The Sweatshop of Love Blog

First of all, thank you so much for all your kind words. It’s good to know that there are so many animal lovers out there, and that they are all my friends. I couldn’t even write those two sentences without getting a little teary!

All of your facebook, twitter, and blog comments meant a lot to me. Thank you so much. I keep spontaneously hugging poor Velma and Pudge Rodriguez, and I know they are sick of it because they have started hiding under chairs and tables, but they will get the brunt of my Oliver missing from now on.

Mommy's Shawl

What better time to finish my mom’s Glorified Necklace! Mommy, I hope it makes you feel better! It’s really pretty. Pre-blocked it looked like a big mess, but post-block it looks fabulous. You will get it in about two months, and then we can be twins.

Body Finished!

And since I’m not even ashamed anymore, the body of my Girl Friday sweater is finished! I was about to finish the back when I last check in, and now both fronts are done. I didn’t bind off the tops because I feel the need to pick up stitches in my future. I’m just leaving them all live until I figure otherwise.

Sleeeeeeeves...

And now. I’m working. On these. Sleeves. I’ve hit a wall with the sleeves! I don’t know why. I feel like I’ve been knitting them forever! And I’m pretty sure I started them Tuesday.

Girl Friday might take a back seat this weekend, though. I’ve got my sights set on my sewing machine.

Blue Room Wall Organizer

So yes, the blue room is done and we love it and I’ve got my work table up and functioning and it’s great.

But I need this wall organizer!

A couple years ago I bought this easy sewing book, Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing, for a friend’s birthday, but then I got sick, and then I didn’t see her for two years, and now the book is mine!

And it’s got this great pattern in it for this walk hanging organizer. So I’m going to attempt it.

...um?

Even though there are like 4 pages of directions and this chart with lots of numbers on it that I’m going to ignore.

But, it is going to be a rainy weekend, and I’ve got the blue room to spread out in. I’m guessing it’s going to be a smashing success! (nervous laughter)

I also want to make a message board, kind of like this, but, you know, not really ugly.

So I’ve got my hands full! First up, though, I’m having a couple girlfriends over for dinner. I’ve got a pumpkin in the oven, bread rising on the stove, and a bottle of cheap wine in my purse.

Any menu guesses?!

It is hard to put into words just how much a pet means to you.

There are pet people and there are non pet people. As a pet person I know I always assume that you aren’t a pet person until you prove otherwise. Even people who have pets sometimes aren’t real pet people, so I wait for a story. I need to hear a story about how your cat puked inside your favorite shoes and you didn’t realize it until you were running out the door, and slipped your foot inside your shoe, and you, laughing, were so late for work! Or how you brought a boy to your house for the first time only to find, upon opening the front door, that your dog had pooped all over your living room. Laughing.

Or how you are always covered with hair!

Or how your cat just knows when you are upset. How she does her own thing until you’ve had a bad day at work and then she doesn’t leave you alone.

Or how your dog helps you get out of bed in the morning and go for that run you never want to take.

Or how you are so sad because your dog died.

Oliver

I’m sitting in New Wave all teary, because I know that if I were at home I would just be crying and doing nothing . So I’m here, looking like a crazy person, probably, because Oliver died.

It is amazing how much we love our animals. My family got Oliver when I was 13. He has been a part of my life for over half of it. And he died. And part of me feels very silly for sitting in New Wave crying about a dog, but that is just the part of me playing to the people who didn’t grow up with animals. Who don’t have a dog or cat at home. Who don’t know what it’s like to love and be loved by a dog.

But for the rest of us: God it sucks. Because you can’t tell them how much you love them before they die, you just have to hope they know. And you can’t explain to your other animals where their brother went. And you want to apologize for being so sad because, sure, he is ‘just a dog’, but he isn’t just a dog. He was there every time you came home and was happier than anyone will ever be to see you. He protected you while you slept, and, no matter how sweet he was to you, he would kill anyone who tried to get into your house.

We made pickles together.

We hung out together while everyone else was working.

He sneaks his cute face into many pictures.

I’m not going to make it back to Michigan until Thanksgiving. I know that, despite all the people and all the other animals, it is going to feel so lonely. And I’ll probably get killed by an intruder. And my brother Matthew will have to carry all the wood to the fire pit by himself because Oliver won’t be there to help. And Papa will be terrible at cards because he lost his good luck charm.

… now I’m just torturing myself. I’m going to go home, cuddle my kitties, and make some pancakes.

You know that moment when you realize people think you are weird? Before that moment you think everyone is like you. You think everyone likes to lay in fields to let bugs crawl on them and watch old black and white movies with their moms and hand sew Barbie clothes out of quilt squares.

Home Sweet Home

We moved into this house when I was five. Isn’t it cute? But, I was the girl who lived in the log cabin who didn’t go to church. I come back and I’m still that girl. I still don’t like leaving the compound while I’m here, despite being a grown woman.

Home Sweet... kinda

But why would I want to leave? This is my tent.

Oliver

Batley

These are my puppies.

They Couldn't Fly If They Wanted To

The ducks, making a run for it around the barn.

Pete The Llama

Is a Happy Llama

This is Pete the Llama! I kept telling him to get the hay out of his teeth for the picture but he said he liked it and was going to eat it later. What can I say? He lives in a barn.

Marshall the Goat

Marshall the Goat wears a dog collar attached to a long rope tied to the clothes line because he is a very bad goat that likes to escape and eat the neighbor’s garden. This is quite a feat since the neighbor’s garden is quite a walk.

Marshall: GAH! DUCKS! PLAY! DUCKS!

The ducks, who wander free, like to torture Marshall the Goat by playing very close to him, but just out of reach, so Marshall runs up to them, only to have the rope snap him back. This is what you get when you are a very bad goat.

Cherry Tomatoes

Cucumbers!

My mom has scoped out areas around the house that get the most sun and planted there. The house is mostly covered by trees so there isn’t a lot of room. But the tomatoes and cucumbers are thriving! I spent yesterday morning watering in my bare feet with the animals.

Arnold, The Big Man

Arnold came out to see what I was up to. He is a hunter and spends a lot of time wandering through the woods, eating bunnies, squirrels, and birds.

VERY Cute Killer

But he is so cute you don’t mind he is a ruthless killer.

Garden Memorial

My uncle died last summer and his ashes are in this corner, with Uncle Dave’s, who has been there for a while. It’s a really nice spot to have your ashes, I think, and they get visits by ducks and cats and dogs and people.

2/3 of me thinks: I’d be really happy here if I were dead, too. 1/3 of me thinks: I’d be really happy here. My little brother is looking at buying cute brick houses on some land for like $60,000. If I could figure out a way to make money living in a cute brick house around here with land so I could garden and have chickens and not need to interact with anyone, 33% of me would jump at the chance. That is, like, a leg.

I would really need a way to make money that didn’t involve anyone else, though, considering I’m still a total freak to everyone who lives here. So I like killing babies, taxes, gays, and socialized health care! Does that make me a bad person?

… yeah, I can’t live here.