The Sweatshop of Lovers Blog

I’ve been taking care of my little tomato seeds, then tiny plant, then huge plant, just waiting for the day when I could finally put it in my Topsy Turvy.

Topsy Turvy; All Ready To Go!

Today was the day! And I, of course, had no idea what I was getting into. Reading these directions you would think you were doing a brain transplant. But, from the pictures I gathered that you put the plant in the spongy thing:

Plant in Spongy Thing

Then, you put the spongy thing back into the Topsy Turvy, fill it with dirt (I had enough to get me about 6 inches), and hang it outside.

Hangin' In The Living Room

Mine, however, is above my TV. I’d like to keep it away from the basketballs that fly by my porch door, and I get much better light in my room. It can’t hurt, right? If anything its more temperature controlled in here. Is that good?

Camo Socks

I was really hoping this would be a baseball post, including a picture of me finishing my second sock at the sox game! But Mother Nature decided that there would be no baseball last night, so I finished the second sock watching Wet Hot American Summer, which is not as clever. But they are done! I do wish they looked less like camouflage, but what are you going to do?

New Socks Already

I picked up this really fancy sock yarn at a craft show a couple months ago. See how fancy it is? It makes that fancy pattern all by itself like magic.

I’ve been taking less knitting time during the day now that it is nice out and I can read outside. I picked up The Hours at the book swap and am enjoying it. Well, enjoying it as much as you can enjoy a book about suicidal lesbians.

I’ve been taking less knitting time in the morning now because I got an hour added to my work day! That is right, I’m officially part time! 20 hours a week. This is a big increase in money for me, since I hardly make any to begin with, so it is putting my mind at ease a little bit. I’ve got to buy a spaying for Pudge Rodriguez when PT and I go to Michigan for Memorial Day weekend. That is a weird sentence.

I ran inside for a few minutes on this beautiful day to share with you some very exciting Sweatshop updates!

First of all, last night was the last Thursday night Sweater Club! I can’t believe two months went by that fast. And neither could my students!

Brijeet's Sweater

Brijeet is  so close to being done with the body of her sweater! She is just finishing up the collar. It is looking amazing, as you can see. All she has to do is pick up a few stitches for the sleeves and she will have a great sweater to wear over her stripped long sleeve tshirt (we’ve been planning it for a while!)

Lori's HUGE Sweater

Lori picked a huge sweater; to the floor, hooded, cabled. She is still working on the first piece, but the thing is enormous! She is going to be working on it for a while still, and will probably be seeing cranberry in her sleep for as long as she lives, but that sweater is going to be beautiful when she is done!

Laura's Sweater

Laura is knitting a really cute short sleeve tunic sweater and is so close to being finished! Just a couple more tiny pieces and then putting it all together! I can’t wait to see this when it is done, either.

More sweater updates to come! Sunday’s class has a couple more weeks left.

Speaking of sweater updates, I wore my sweater dress to class last night! I had PT snap some pictures.

Fits Like A Glove!

I love the cowl neck on this! It is perfect. And I’m glad I didn’t get too anxious and stop the skirt length early. It is just long enough so I can bike in it!

Top

You can see in this one that the sleeves are a little big, but I’m not going to nit pick. I love the yoke design, too! The little holes along the seems. Sigh. Love.

Finished Sock!

I also finished my first toe up sock yesterday, but really, it pails in comparison to the sweater dress. I might have peeked as a knitter, now that I’m thinking about it. Will I even knit anything as great as that sweater? I’m glazing at it now, hung over the back of my chair, and I really think it is all downhill from here.

Yesterday I worked on patching up my mom’s quilt, though someone made that a little difficult.

Pudge Rodriguez, Terror Kitty

She sat right there anytime I set the quilt to sew. It was cute right up until I wanted to kill her. And still, cute enough for me to take a picture of her being bad. She also likes to pull the pins out and play with them, so there are pins all over the floor. I keep yelling at her, ‘you are going to kill yourself!’, but she doesn’t seem to care. I started yelling, ‘I’m going to step on one of those and kill you myself!’, but she doesn’t care about that, either.

Tonight PT and I are making mushroom burgers, carrot fries, and brussel sprouts for the games. That is baseball food, right? We had a trial brussel sprout run the other day with our special tuna helper.

PT's Sprouts and My Tuna Special

They were so good! Baked in the oven and crispy and salty! I’ve only ever had them soaked in butter, so this was a nice change. I’m anxious for PT to get over here so we can get started on dinner!

There are also a couple new additions to the Allyson household…

More Babies!

I finally got a chance to get another shelf for more plants! This one is in the bedroom so we will see how much light it gets in there. I planted some basil, dill, parsley, and cilantro. They all call for direct sunlight so who knows? But I surely like playing. And I put the shelf up all by myself!

Ok I’ve got to get back outside before it turns cold again!

I’ve been talking a big game about finishing my sweater dress by tonight’s Sweater Club, and I probably could have done it if not for the prep I had to do for Saturday’s Entrelac Workshop.

Entrelac Workshop Swatch

Saturday we will be doing this! I had to write the pattern and actually knit this swatch. But I’m so close!

TWO More Inches!

Between this morning and this afternoon I totally could have finished it! But I am excited about the Entrelac Workshop on Saturday so that will have to be my consolation prize. And no, I’m not going to try to wear the entrelac swatch to class tonight. If I were walking, maybe, but I’m biking and that would just be too pornographic for a Thursday night.

The weather is perfect for a stroll in a swatch! It is also perfect for my baby plants.

Hidden Garden

I’ve got pots of little babies! The tiny pots are all pansies, there is an avocado pit there from my mom that STILL hasn’t done anything and I think it is dead. At this point, though, I’m pot committed to this stupid pit so it isn’t going anywhere, no matter how dead it probably is.

The big pot on the right is the catnip and that is doing very well. Next over is the spearmint which really just has that one huge stem. Next over is the chamomile that is all stalled at about half an inch stems. In the jar are tomato plants for my Topsy Turvy! I can’t believe they are doing so well in an old olive jar. Not pictured is a pot that is supposed to be peppermint but is  actually a pot of dirt that I’m about to give up on. Stupid peppermint.

Terror Kitty Proof

This is how I save my plants from Pudge and Velma, who would instantly eat/dig up every pot. I installed this shelf across the window! I want 5 more.

Hidden Garden Part 2

As it is I have to put the overflow on the top shelf of a nearby bookcase chocked full of my inventory. That is more tomatoes, another avocado pit, and some cosmos that were doing amazing before I drown them.

I’ve been boring with the food this week! I’ve been eating a lot of oat creations because they are delicious, healthy, and quick. I had to make quick lunches this week with the afternoon Tigers Sox series and my lack of wireless internet. It is dangerous to be running back and forth between burners and my computer in the bedroom.

Today, though, I made Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion, and Spinach Quesadillas.

Quesadilla Lunch!

They look pretty close to how they are supposed to look! I used regular taco shells because that is what I had on hand. They were good! In the future I will just throw the spinach in with the onions for the last couple seconds of onion cook time, and only warm it because the spinach got a little slimy and there is nothing worse than slimy vegetables.

I better pick out something to wear to Sweater Club tonight. Sad face! Someday soon I will update this blog and the entire post will be pictures of me in my sweater dress. No words, just sweater dress. It is coming.

Seriously? Seriously, Interweave? Seriously with the wraps and turns and all that counting? You expect people to be all super pumped about knitting this entrelac sock with this wrap and turn bullshit?

It Is Cute Though

And please take note of my princesses kleenex box.

The problem is that when you knit a sock from the toe up you have to wrap and turn like a crazy person for the heel. You all know how I feel about wrap and turns. And you all know how I feel about the rib down sock heel! I love it so much. But this toe up sock makes so much sense, especially if you have nice sock yarn, you just rib until you run out of the ball, instead of trying to guess and ending up needing the toe to be a different color. Which I kind of like.

God I’m a sock neurotic. Who knew?

Is there any way to knit a toe up sock with a short row instead of wrap and turn heel? I was trying to work it out with I was wrapping and turning and wrapping and turning but I couldn’t. I can’t!

Tara Made Me

I bought this yesterday. One for me and one for Tara. I figure I can get people to come to a class to wind their yarn, right? It is like a business expense. And it is cute.

And I was watering my seeds this morning and I have somem catnip and a lot of camomile! My mints and flowers have nothing going on, and my avocado pit is still very dormant. But it is supposed to be 50 degrees this weekend so that has to help! Even if they are inside.

Back to my heel. I want to finish that bitch before dinner.

Irrational: Solving the ‘what to wear?’ issue by dressing as if it were still very cold, just without pants. Walking down the street this afternoon were many girls wearing large sweaters, coats, scarves, and winter boots. No pants.

Rational: Going to Home Depot!

Soil and Impulse Buy

I needed soil (of course they only had this huge heavy bag that I had to carry from Elston and Logan to California and Armitage), and then I saw the Topsy Turvy! Grow plants hanging from your porch! Or, in my case, over your dinning room table. It was $10. I really couldn’t resist.

Irrational: Digging to the very bottom of your drawer and putting on whatever is buried down there. Walking down the street this afternoon were a lot of animal print leggings.

Rational: Seeds!

(soon to be) Tea A Plenty!

Soon these little seed packets will be mint and camomile and flowers and catnip and tomatoes! Ok I’m not counting on the tomatoes.

Irrational: Being in warm denial. Walking down the street this afternoon were lots of winter coats and hats. Can you not feel?!

Rational: Being excited about your sweater dress!

Yoke Start

Isn’t it pretty? The sweater dress is knit top down, starting with the shoulder yoke. The moss stitch that I was worried about is actually really fun! It is a million times better than that bitch seed stitch, and it makes it easy to figure out which side of the dress you are on.

Moss Stitch:

Row 1: K1P1

Row 2: Knit the knits and purl the purls.

Row 3: P1K1

Row 4: Purl the purls and knit the knits.

Irrational: Dressing like it is 90 degrees. Walking down the street this afternoon were lots of short shorts, tank tops, and flip flops. It is 55.

Rational: Wearing a sweater.

Done, Buttons and All

I’m in love. I wore it last night to the first Sweater Club class (which was great!), wore it today to Home Depot, will be wearing it every day until I die and then will be buried in it. I’m in love. Soon I will be Mrs Fitted Knits Sweater Jacket, and I will have little Fitted Knits Sweater Jacket babies.

Wonk-Bread

I don’t know how to fit this in, but look at this loaf of bread I baked! I baked the perfect loaf of bread last time, and I thought it was because I lost track of how much flour I put in and accidentally added a 1/2 cup too much, and then put in a 1/2 cup more water to compensate, but apparently I only added an extra 1/2 cup of water because the extra flour just ended up all over my bread maker, and contributed to this mushroom bread. Still tastes good, miraculously.

And as you can see The Sweatshop of Lover’s Blog got a makeover thanks to Brijeet, who I pouty faced into html/ftp whatever this thing together. It looks great and I couldn’t be any happier with it!

Irrational: Being inside on an afternoon like this! I’ve got pots to soil and a tomato thingy to turn upside down.