The Sweatshop of Love Blog

So I’m cheating here hard core. As you’re reading this I’m probably somewhere in New York state driving toward Brooklyn, or sitting in traffic, or if I’m lucky already stuffing my face with bagels.

Make Up Your Mind Cellular Stitch

I wrote this post before I left because I knew I wouldn’t have a chance before Renegade and I couldn’t leave all my KAL knitters hanging!

Ready for Week 3!

And who am I kidding? How fun is Make Up Your Mind to knit?! I said last week that I was having a hard time getting the K2tog, YO, K1 rhythm of the cellular stitch, but I hit my stride this week and rocked it out. I knit in the Mall of America, I knit in the car, I knit in the bar! Sure, I was on a time crunch, but really I just wanted to knit it.

My Baby Pudge

Pudge was sensing we were getting ready to leave her, so she hasn’t been far from my side all week.

Two Entrelac Straps!

And I’ve got my two The Loop Entrelac Tank straps finished! Making two of these straps was a breeze. Normally I worry about making two pieces exactly the same size, but with entrelac all I had to do was make sure I had the same number of entrelac tier repeats and I was good to go.

Both sweaters are with me in New York and it shouldn’t be too hard to find a distraction this weekend to keep me from knitting ahead in the KAL. A distraction like RENEGADE! If you are in the New York City area I hope you head over to McCarren Park this weekend and say hi. We’ll be at booth 191. I hope to see you there!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of work in progresses on my plate right now, between my baby knitting and afghan. I’m usually a 2 WIP tops kinda girl, but I’ve needed all the distractions I can get.

Kimono Wrap Start

Because MY GOD is this Kimono Wrap Cardigan the most boring thing I’ve ever knit.

Velma and Pudge Fighting

It’s so boring that when Pudge and Velma started fighting I stopped taking pictures of my Kimono Wrap Cardigan to take pictures of  them.

See?! In the Corner!

And I’m just now noticing that I never went back to the sweater.

But you get the idea. Stockinette stitch. Like, 190 stitches. Slight side shaping. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Cute Cats > Kimono Wrap Cardigan

But there is a silver lining! When I get done with the body I get to knit really long sleeves.

At least I’ve finally figured out how to work my skillz with the spray paint function in Microsoft Paint into the blog.

I’m having a much harder time saying goodbye to Minneapolis than I thought I would.

We’re leaving tonight. I’m not packed, which is weird for me because I started packing to move here like 3 weeks before move day.

Well, my yarn is packed. I’m not TOTALLY LOSING IT! But, like, I haven’t packed undies.

I’ve really loved the last 2 months I’ve spent in Minneapolis. Who wouldn’t?! I worked from home, I made big strides to grow my business that I’ve been putting off because of time. I’ve got a really cozy apartment that I’ve made my home, in a neighborhood full of delicious bar food.

Sure, it snowed a lot here this winter. The most in the entire history of Minneapolis, in fact. But when you don’t have to leave your house unless you want to, and you spend the majority of your day working at a table next to a big window, or under a blanket knitting, you don’t find yourself complaining about the snow much.

So, here I am, about to go back to a city I love that is full of my friends, kinda sad.

I miss Chicago. I miss my girls and my students and my coworkers and biking and THE GYM (yeah I said it) and amazing (not just bar) food. But I’m going to miss Minneapolis, too. How nice everyone is, and how beautiful it is, and how cheap everything is, and the coop right next to my apartment, and our apartment.

Have I created a life where I have no home? Where no matter where I am I’m missing somewhere else?

Maybe people aren’t meant to live in 2 places. I know my brain can’t handle it – the last time someone asked me my zip code I answered, ’6603′.

Beatnik Sleeves

But, the experiment continues. Chicago, here I come! And Minneapolis, I’ll be back in May. If there is still like 30″ of snow on the ground, though, I’ll be pissed.

Pudgey and Sleeves

I finished my Beatnik sleeves, and I’ve got to pack up all the pieces and will finish it in Chicago next week.

Mods: These are my first modifications of this sweater pattern! Besides knitting the body together.

As written, the pattern says to decrease for the sleeve cap every other row. Because of my smaller gauge with the DK weight yarn, I decreased every 3rd row, and it appears to have worked out! I kept my stitch counts the same throughout, and ended with the appropriate number of stitches, just made the section longer than it would have had I followed it exactly.

I guess I better start packing. Being in denial isn’t going to stop anything! It’s just going to make me have to make a HUGE trip to Target. And tax is SO much higher there.

I get questions all the time about swifts. If you start off buying your yarn at JoAnn or Michaels like I did you aren’t even familiar with yarn hanks as opposed to skeins of yarn that are ready to knit with. Hanks need to be balled before they are used, and a swift makes that process easier.

One of the first times I ordered yarn from Knit Picks I got 4 hanks for their fingering weight gloss. I had no idea what I was doing so I just started knitting from the first hank. Tangles and crying ensued. I balled the second skein before I started knitting with it and there were more tangles and crying. Hours and hours of my life were put into just balling the stupid yarn and I swore that I would never hand ball yarn ever again.

Enter my at home yarn swift! If anything, now you know what it is! And, while I’m convinced that only boys can see HD, this video is in HD so HD it and be amazed!

There is also a very cute cameo by a Miss Pudge Rodriguez!

And there you have it! Investing in an at home swift isn’t for everyone, but if you are an online yarn shopper and hate untangling and balling your yarn by hand, it may be something you want to add to your craft room.

If I position my browser window in the perfect spot covering half my temperature widget on my sidebar it’s 15 degrees!

Frosty Windows

But my windows tell me the truth. NEGATIVE 15, and yes, that is frost on the INSIDE of our apartment windows.

Wedding Shrug Progress

Needless to say we haven’t been getting out much. It’s been cold all week, between 5-10 degrees cold, and it just isn’t safe to walk the 1 1/2 miles to the post office in that weather. So while I’ve been making good progress on my commissioned Wedding Shrug, even if it were finished it would still be sitting in my house.

It’s beautiful though, and just how beautiful it is is making it easier to work on. I hate this yarn, though. The finished product is lovely but the process isn’t worth it. Val will look amazing in it and love the crap out of it, and that makes me really happy. But never again.

This cold is due to break on Sunday so I’ll finish it up this weekend and mail it, and everything else in my post office pile, out on Monday. Look for an FO post next week!

Beatnik Progress!

I’m up to this week’s goal in my Beatnik knit along, too! I can’t say enough about how enjoyable this cable pattern is. I’m finished with 2 entire chart repeats and I feel like it’s finally getting intuitive, though I never have my color coded chart far from me.

Beatnik and Pudge

Pudge is never far from me, either. I’d say she is the biggest winner from all this cold weather. She couldn’t be more excited that we never leave the house! She is never more than 2 feet away from me. I go to the kitchen? She goes to the kitchen. I’m on the couch? She is on the couch. I’m taking pictures of my Beatnik? She is sitting right next to me. This cat was made for a Minnesota winter.

Have a knitting filled weekend, everyone! And stay warm!