The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided a sweater dress was what I needed for my next ebook. A sweater dress. It’s such a simple little concept. Just a long sweater, right?

Bubble What the What?

Not when you think it would be cute to have a ribbed bottom with a bubble skirt. I can’t even think about how many inches of this dress got frogged along the way. 15? 25? It was ugly.

But with every restart I got more determined to finish it. Because I’m stupid.

Baby Cowl, Cute Sleeves

First of all, about the styling: I finished this last weekend in Michigan. Check out my mom’s kitchen! I brought with me a bag of yarn and a backpack of clothes. If I were home in Chicago I would not be wearing a gray wife beater under it. Also, it was H.O.T. so I didn’t want to put on leggings. In a perfect world I would be wearing a black tank with leggings or fun tights.

Striped Mini Cowl

I would also be able to take a picture of the back, which has crochet button bands and a yoke button up back. But (don’t tell!) there are no buttons on this dress because I couldn’t bring myself to making anymore fabric covered buttons after my button making weekend.

Check that cute skirt!

But, while perfect these pictures are not, I think this dress turned out pretty damn cute, if I do say so myself. I’m a little angry with it, so angry I dropped it off in Chicago before I left for New York. But I’m sure once I get back I’ll love it, and once the temps drop below 80 I’ll be rocking this dress often.

Roll Cowl Neck, Y'all!

When all was said and done it is a pretty quick knit. I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted and size 9 needles so you wouldn’t die of heat stroke every time you wore it. It’s a nice loose gauge, short, with short sleeves. It took me a lot to get through but it won’t take you nearly as much strife.

EDIT: Test knitters found!

So yes, it’s a sweater dress and yes, it’s August but who wants to be my test knitter?! Just think about how cute you are going to be once fall rolls in? Email me at allyson [at] thesweatshopoflove [dot] com or comment if you are interested!

Pattern: Coming soon!

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Copper and Bok Choy

Needles: Size 9 29″ Circular and size 9 DPNs

Ravelry Page

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!

While my sweater dress is drying/blocking…

Sweater Dress in Perfect Sweater Dress Form

And while dispensing sound advice:

Me: did Sarah call you last night?

MS: nope. I’m not that surprised. I’ve decided to embrace rejection and the absurdity of dating.

Me: Awww

MS: but I think I’m just going to send her a text message for myself really. Something like

Me: don’t do it!

MS: it’s ok if you’re not interested, I thought there might be something there. I’m just a fan of old-fashioned clarification.

Me: don’t do it!

MS: why not?

Me: let it go.

MS: you don’t think she’d reply to a text like that?

Me: hell no dude! I wouldn’t. Dude. Seriously. Don’t do it.

While working on my socks…

Turned the Heel!

And while dreaming of the french toast PT and I made Sunday for dinner:

Cinnamon French Toast with Raspberries and Hash Browns

I got to thinking that I needed to repair my quilt.

Kitty Quilt in Shambles

My mom made me this quilt when I was in middle school, and I still use it. I love it! You can see at the top where it has been repaired before, and you can see where it needs repairing again.

Sad Kitty

That kitty is nearly completely ripped off! So I called my mom and got a quick quilt patching lesson. I have never quilted before, but my mom is amazing and has made every blanket in my house. I counted five in total, including this one that my mom made for an exboyfriend:

The Second Quilt My Mom Ever Made

Luckily she snagged it after they broke up. My parents have been married for 26 years, so this quilt is pretty old. Ironically, I’m going to patch this one up and send it over to PT’s house! I hope it isn’t cursed.

Sad Quilt

You can see exactly which fabrics didn’t age well. Entire sections of this enormous quilt are disinigrated and in need of some serious help.

It is kind of funny that my mom made this quilt for her exboyfriend, then gave it to me and I’m patching it up and, well, not exactly giving it to PT but lending it to him. Worse case senario, PT and I break up and I’m giving this quilt to the daughter I have with the next boy I date, so this is a win win.

(Side Note: Mama PT is coming to town and demanding that PT get a new blanket for his bed before she stays there. I can’t blame her! That thing is gross, but I demanded he buy sheets, so I already exasted all demanding in the bed clothes area. Instead of him buying some stupid store bought blanket I’ll hate he can just take this one, making Mama PT AND me happy. Well, hopefully.)

Wish me luck! I don’t think it is possible for me to make them any worse, so I’m not too worried about it.

I am worried, however, about MS.

MS: she set up a date for Sunday and then didn’t answer. I feel like I’m entitled to an explanation.

Me: no you aren’t! she blew you off and that happened and she is flakey and move on. it sucks, but it happens and you shouldn’t do anything about it. If she can just ignore your call she can ignore your text and probably will, and then you are right where you are now anyway

MS: sure but if she doesn’t reply to a well thought out text, then I really won’t want anything to do with her.

Me: she didn’t CALL YOU BACK after you had set up a date. Red flag! You shouldn’t want anything to do with her now.

MS: I shouldn’t but does it really matter? can you tell me if you think the text message itself is dumb? It seems like its exactly what I want to say

Me: That’s not the point! The point is YOU SHOULDN’T SEND IT

MS: I get your point, I just don’t know if I’m going to not text her.

Pre-Blocked Sweater Dress

Holy shit! I haven’t blocked it, but I will this afternoon. I should have blocked it yesterday when it was warm and sunny and it could just chill in the sun and come out the perfect size. It is basically the perfect size now. The sleeves are a little big; I’m hoping that after blocking it they will go down a little. I’m going to block them longer so that they skinny up.

Top Close Up

I’ve got my dress form as close as possible to my own measurements right now, and the shoulders look good, the boobs look good, the front stripe of ribbing looks good. Basically, I’m in love.

Sweater Dress

I just keep staring at it. It doesn’t even look hand knit. I’m kind of in shock right now!

Ok I’ll block it and then post pictures of me wearing it. I’ll stop gushing.

Break Sock

In the mean time I’m decompressing with some basic toe up socks. I found this kind of ridiculous pattern for toe up socks that so far is more silly and unnecessarily mathematical than I’d like to be dealing with. But, it is certainly nice to be just knitting and not k1p1 ribbing. And toe up socks are fun! I’m converting. Of course, I haven’t gotten to the heel yet.

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.