The Sweatshop of Love Blog

My only real goal this past weekend was to finish my second Slouchy Beret for the Heather, the second blog giveaway winner. I mailed the first one out Saturday morning, well ahead of schedule, so I was confident I could knock the other one out.

I got some Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick N Quick and knit it all afternoon. I blocked it on a plate, put it on the radiator so it would dry faster, and in the morning I had a cute pink hat!

Pink Slouchy Beret

Or, that was how it was supposed to go. Sunday morning I checked on it and about died.

BURNED!

It got torched on the radiator!

My Poor Hat!

I have put projects on the radiator to dry since the beginning of time and this has never happened before! I throw my wet mittens, socks, hats, and scarves on the radiator when I come in from a snow storm. So what the hell happened?!

I told my mom, who said, ‘Oh man, the woman you are sending it to is going to be so disappointed to see that.’

New Hat

Don’t think I didn’t think of it! But of course I can’t send someone a hat that looks like I used it to clean up cat puke. The second hat, however, is going a little slower. Once you finish a project it is hard to get the motivation to start the same exact thing over again.

Have you ever had a similar knitting disaster?

But I’ll finish it this afternoon, NOT block it on the radiator, and hopefully it will be dry by Thursday.

Breakfast Makes it Better

I always turn to pancakes when I’m feeling sad/sick/like I want to kill someone, and these pancakes with my mom’s apple  butter and potatoes made me feel better.

Homemade Tuna Helper

So does Homemade Tuna Helper. I don’t know what it is about shell shaped pasta. It just makes me feel so good. And I love when my food pictures have yarn in them.

Cabled Belt

The yarn next to dinner is from the Cabled Belt from the 2008 Winter issue of Vogue Knitting.

Picture in the Magazine

I have been lazily knitting it because I don’t plan on wearing it until New Years Eve. How fun is it to plan an outfit around a belt?!

The only people on Ravelry to knit it have used gold or grey yarn, but when I saw the picture I knew it had to be in a bright color. The cable pattern is very intuitive and it is knitting up quickly despite the size 5 needles I’m using.

And yes, I’m keeping this belt as far away from the radiator as I possibly can!

Yesterday at this time I was sitting outside on the porch with a glass of iced tea, a burrito, and A History of Love.

Outdoor Burrito!

Today I’m inside huddled around a mug of hot tea, eating hot oatmeal and toast for lunch, and happy about the warmth from my laptop on my legs. Shesh.

I’m not discouraged, though. I know this is only temporary. And I’ve got work to do! I’ve got to finish patching up that quilt I was working on last week, and the sewing machine is not going to make it to the porch. I’ve got to blog! Catch up on some emailing! So really, I should be happy about 52 rainy degrees.

Mother’s Day is next weekend, and I’ve gotten a couple emails from students asking about Mother’s Day presents. For the most part they have been simple problems; questions about toys, about knitted flower patterns. Of course Lori has to throw me a curve ball with this shawl pattern. It is cute, isn’t it? But damn, it is a hard pattern to read and explain over email. I was getting so frustrated with it I pulled out some needles and tried it myself.

First 10 Rows

See those weird Xs?

8-St Cross Pattern

I can see once you get the hang of it this being easy and moving along, but I can’t lie. It took me three tries to work it out. As I was looking at the pattern and working on the shawl I was thinking I would give it to my mom for Mother’s Day or her birthday (on May 31st), but I don’t like how it is looking with this yarn, so I’m just going to pull it out. I’m glad I tried it, though! Hopefully these pictures and my trials and errors help Lori get this project done.

I, on the other hand, am still in the same place I was Sunday with my socks! I plan on taking in a couple baseball games this afternoon, though, so I’ll be able to turn that heel.

In the mean time, back to the sewing machine.

Oh! And the Anniversary Party is Saturday! Are you coming?

Hat, Not Headband

I feel kind of weird about posting pictures of this hat made by a complete stranger. Won’t it be weird if she is googling one day and comes across this? But, it is fixed, and will live to keep heads warm again.

In class I always joke about knitting emergencies! Namely when I have to run to refill my drink or use the rest room. Before I get up I tell my students to not have a knitting emergency while I’m gone. Sometimes I get emails from students titled ‘Knitting Emergency!’ and I know that has to be bad.

MAJOR Knitting Emergency

This is a knitting emergency if I have ever seen one. According to Clare, the unsuspecting wearer of this knitting emergency, it was a whole hat when she left the house, but by the time she got to work it was a headband.

The problem? The knitter of this hat cut her tails very short without weaving them in. You can see stitches falling out at the color changes, too. I’ll be working on this poor thing tonight. It can be saved! Otherwise Clare’s brother will kick her ass.

PT got some surprise money Monday and wanted to treat us to a nice meal out. We don’t eat out much, you have probably noticed, so every time we do it is a big event. We even counted the different restaurants we have been to since we started dating, and Lula is now number 11.

Spicy Peanut Butter Sandwich

I ordered the spicy peanut butter sandwich with potatoes. Our waitress was impervious to my adorableness, because we kept having exchanges like:

“Ok that sandwich comes with potatoes, a salad, or coleslaw.”

“Oh, well potatoes!”

“Great.”

“Is that really even an option? Who would order anything but potatoes?!”

“… and you sir?”

Moroccan Chickpea Sweet Potato Tagine

‘Sir’ got the tagine. We have attempted to make something like this before that didn’t turn out nearly as well. I have a feeling we are going to try it again very soon. This was delicious.

Our appetizer order got lost in the shuffle, so we waited a few extra minutes. To apologize Lula sent us over a slice of the carrot cake on the house! Completely unnecessary but heartily appreciated and devoured before I even considered taking a picture of it. It oozed oil with every bite, in the best way possible. It was just a super easy way of making sure we would be back, and oh we will be.