The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Goldfish? On My Toilet

After putting this project on a mini hold for about a week and a half, I was reminded that Part One of the Goldfish Toilet Lid Cover Class is next week! So I buckled down and finished it and isn’t it hilarious?! It makes me entire bathroom happy.

The cover part is an easy knit. There are some short rows in there towards the bottom, but for the most part it knit up quickly and wasn’t boring.

The Goldfish Toilet Lid Cover pattern (a free knitpicks.com download) calls for dk weight yarn and size 6 needles. I thought knitting a toilet seat cover with dk weight yarn was completely ridiculous, so I rewrote the pattern as I was knitting it to use worsted weight yarn and size 4 needles. It’s a little snug on my seat, but I think size 5s would be perfect.

Fish? Kinda?

When I first looked at the pattern I just assumed that the fish would be intarsia-ed on. I hadn’t ever heard of duplicate stitching, much less done it before. I even googled it.

Duplicate stitching is just like cross stich! You just follow the stitches that already exist, and sew over them. It was easy!

The problem, however, is that when you use orange yarn instead of blue, and when you use whatever yarn scrapes are laying around instead of fish colors, the fish doesn’t end up looking like a fish. I thought when I started the pattern that it looked like Wilson from Cast Away, and PT thought it looked like Pikachu. The consensus now is that it’s a dog-like Pokemon. So I have a dog-like Pokemon toilet lid cover. I’m ok with it.

There is still room in the class! Interested? Sign up! Email me.

Fruity Lunch

There Are Oats in There Somewhere

I’ve been talking a lot about all the vegetables in my house, but I’ve got a lot of fruit, too. PT and I got half a bushel of apples, 1/4 a bushel of peaches, grapes and pears while we were in Michigan!

I had the most amazing oat bowl for lunch today, with peaches and grapes and apples, my mom’s granola, extra raisins, and a piece of the pumpernickle bread I made with crunchy peanut butter.

Those peaches are out of control.

Peach Pancakes and Potatoes

I made peach pancakes the other night. Peaches baked into the pancakes, with peaches sauteed in butter and brown sugar on top. Peaches can go in anything. And thank god because I’ve got a million of them!

Back from a long weekend in Michigan and I’m feeling big/tired/groggy/just totally out of it.

I don’t sleep much when I’m at my mom’s house. I stay up late watching TV and hanging with my mom (I blame the Tivo – it’s just too amazing to stop watching at a reasonable hour), and I get up early so I don’t miss anything. My mom is an early riser, so by 7, or 6 central time, I’m up and at ‘em! And then it’s go go go all day long.

Cropped Jacket at Biggby

And I ate very poorly. Lots of sweets and pizza and cheesy potatoes. My body is so mad at me. I’m sore with no reason for it! It’s not like I got any exercise at all.

And I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures, either! I pulled the camera out at Biggby because I was wearing the Vogue Cropped Jacket I worked so hard on while I was home and working away on at Biggby every day a few weeks ago.

Notice how my buttons are a little floppy? I need to reinforce them with some more yarn in the backs of them. Otherwise, I love this sweater! I wore it at least a little bit every day I was home.

PT Loves Biggby!

While PT checked his email (and celebrated the delicious Biggby coffee!)…

Early Stocking

… I worked on my stocking. I started it Saturday because I couldn’t work on anything else, with my mom being around all the time, and PT’s present would be a no go.

Moving Right Along!

Aren’t they coming out so well? That light green was exactly what I was looking for. The contrast between that light green and the red is perfect! Christmas-y, but not hit you in the face Christmas-y.

Oat Bowl!

Tomato Sandwich and Cheesy Potato Leftovers

In Michigan PT and I shopped like people going into hiding for the winter. I’m pretty sure we won’t have to go grocery shopping for months! The combination of Michigan prices, fresh Michigan produce, and having a car are just too much for us to handle.

Let the detox begin! It was so nice to have an oat bowl this morning with fresh Michigan peaches and grapes!

My lunch today was a tomato sandwich with my mom’s tomato, romaine, a little miracle whip and a pickle, with a side of leftover cheesy potatoes.

I’ve got so many veggies in my fridge my brain is exploding trying to think of what to make for dinner! Best problem ever.

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.

Newleaf Natural Grocery delivered the second produce box yesterday and it was full of fun things!

Pudge is Happy

Greens, blueberries, a pineapple, cilantro, apricots, garlic, baby carrots, and, again, bananas! I was happy to see this babies.

Pudge Rodriguez was happy to see the greens. The cat loves greens. And bread. And liquid of any kind. And the blueberries she attacked after I quick put the greens away. She just basically loves people food. Whenever I’m in the kitchen she is in there with me, sniffing out what I’m making, trying to steal nibbles of whatever I’ve got out. She is growing into her name, and I’m not talking about the catcher. (FAT! SHE IS GOING TO BE FAT!)

Banananana

I promptly made myself a big bowl of blueberry and banana oats with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a handfull of Scooters, with a slice of crunchy peanut butter and banana toast.

1/3ish cup of milk, 1/2 cup oats, half a banana, a sprinkle of blueberries, cinnamon and Scooters. These blueberries are out of control and I can’t wait to make some pancakes! Muffins? Just stick my face right in the carton? There are many possibilities.

PT's Pasta Dinner

My Lunch

PT must have also been very excited about the produce box; I found this picture of his dinner from last night on the camera. Looks like chard and lots of olives and onions. I cooked up this swiss, cucumber, mustard, and lettuce sandwich on homemade bread. It was lovely. I love having so much produce around. I feel like I never need to go grocery shopping! I need to figure out what to do with all those greens, though. Lettuce wraps? No one can eat all that in salad form.

Stupid Bag

I also finished this stupid bag. I hate it. The side seams are stupid. Why would you crochet this closed? I have half a mind to pull it out and knit the whole thing again in the round but I don’t care enough. It’s a biking bag, after all. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I just get irritated when I see how lumpy the seams are.

My pin looks good on it, though! This is the first thing I’ve put that pin on that I’ve actually knitted. I have one on all my purses and bags and jackets etc etc, but I feel good that I’m finally using it for it’s purpose.

… though I don’t really want people to know I knit that since it looks like shit. Shit. I really need to hire someone to do this marketing thing for me. I seriously suck at it.

I’ve taken a couple anti-technology days this week. It is nice out, I’ve had this eye strain related head ache for a few days, and some boy issues. I added all that up and it equalled outdoor trash reading. I finished I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci in three days, which helped. It was silly and all about how retarded boys are, with recipes, which helped. But now I’m back and I’ve got a plethora of food pictures.

So we are going to do this quick and dirty:

Homemade Personal Pizza

Earlier in the week PT and I made homemade pizzas. We haven’t done that in a really long time and I have no idea why. We should be eating pizza every day, these pizzas are so good.

Seriously? Seriously.

Mine was pineapple, caramelized onion, and roasted red pepper with fresh parmesan. PT’s was the same, plus olives, of course.

Pumpkin Cookies

I’ve been craving cookies but didn’t feel like making any, so I made cake cookies and mini cupcakes using a pumpkin cake mix. I spiced them up a little and baked them up, but I  need some big chocolate chip cookies something fierce. I’ll have to take care of that, and soon.

Grapefruit, Shrimp, and Avocado Salad

We have been looking for ways to eat everything in our produce box, so PT found a recipe that used the greens and grapefruit in this amazing salad. It had a light citrus/mustard vinaigrette on top! Very good. And the grapefruit was outstanding.

The Diakon

And speaking of the produce box, I tackled the diakon Friday. It looks a lot like a huge white carrot and tastes really peppery, slightly milder than a regular red radish, but, obviously, much larger.

Potato Stir Fry

I thought I would potato stir fry it up, with potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Outdoor Stir Fry

I finished it with broccoli, snap peas (from the produce box), and corn. Throw a little ketchup on that and eat it outside? The perfect summer meal.

Drool

And then there was the banana. I knew exactly what to do with this beauty. But not before I peeled it slowly, smelling it, caressing it. Loving it like my own child I was about to eat.

Oats and Toast, Banana Style

The exaggeration thing I do is going to get in the way again from expressing how I actually feel, but this was the best breakfast I’ve had in a really, really long time. I chopped up half that banana and put it in my oats with a nectarine from the produce box. Also in the mix? Honey nut Scooters (Malt-O-Meal Cheerios), raisins, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. The rest of that banana went with peanut butter on my toast.

If for some reason I wanted my final meal to be nutritional (I always answer that question with a very particular brownie sundae I’ll most likely describe to you in full someday), it would be this meal. Banana? Let me count the ways.

French Toast with Raspberries

This morning I cooked up some french toast, and sprinkled some raspberries on top. Simple and delicious and the perfect Sunday morning breakfast.

So, technology, thanks for the break. I appreciated it. Now to get to my inbox.