The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Shrimp Stir Fry with Brown Rice

The cold rain was a nice motivator for PT and I to stay in last night.

(Another untimely Tigers loss and Twins win made it seem like we were both home alone. The Central is still up for grabs. If the Tigers win and Twins lose today the Tigers will win the Central for the first time since 1987. But if the Tigers lose I have to be pissed all day and they have to win tomorrow.)

We made some teriyaki shrimp stir fry with red pepper, broccoli, pineapple, shrimp, and onion, with brown rice. It was so good! I love just throwing things together with some teriyaki stir fry sauce and getting a meal like this.

Cute Packaging!

Note, Pin, and YARN!

I mentioned earlier this week that I won a skein of Kitchen Sink Dyeworks yarn, and it came in yesterday while I was watching The Office!

It was wrapped really cute, came with a handwritten note and a KSD button! It was so sweet, like getting a present from a friend. I will be buying yarn from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks in the future. See what little special touches do?!

And I’m blown away by how beautiful this yarn is! I can’t wait to dive into it.

Any suggestions? I’ve only got 390 yards. I’m thinking lacy shawl? Help!

Workout Fuel

Today was the Michigan/Michigan State game and the Minnesota/Wisconsin game. These are big games; Michigan and Michigan State hate the crap out of each other, and PT was telling me that it’s the same kind of thing with Minnesota and Wisconsin. Neither games were being broadcast on regular TV so we planned to go to the gym to watch them. We made broccoli and onion omelets with pepper jack cheese and a piece of PB&J pumpernickel toast to fuel our workout!

Burritos and Fresh Guacamole

We ran/walked for about two hours while watching Michigan AND Minnesota lose. It was a painful bike ride home! We were tired, sore, and deflated by two close losses. So we made burritos with red pepper, pinto beans, onion, fresh guacamole, black bean and corn salsa, and cabbage.

Girl Friday Started (!)

And I did a bad thing. The Tigers were getting blown out last night, I was sad, it was 8-0, it was rainy and I was cold and baseball sucks and before I knew it I had Girl Friday cast on. Yes, I should be working on presents! But I couldn’t help it.

I figure it’s better to indulge in knitting than, like, a pan of brownies.

And it’s providence because Girl Friday (my Ravelry page) is a Kitchen Sink Dyeworks pattern!

That counts as full circle, right?

I cast on for both front panels and the back, though. I hate knitting a lot of separate pieces. I’m using Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool, the same yarn I used for the Vogue Cropped Jacket, but in natural.

I checked the gauge at it was so on I creeped myself out. It was exactly exactly exactly on with size 8s. I have never seen a gauge so perfect, even when I used the exact yarn and needles a pattern called for. I can’t wait to start the lace pattern!

… right now!

Last Bounty

Since PT and I broke up and I can’t afford to keep getting the produce boxes from Newleaf by myself, this is the last box. Just to torture me further this had to be the best box yet:

Blueberries, oranges, apples, broccoli, zucchini, and bananas are some of my favorite things in life. I have no idea what those green pointy things are on the right there. Ideas? Help? Please! And more kale and a head of lettuce, I think. Sigh. I’ll miss it. And Pudge Rodriguez will miss it, too.

So, I can cook, right? I throw things together and it normally turns out.

Omelet? Kinda?

... Maybe?

Not the case with omelets. I love omelets and make them pretty often. 9 times out of 10 they look like this. My problem is that I want to put too many things in them and then they fall apart because there isn’t enough egg. This ‘omelet’ had broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, and corn in it, with some cheddar sprinkled on top. It’s just too much stuff for 3 eggs.

Despite how it looked, though, it was really good. I had completely forgotten I had eggs. That is the one complaint I will make about the produce box; I felt like I never knew what I had in my fridge. I opened my crisper drawer last night and had to do a clean sweep (never got to the cilantro from a few weeks back – that was ugly). When you forget you have entire pineapple in your fridge, you have lost control. Three produce boxes a month, instead of four, would have set me up for life. If I cared enough about money to actually make it.

Sock #1 Done

So Pretty!

Something I do care about making? Socks. I finished one of these cute socks yesterday. It was kind of bitter sweet, actually. When I started it PT and I were still kinda together. It was my comfort sock, my no brainer pattern I was sadly knitting in the quiet.

Does that happen to you? You remember what you were doing or going through when you were knitting a project much much later when you pull that project out? I’ve always done that. I have a piece of pottery I made in high school the week George Harrison died, and I remember that when I see it. I have a shawl I was working on when I moved to college that I remember working on in the room I grew up in that doesn’t exist anymore.

Two-Texture Mittens

So, I started these last night. I’ve had these mittens in my head for a while; I am almost done with the outline for my pattern/recipe book and these are in there. I just need a pattern for them! I always forget how much time you have on your hands after a break up. Time to be ultra productive. Half a two-texture-mitten-in-one-night productive.

I left out the thumb, changing from knitting in the round on the double pointed needles to back and forth for the size of my thumb. I’m going to go back and pick those stitches up later with the cream yarn. I know, I know. Genius!

… and I’ll probably have it done tonight.

After a surprisingly successful World Wide Knit in Public Day, (surprisingly successful meaning Lori, Gil, Martin and I ate an entire freezer bag of seriously delicious chocolate chip cookies that Lori made and brought for us) I needed a nutritious dinner.

Veggie Stir Fry Rice

PT and I used the left over rice from last night’s scallop dinner and stir fried up some carrots, broccoli, onions, and radishes for an amazing batch of veggie stir fry. We used some teriyaki stir fry sauce, a little soy sauce, and some ginger! This was sweet and crisp and exactly what I needed to combat all the sugar I ate earlier in the day.

We kept that healthy feeling going and (I’m a total liar. After dinner we met up with some dodgeball playing friends, then had some time to kill before rocking some Polish karaoke up on Division and Central Park. We went to El Cid on Kedzie and ate some nachos with cheese and guacamole and beans! Then we needed dessert so we walked across the street to McDonalds and got soft serve cones. The correct beginning of this paragraph is, ‘We were huge fatties, and to get back on track we’) Muffin Clubbed our way over to the Logan Square Farmers Market this morning before Sweater Club.

Bounty

We got some weird looking long radishes, a lot of mushrooms, and green garlic that I assumed was scallions before Vera corrected me. Green garlic is like a cross between a scallion and garlic, apparently, and can be used like a scallion. She totally talked me into it and I’m glad she did.

Chopped and Ready to Go!

We had omelets on the brain, so we chopped a few mushrooms, a radish, and the entire green garlic, stalk and all.

Best. Omelet. Ever.

See how pretty they turned out?! I’m so proud! You know I have a problem with the omelet flipping. We sprinkled some parmesan on the top and it was the perfect cheese. Served with potatoes? I savored every bite.

And now we have a shit ton of mushrooms, radishes, and green garlic! What to do with mushrooms? Can you give me a P-I-Z-Z-A! Hellz yeah! I’ve been craving pizza something fierce and what better excuse to bake one up than a fridge full of mushrooms?

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

My sweater dress (pervs) is only at 6 3/4 inches, of 26. I need little goals to get me through, so at the 10 inch mark I’m making a sleeve, dammit. If I can get there with my sanity.

In the mean time, I have a lot of asparagus to eat.

The Most Perfect Omelet I've Ever Made

Breakfast for dinner (love!) was an asparagus, tomato, and spinach omelet with feta cheese and potatoes. And it actually looks like an omelet instead of looking like scrambled eggs with vegetables in it.

It Fits in a Regular Bowl!

For lunch today I had pasta with broccoli, asparagus, and spinach with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. I should have thrown some carrot in it for some color but I didn’t think of it until I was already eating it. Asparagus pasta is great though!

Raisin Granola Bars

Yesterday was granola bar day. Not only was I running low but PT had a special request for some. You can tell this is my batch because of all the raisins. He is not a big fan of nature’s candy, which blows my mind since raisins are all over delicious.

After Class Snack

They are just so cute and delicious. And much cheaper when you make them yourself. I had one when I got home from class last night. Class was a little out of control…

Kind of an Elephant

Brijeet set out to make an elephant but ended up with a dildo fully equipped with clitoral stimulator. We also decided that the problem with Playing With the Grown-Ups was the lack of virginity losing. And that Nicolas Cage and Sandra Bullock should be in a romantic comedy together instead of Nicolas trying to save the world from armageddon (again) and Sandra pretending to be 24. I’m going to go ahead and say that we were a shining beacon of lively laughter and that everyone wished they were our friends, but we could have been the obnoxious table everyone wished would just shut up about clitorises already. It is truly hard to tell.

I’m really excited about Sweater Club! Starting Thursday, March 5th, every Thursday night and Sunday morning will be dedicated to sweater knitting! When you sign up for this class you get two months worth of classes – the full Sweater Club is $120, Thursday nights and Sunday mornings, the half Sweater Club is $75, one day a week.

So far three people have signed up! As added motivation for you to join us, here are their sweaters:

Brijeet's Sweater

Brijeet has chosen this cute cabled tunic-y sweater knit in a round tube, then picking up the sleves seperately.

Laura's Sweater

Laura is knitting this cute tunic sweater which also has picked up sleeves and bottom panels, with button sleeves.

Lori's Sweater

And Lori’s sweater is this beautiful patterned cardigan. She wants a hood so we are going to extend the neckline up for a big, roomy hood.

We are picking out more inexpensive yarn to use as well. Brijeet’s sweater calls for baby alpaca, for instance, and god knows she isn’t buying 14 skeins of that. Laura found a great yarn on Knitpicks.com that is less than half the price of the yarn her sweater calls for and is very close to the same blend.

My sweater for sweater club?

My Sweater

Also out of Fitted Knits (where Laura found her sweater, and one of my favorite knit pattern books), this fun cardigan just has to be mine. I’m probably going to end up starting it early, since my lace and colorwork sweater is almost finished! I’m seaming the arms today! I’m going to use Lionbrand Homespun Yarn for the fuzzy inside, I think two strands held together, and Carron Simply Soft for the contrast yarn. I’m going to take advantage of the 50 degree weather tomorrow by walking over to Joanns and picking it all up! I’m excited to get started.

I also came to a realization yesterday. I’ve been trying to eat my pasta and veggie meals out of my biggest bowl, and it just doesn’t work anymore. I put in too many vegetables. I finally gave up.

Mixing Bowl

I used my smallest mixing bowl for my lunch. Normally I think it is bad to have to eat out of a mixing bowl, but when the problem is that I can’t decide which vegetable to mix with my pasta so I chose all of them – carrot, broccoli, green pepper – not to mention black beans. Maybe I need bigger bowls? Just so I don’t have to say I eat out of a mixing bowl.

Breakfast for Dinner!

And my favorite thing, breakfast for dinner, happened last night! I mixed up some amazing veggie filled omelets – corn, tomato, green pepper, onion, and black beans – with very crispy, onion and garlicy potatos. My mommy sent me home with a dozen eggs after our Michigan trip last week, and it was about time we used some up.

So sign up for Sweater Club! I’ll help you pick out a sweater and the less-expensive version of the yarn you need and we will knit it in two months. Email me with questions!