The Sweatshop of Love Blog

This is my 200th post! I’ve been psyching myself out a little about it. I saw it coming for a while, and in the back of my mind I was trying to plan something big. It’s 200! That is a lot of posts. That is a big deal!

Then I just let it happen. The Sweatshop of Lover’s Blog’s 200th post just naturally fell on the one year anniversary of the first time PT took me out on a date.

PT Working Hard

PT and I met at a Halloween party last year and, thanks to the magic of facebook, he found me and asked me out. We met at Green Eye the following Thursday, October 30th. PT was late and had no money. And when he went to the ATM to get money out, he had no money in his checking account to take out.

So, naturally, I didn’t think he liked me. I just giggled, paid for the beers, and figured I wouldn’t hear from him again.

Then, a year later, we are making pumpkin ravioli in the yellow kitchen of the apartment we share. So what do I know?

Anniversary Bouquet

I’m not anti-anniversary or anti-Valentine’s Day, but I am anti- ‘oh, it’s our anniversary? We better go out to dinner.’ It’s just boring. And PT and I don’t need an excuse to spend time together.

So we made pumpkin ravioli! I had half a pumpkin in the fridge already. The only ingredient we needed was fresh sage. The only fresh sage that Strack and Van Til had was super fancy organic sage wrapped up like a bouquet of flowers that cost $7.20. $7.20! That was more than the bottle of wine we bought for the night.

Ready to Bake!

We pulled out the pasta maker and made up some wheat pasta and the pumpkin filling. We stuffed and cooked the little ravioli, then made a butter, sage, and brown sugar sauce to pour over them while the browned in the oven.

Hello, Lover

Before we dug in we sprinkled with some Parmesan and more brown sugar.

Oohhhh!

The $7.20 sage really does make a huge impact on the taste of this dish. All the flavors are really subtle except the sage! And those browned and sugared leaves are amazing.

PT and Sequence

Me and Pudge Rodriguez

After dinner we opened the anniversary present we bought ourselves – Sequence!

And Pudge couldn’t keep herself away.

I can’t think of a better topic for my 200th post. PT is fast asleep next to me on the couch in the blue room. The Michigan game is about to start and I’ve got yarn piled up next to me just waiting to be turned into my rebound project. It’s Halloween! Life is good, y’all.

And I’ll tell you right now what Post 201 is going to be. My costume is ready and tonight is going to be a blast. Happy Halloween!

Loving Frank Update: Failure. Book club is in 2 hours and I’ve got 100+ pages to go. I admit defeat.

Just got the newsletter out and I’m so excited about the Treefree Paper Yarn Knitted Cuff Classes! You remember when I was working with this a few months ago. Hopefully this handmade yarn will be in in the next couple weeks and ready to be worked with in July. Curious about knitting with paper? Sign up! Especially since this stuff is better than paper. Read all about it at Rich’s site.

Beaded Cuff

In class we will be knitting a beaded cuff and a lace cuff.

Laced Paper Cuff

The Treefree Yarn is included in the price of the class, and you will knit two cuffs whether you sign up for the two night project class on July 8th and 15th, or the workshop class on Sunday, July 26th from 1-4.

Yesterday, still feeling bad about the food (?) we ate Friday night, PT and I decided the dinner party we had planned would be some amazing pasta. Our food soul mates Kasia and Anders came over so we weren’t afraid to get a little crazy.

Table Ready!

PT and I handmade some pasta, baked some fish, cooked up some mussels and shrimp in some spicy sauce, and sat down to eat.

Seafood Pasta, Beet Salad

Spicy was an understatement. See how pretty it is? I couldn’t even eat it. But luckily the spice level was perfect for PT, Kasia, and Anders, who seemed pleased. PT even ate what I couldn’t, so it must have been good.

Next time less adobo. Mental note made.

In an effort to be more productive this afternoon/not be depressed, I’ve decided to get out. I don’t know what the deal is lately; I get home from work between 1:10-1:30, make some lunch, do some cooking, sit to do some work on my computer and at 3:30-4:00 I hit a wall. Why am I sitting at home? Why aren’t I a) working a real job? b) trying harder to be a real person? c) at least cleaning the bathroom? d) standing on a street corner begging for students? e) being MORE.

The funny thing is that I do a lot. I never turn the tv on in the afternoons unless there is a baseball game to watch. I’m pretty dedicated to this blog, I do a lot of writing and reading and cooking. I plan classes and write patterns. I’m not sitting watching Maury. I guess when you are kind of self employed not feeling like you do enough comes with the territory. I could always be doing more. There are always things I mean to do but still don’t get around to, even with all the time I have to do everything. I think everyone feels that way, though.

So, here I am at New Wave Coffee, where I teach most of my classes. It is good to be with people and not just with the cats (sorry Pudge and Velma). It is good to have an excuse to keep my clothes on. And it is good to have an excuse to sit at a table, at the computer, a notebook open next to me, my planner open next to me, and feel on the ball.

Busy New Wave!

Feeling pretty pretentious, though. PT let me borrow his fancy new Mac because my old lady doesn’t have wireless internet connection, so I’m sitting here with PT’s Mac, listening to my Ipod, however old and refurbished, blogging. The only thing missing is my black rimmed glasses, Threadless t-shirt, and pink leggings. My friend Nomi came in a bit ago and we are sharing a table out of necessity; I was lucky enough to snag this table just as someone was leaving. She spotted the Mac and grazed it lovingly with her hand.

“Oh is this the new one? Its so nice.”

“Oh it isn’t mine!” I was quick to point out. “It is Pat Tracy’s. He let me borrow it.”

“Wow,” she awed. “He must really like you.”

Seriously. Only 1% of all laptop owners have Macs, which I find hard to believe considering I look around New Wave and all I see are Macs. I can safely say I will never own one, I’m just not that high of a roller. I hope to always be dating a boy with one, though.

PT's Mussels

Thanks to Mark Bittman, PT and I made this amazing meal last night. Mussels and homemade linguine in spicy garlic sauce. We pretty much just made the recipe up, but if it hadn’t been for Mark, we would have just eaten out of the fridge. Mussels are only like $2.99 a pound! Who knew? This was one of the most expensive meals we have ever made, and it cost under $8 for both of us, and PT’s lunch today.

So, here I am at New Wave. I’ve emailed everyone that needs to be emailed. I’ve written this blog. Now for the real work. I’m writing a book. That is right. I’m sitting in a coffee shop, writing a book on my boyfriend’s fancy Mac. GOD. If the 15 year old Allyson could see me right now, all skinny and cool. The 15 year old Allyson, still 180 pounds and zitty, never having had a boyfriend, living in the woods of Allendale, MI, would lose her shit.

It was sunny and beautiful all weekend, and yesterday, (and today) and that resulted in not a lot of progress with any knitting.In Sunday’s Sweater Club I pulled out the sweater dress after retiring that basically the entire week to work on the socks. I’m working the under arm part, still in moss stitch, for three inches before I start ribbing for the skirt. It isn’t boring as much as I would just rather be entrelacing!

I'm in Love

Isn’t it cute? I love doing it! I wake up early and knit a few rounds while watching The Today Show before work. And see my open window! It is getting chilly, I’m just sitting here with a tank top on but I’m being stubborn. My feet are blistered from all the walking I did today. My legs are sore from all the biking! I’m happy. Chicago and I are working on our relationship. We broke up hard core in January and it is going to take more than a random 72 degree March day to get me back, but he is moving in the right direction.

Sea Food Crazy

It helps that I cracked out the pasta maker this weekend again and we cooked up an excellent sea food pasta dinner. PT was thinking shrimp, but we saw this random bag of, like, octopus, muscles, shrimp, and imitation crab for $4 so we grabbed it. We threw it in the pot with onion, red pepper, broccoli, garlic and tomato sauce and out came a very delicious dinner!

Speaking of dinner, I should get on that. After my afternoon Shamrock Shake (oh yes, McDonald’s and I hung out for a bit this afternoon for the first time in years) my tummy is a little uneasy. It did sound like a great idea at the time, though.

I know I’ve already posted a picture of the Amigurumi duck, but I finished the one I’m sending as a baby gift and it was too cute to not post again.

I Love This Duck

I also love the Target brand Tums bottle in the background of this picture. Behold:

Potpie Genius! The Crumble Top

Friday night potpie dinner!

It was enjoyed all weekend, as opposed to last time when it was enjoyed in one sitting. That was painful.

Speaking of pain, though, the Dykhuizen household is now the proud owner of a pasta maker. And it worked very hard Saturday afternoon.

Pasta Explosion

Manicotti, spinach and mushroom ravioli, squash ravioli, and linguine. Whew. It hurts to remember.

What Better Way to Start a Pasta Dinner?

Egg rolls, of course! Or spring rolls? I don’t know. But they were delicious. And now I have to stop talking about food because my tummy is still recovering.

Back At It!

After the Grandma’s Hat break I got back to working on the sweater jacket. I finished the second sleeve and am working on the neck now. It is hard to pick up stitches with the Homespun yarn because you pick up the big stitches and then knit front and back and front in the stitch with the smaller needles and yarn. It is looking even so far so I’m going to go with it. After this I’m just knitting the button bands! This sweater has knit up so quickly! I love it.

Time to review Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for book club tonight! And eat some pasta.