Bok Choy

Needles: Size 9 29″ Circular and size 9 DPNs

Ravelry Page