The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Seven months ago I released my first collection of patterns, my Summer Tour, and today it’s time for more! We can’t knit summer sweaters all year long, after all.

This ebook includes 8 winter knitting patterns – 2 sweaters, a snood, a cowl, a hat, some mittens, hand warmers, and a sweater dress. It’s $16 for them all, or if you are only interested in 1 or 2 of them they are available to purchase individually.

Selfish knitting is right around the corner! Time to start planning now.

Previously only available as a kit, the Madison Cowl and Madison Hand Warmers patterns are finally stand alones!

Madison Cowl and Hand Warmers

Madison Cowl Pattern

Materials:
One skein Vanna’s Choice Worsted Weight Yarn. US 7 / 4.5mm straight needles. Four 1″ buttons.

Gauge:
18 st and 24 rows = 4″ St st

Size:
Width: 8″ Length: 23″

Madison Hand Warmers

Madison Hand Warmers Pattern

Materials:
One skein Vanna’s Choice Worsted Weight Yarn. US 7 / 4.5mm straight needles. Two 1/2″ buttons.

Gauge:
18 st and 24 rows = 4″ St st

Size:
Width: 3 1/2″ Length: 5 1/2″

The Madison Cowl pattern can be purchased individually for $3.50.

The Madison Hand Warmers pattern can be purchased individually for $3.

Both of these patterns are part of my Hello Winter! Collection of Knitting Patterns! See all the patterns in the collection here.

Madison Cowl Ravelry Page ~ Madison Hand Warmers Ravelry Page

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!

It is amazing how much can be accomplished in just one little year. Today is my one year blog anniversary! I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into a year ago, but I am so happy I did. I’ve written more in this past year than I wrote in four years of writing school. I’ve knit more this past year than I ever have before. And I’ve taught more classes than I ever have before.

And, of course, the launch of the Knit Kits is a huge step forward for my little Sweatshop. And to thank you for being a part of this crazy year we are hosting a Madison Kit Giveaway!

Brynn Rockin Out

Win a Madison Cowl Kit or a Madison Hand Warmer Kit! To enter, leave a comment about which knit kit you want, which color, and how you are planning on wearing it. Tweet it with a @sweatshopoflove for bonus points!

You have until the Super Bowl (that is Sunday, February 7th) to enter! Our winners will be announced Monday, February 8th.

HOTT!

And you can take your style cues from our Madison Kit model, Brynn! She rocks the Madison Cowl and Hand Warmers so well it was like we made them for her.

Love It!

She had some lovely things to say about what she was modeling, too! “I am amazed at the vintage feel of the pattern; it makes this set especially unique.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  I also love how the gloves are like little coats for your hands!  I can still rummage through my purse, flick my hair out of my face and get things done without constantly pulling gloves on and off.  The cowl feels like a hug around the neck! It not only kept me warm doing my chilly morning shoot, but it didn’t feel confining.  Vintage fashion meets function – yes, please.”

Thanks, Brynn!

How sweet! And how cute is her outfit? I couldn’t NOT make this a Style Your Knits.

Navy Floral Strapless Dress: Vintage (Knee Deep in Pilsen)

Cropped Tuxedo Jacket: Twenty8Twelve

Pale Pink Wool Cardigan: I bought it in like 9^th grade!

Faux Croc Leggings: American Apparel

Belt: Vintage (Knee Deep in Pilsen)

Suede Booties: Aldo

ZigZag Bracelet: Vintage (Randolph Street Market)

And Tara took all these cute pics! She wanted to give a shout out, “To Atomix and it’s awesome patrons for being so cool with us shooting in and around the coffee shop. Everyone was really radical about it.”