The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Ohh Baby!

Just kidding! But seriously, can you imagine? I wonder if this has been done before! I’m guessing at super drunken office holiday party.

I bet Meredith on The Office would rock this look.

It’s a habit of mine to throw a finished project on my dress form, mainly so my terror kitties don’t rip out the yarn strands before I get a chance to weave them in. And so they don’t get a chance to eat my project before I get to wear it or give it away.

Mommy's Stockings

I knit a pair of these Christmas stockings a couple months ago for PT and I and, naturally, my mom had to have them! I used the same yarn, Caron Simply Soft for the red and cream, and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for the light green.

The pattern is here. The only change I made was when I started the heel flap. With the MC I K11 STS from needle 1, SL remaining STS to needle 2, turn. P22 STS, SL remaining STS from needle 3 to needle 2. This just makes much more sense to me.

As we inch closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m feeling good about the progress I’m making on my knitting list! I should, right? I started about two months ago.

Veggie Packed Pasta

We’ve got a ton of vegetables in the house and, specifically, a lot of mushrooms to use up. Mushrooms make me think of two things! Veggie packed pasta from my recipe, this time with broccoli and mushrooms, and…

Mushroom and Pumpkin Risotto

Risotto! I still hand pumpkin left over from the ravioli we made last weekend, so I made mushroom and pumpkin risotto. Risotto is pretty much the best thing to eat for dinner on a cold night. It’s like soup for people with more time.

Now that I’ve got those stockings finished the only thing left on my needles is PT’s Christmas Present! I’m shocked myself. I’m going to get an elephant going before I do something stupid like start a new sweater.

I hate wedding registries. I love the idea of them; I joke all the time that I won’t be able to get my standing mixer until I put it on my wedding registry. I understand them, I get why they exist. Many people can’t shop and are terrible gift givers and you want to avoid getting six gravy boats. And I like looking at the registry when I get the little notice in my wedding invitation. But they are cold and distant, which are two things I try very hard not to be.

Pretty (boring) Cabled Pillow

So I knit things, because you can’t knit things that are cold and distant.

I get asked all the time for wedding present ideas, and my first suggestion is always pillows. They are simple, they knit up fairly quickly, and you can match them to what you know the couple likes.

I’ve been working on these pillows for a couple weeks on and off. I could have easily punched these out in just a few days, but the pattern PUT ME TO SLEEP. I dreaded starting the second one, just out of boredom.

I love how they turned out, though! Isn’t that pretty? I don’t know Anne, the bride, very well, other than the fact that she loves mini donuts, but she is a knitter, and who wouldn’t like this pillow? PT has been snuggling up to them all day. He will be sad when we have to package them up for the wedding next weekend.

Pre-Seam

I knew that the knitted section would stretch over the pillow form, so I covered the form in some stretch knit fabric, so when the cable knit is pulled over you can see a little red sneaking through.

Last night I was grumbling and complaining about the last 8 inches of the second pillow, and PT asked if he could help. I set him up with a yarn needle and he seamed that pillow up so well! Sweatshop in action!

Pumpkin Risotto!

I had half a pumpkin sitting in the fridge from last week and wanted to mix it up a little. Pumpkin soup hit a right note, though. It had to be warm and gooey and comforting in this newly chilly weather.

Risotto! I made pumpkin risotto! And it was heavenly. Risotto might be one of my favorite meals.

I made the risotto like usual, but I added the cooked pumpkin chunks the second to last broth addition. Usually you add all of your mix ins during the last broth addition, but I wanted the pumpkin to cook through and mush up a little. During the last broth addition I added about 1/4 a can of corn left over from the Sunday football pizzas.

It was exactly what I wanted. It was pumpkiny and warm and cheesy! I love fall food!

Having been in Minnesota last weekend, and with a Labor Day trip to Michigan on the horizon, PT and I haven’t done a lot of grocery shopping lately. We were living on what I had brought back from Michigan, and as that was running out we were only a few days away from Minnesota. We are making a master grocery list for Meijer while we are in Michigan, and tallying the fruits and veggies we are going to get, measured in bushels, at roadside stands.

So we are getting creative!

Beet and Corn Risotto

We had beet I wanted to use up, but no greens so I couldn’t make a salad. I automatically think about rice when I’m using up leftover food because stir fry is such an easy way to thrown everything together, but beet stir fry? I didn’t think so.

But rice=risotto… beet risotto? With corn!

This was so good. Sure, food shouldn’t be that color, but damn! I made risotto like usual, roasted the beets and chopped them, threw in half a can of corn with the beets at the very end with some Parmesan! Amazing.

Everything Else Stir Fry

Cashew Goodness

Last night I had to use up carrots, cucumber, pineapple, corn, and goat cheese. Without buying any other ingredients. So, naturally, I thought of rice, and figured I could use everything but that pesky goat cheese in a stir fry.

So cooked up some brown rice and I sauteed some onions, added carrots, cucumber, pineapple, and corn, PT did some fancy seasoning and saucing, and we finished it with both sesame seeds and cashews. It was great! I love pineapple in stir fry.

But, we still have three dinners left and I’m running out of options.

Not to mention breakfast! We are out of milk and fruit, so oat bowls are a no go.

Steel Cut Oats in the Crock Pot!

Hearty Breakfast

We had picked up some steel cut oats at Green Grocer a couple weeks ago, and this cool weather begs me to get the crock pot back out!

We threw some oats in the crock pot last night with raisins, some butter, cinnamon, and a lot of water, and in the morning it was done! We ate half our bowls,  with brown sugar on top! It was so much food; but that just means we already have tomorrow’s breakfast.

This was a MESS, though. I washed the crock pot once already, and it’s soaking a second time. Might not be worth it.

I realize that when normal people eat out of their pantries they eat, like, cans of beans with mustard. We aren’t quite there yet. But tonight’s dinner? No idea. I’ve got a bag of potatoes, some onions, and goat cheese. I don’t even have pan cake mix! Goat cheese risotto? hehe

This should start getting interesting.

I’m sick. I’ve got this dizzy, foggy head thing, my eyes are really sensitive to light, my body hurts, my tummy hates me. Above all, though, I’ve got this ridiculous old man hacking cough that rips my throat apart. It hit me Thursday night, I was in denial till Friday afternoon. I let it really hit me Saturday morning, and I’ve been pretty much bedridden since.

Which means I’ve gotten a lot of knitting done!

Top Down Socks

I finished my socks using the yarn that promises one pair from one skein. I will easily get another sock from what is left of the skein, it is huge! I like how this knit up, the colors are really silly but they make a cute pattern. The knitting pattern, though, was bullshit. For example, they wanted you to bind off the toe, then seam it. GAH.

Back of Summer Sweater

I knit myself right out of yarn for my Summer Sweater. I just love knitting that pattern. It helped me concentrate on yarn overs instead of how it hurts to look more than 30 degrees to the right.

My First Sweater Pattern

I really didn’t feel like starting that second sock, so the next logical option would naturally be to start writing my first sweater pattern. I’m trying to write that knitting for less pattern book, and I figure it has to have a couple easily adjustable sweater patterns, at least a pullover and a cardigan. Here is the pullover. I might wake up from my final fever coma tomorrow and read over the notes I’ve been jotting down as I’m knitting this only to realize I’ve been writing in Greek, and I don’t even know Greek. It looks like English now but I slept through Before Sunset last night when I thought I just blinked, so for all I know I could be writing a pattern for a hat for Paul Bunyan. Is that marketable?

Sick People Food

PT has been taking very good care of me. He came home with two half gallons of ice cream, a huge bag of lemon mint Ricolas, took me to Handlebar, and for dinner tonight we made this amazing pea and radish risotto.

Pudge Rodriguez - Bare Belly Post Snipping

Pudge has not been being nice to me, however. This is her impression of me this weekend. Who does impressions of sick people? That is just rude.

Back to Hell’s Kitchen, my bed, and my Paul Bunyan hat.