The Sweatshop of Lovers Blog

Feet? Check.

HOTT? Check.

I got a sweet idea while I was getting ready to go out Friday night! I know some knitters have trouble styling their knits, I sure did when I first started knitting. So why not show examples of how I wear my knits to help show how easy they are to work into perfectly normal outfits?!

Enter: Style Your Knits!

(I should have thought of this when I was rocking my bow headband on New Years Eve, but better late than never)

OOhhh Belt!

So here we’ve got my cabled party belt that I finished last week worn over an Alternative Apparel tshirt PT won off a blog contest and didn’t like and under a black cardigan.

Full Disclosure: I was worried about the belt slipping off since there was no real way to secure it, since it’s not a belt buckle but a purse handle, so I used some bobby pins to make sure it didn’t go anywhere. This was a great decision! There is no way it would have stayed on all night otherwise.

Also, it was really hard to sit in. When I sat down it would slide up unattractively because the buckle was so big.

Worth it? DUH look how cute I look.

Feet: HOTT

And here we’ve got some purple toe up socks I knit over the summer with purple peep toe heels I bought a million years ago at Target. They are Isaac Mizrahi for Target, that is how long ago I bought them. I went a little crazy because all the snow is melting and it was like 25 degrees Friday night! I love how my long jeans look with these shoes.

There you have it! I styled those hand knits and I can safely say that no one in the world was wearing the same outfit I was wearing on Friday. I love that about making my own clothes.

Shirt: Alternative Apparel deep V

Sweater: Kohls

Belt: Hand knit by me, Vogue Knitting pattern

Jeans: New York & Company low-rise bootcut

Shoes: Isaac Mizrahi for Target

Socks: Hand knit by me, my own toe-up sock pattern

I grew up in a house that always had food in it. My mom is an amazing grocery shopper, and she got it from my papa (who is doing much better now, thank you). We often discuss the amazing deals we found on our recent grocery trips over our Sunday meal. I suck at this game. Everything in Chicago costs so much more than in Michigan that even when I get a good deal here, it’s like paying full price for something in Michigan.

Which is why PT and I have been building our grocery list in anticipation of our trip! We leave late tonight!

Which is why PT and I have been needing to get creative with our eating this week. But when I say I’ve got no food in the house, it isn’t like when other people say they’ve got no food in the house. I’ve just got a lot of pantry staples with no way to bring them together. I’ve got a pantry full of food because my mom always has a pantry full of food, because she is an amazing shopper. And she taught me well, despite my Chicago cost of living.

Pantry Staple Stir Fry

Wednesday night I cooked up some potatoes in the wok to get them crispy, and I dumped in a can of corn (Forgive me. A can of corn during CORN SEASON? I wanted to cry.) a can of black beans, and some taco-y and spicy seasonings. We topped it with some shredded cheddar (stolen from my roommate) and dumped some salsa on top. Served with chips (also stolen from the roommate)! This was great! Filling and fun; kind of like eating a whole lot of corn and bean salsa, with potatoes.

Toe Up Socks!

Sock are the Sweetest!

Wednesday night was Toe Up Sock class, finally! I have been trying to teach this class forever, and something came up every time. So I was so happy when Tara, Gil, and Lori signed up!

But, quickly, my delight turned to their horror. Really, they are only laughing to stop from crying. Toe up socks are hard to get started, but I kept saying the more stitches you get on your needles, the easier it gets!

Yeah, it’s a lot of needles. And yeah, that figure 8 cast on is hard. But they got it! And I bet if you ask them now they would recommend the class!

… right? I mean. Probably.

Oatmeal for Everyone!

Yesterday all of my meals looked like this. Random stuff mixed into oatmeal made on the stove, with a piece of toast. I love oatmeal, I do, but. But. But I’m excited that we are going to have some new food in the house real soon.

Soon to be Stockings

My Knit Picks order came in today! I ordered that Wool of the Andes yarn on top for the Christmas stockings I’m going to knit for PT and I. I love off color Christmas stockings, so when I saw that green I had to have it. It looks great with that Caron Simply Soft red.

Cucumber Sandwich with Swiss, and Leftover Potato Stir Fry

For lunch today I heated up the leftover potato bean thing, and had another cucumber sandwich. It wasn’t as exciting as I’m making it sound.

Off to Michigan in a few hours! I’ve got to pack. Have a great holiday weekend!

First of all, my grandma loved the Two Texture Mittens!

Happy Grandma!

You may remember that I’ve had trouble with my grandma liking things I’ve made for her in the past. The key here is to catch her off guard and not let her ask for things. She didn’t even know these mittens existed, or that she needed two texture mittens in her life, thus she loved them. I’m catching on.

Pickles

Second of all, my pickles! Which turned out super delicious. My mom put them in a beautiful jar and they look rustic and country, in the best way possible. They are dilly and sweet but not overly so, and a hit!

Monday I left you with a going to the casino teaser blog that I set up on Sunday, but I did not, in fact, go to the casino on Monday. Huge storms went through West Michigan Sunday night causing a ton of damage and knocking out power to a whole lot of the area, including the cabin, excluding my grandparent’s house, but, related or not, their huge fancy new TV went out.

Me+New TV=MESS

So Papa and I went to Best Buy, they told us to bring the TV in, we went back to their house, somehow I got that TV in the car, we drove back to Best Buy, we exchanged it, somehow I brought it back in their house and set it up, and by that time it was after 1pm, and there was no time for the casino. So we went to Meijer instead and Papa and I got groceries, which, to my papa, is just as fun as going to the casino.

We made plans to go to the casino the next day. I went home so tired from carrying 32 inch TVs and groceries around all day to find that we still didn’t have power in the cabin, and…

Bounty!

BEETS!!

…a whole lot of veggies! My mom got these from a coworker who offered beets, because no one ever wants beets, but I have been talking about my newly acquired love of beets for quite a while now so my mom said she would take some. Dawn must have been super excited about it because she threw in a little more than just beets!

Normally you roast the beets in the oven, but with no oven we threw them on the grill with an ear of corn. I was super hungry and couldn’t wait for the salad, though, so I made myself a sandwich.

Sandwich on the Grill

I used the grill since that was the only thing working. I toasted my rye/pumpernickel, melted my Swiss cheese and warmed up my chicken. I finished this sandwich with some mustered and it was really awesome.

‘You are full of shit,’ my mom said when I was making this. ‘You talk about how you are a fancy city girl and you are toasting bread with a grill.’

Fancy city girl? That is just the hipster talking again.

Beet Salad

My dad got home while the beets were cooling and got the power generator set up. It doesn’t make enough power to get the oven to work, though, so I got the electric wok out and sauteed the garlic and walnuts for the dressing with that! It worked great, and the salad turned out amazing.

My mom was very skeptical since she hates beets, but she loved it of course. My dad loved the salad and asked to finish it, which he never does. So basically I rocked this one out.

Mommy and Her Sock

And speaking of rocking things out, my mom is rocking out her sock. She can’t get use to the tiny needles, though. I ask her how she is doing all the time and she looks at me a little irritated and complains about how it is really small.

‘I’d like to knit socks for Big Foot,’ she says.

I had to remind her that we Dutch woman have enormous feet, and she should be happy for once that she has those size 10s.

Imagine knitting socks if you were Asian.

She finished turning the heel last night and it looks great! Just a couple dropped stitches I had to fix. But, it is small, and her first try! So, I’m very proud.

(And laying off any insults because she needs a break from me being a jerk to her on the internet. Love you Mom!)

I woke up this morning with a huge man in my bed.

Me and Arnold

I had to take pictures because it might never happen again.

HEAVY Kitty

Arnold is the loudest purrer I have ever heard. Waking up with all like 20 pounds of him on my chest, purring like a motor boat, I thought I might have somehow been run over by a car in my sleep, only to wake up with it still running and on top of me. But, it was just Arnold, looking for a morning cuddle, which I was more than happy to return. I miss my babies.

Biggby

So here I am at Biggby Coffee, which, after having been sitting here for two hours, is a lot bigger than it needs to be.

Two Dudes, One Fireplace, and Fox News!

It was me and these dudes when I got here at about 8:30. Now there are two other people here with computers, one guy with a broken arm, and two old women drinking mochas. The internet is fast (maybe relatively, everything moves kinda slow up here), and they have six different kinds of self serve coffee. 16 oz for $1.90 and all the internet I could ever want? I’ll take it! I’ve been uploading pictures with reckless abandon all morning.

Breakfast of Nappers

I kinda took yesterday off. I woke up early because it is freaking cold here and the tent was not warm. I moved to the living room with a blanket, a cup of tea, and Chocolat, which I’m loving. But, again, we picked a book for Knitting Book Club that everyone will agree is excellent! I can’t imagine anyone not liking it, it is just universally appealing. I read half the book yesterday, between naps, the Tigers game (on real TV! It was awesome), more naps, and eating. Breakfast was lemon yogurt with fresh raspberries and raisin bran, with an English muffin with peanut butter. I love that my mom has yogurt around all the time! It is nice to mix up oats now and then.

VERY Good Sandwich

I couldn’t have been more excited to see some pumpernickel bread in the bread basket, and I quickly decided on a Swiss, (Mommy) cucumber, and roasted red pepper hummus sandwich on toasted pumpernickel. Amazing! The Swiss and the pumpernickel should be best friends forever.

Matthew's Sandwich

Ok, Look Closely!

My baby brother Matthew and I were watching the Tigers game, and I must have dozed off, because when I looked over at him he was eating this sandwich.

“Shit, dude, when did you make that sandwich?”

“Just now.”

“What’s in it?”

“Two eggs, ham, cheese, and spicy Doritos.”

I love him.

Asparagus Strudel

ASPARAGUS! And Corn

My mom picked up this asparagus strudel  on her road trip around Lake Michigan with my dad last week (yeah, it’s weird), and it was awesome! PT and I had a savory strudel in the winter that his mom gave us, so I was all about it. The asparagus was tender and very juicy and the herb-cheese was perfect. I biked over and picked up some fresh corn sometime when I wasn’t sleeping, and it was a perfect accompaniment.

I also, over the course of the day, had three pieces of cherry pie with ice cream. 4-7 pounds, y’all!

Socks Finished!

Next Sweater!

I also finished my socks yesterday. I guess I wasn’t as big of a bum as I thought I was. They turned out so cute! I even got my mom to start her first pair of toe up socks! She is using size threes instead of size 2s, so I’ll have to keep an eye on her. I would hate for them to be too big when I’m sitting right next to her and could stop them from being too big.

AND I was glancing through my new Vogue Knitting Magazine and found this sweater. How cute is that?! I need to knit it. Yes, I see the seed stitch front, and the seed stitch edging. I’m pretending I don’t. It can’t be that much, right? I don’t care. I must knit this jacket.

I’m going to go buy a cookie, because I’m on vacation. I’m going to chill here at my new favorite coffee shop in Allendale for a couple more hours, then I’m headed over to the g-rents to make some peanut butter pies for the week.

Oh. Oh yes. More about those later.

Last Bounty

Since PT and I broke up and I can’t afford to keep getting the produce boxes from Newleaf by myself, this is the last box. Just to torture me further this had to be the best box yet:

Blueberries, oranges, apples, broccoli, zucchini, and bananas are some of my favorite things in life. I have no idea what those green pointy things are on the right there. Ideas? Help? Please! And more kale and a head of lettuce, I think. Sigh. I’ll miss it. And Pudge Rodriguez will miss it, too.

So, I can cook, right? I throw things together and it normally turns out.

Omelet? Kinda?

... Maybe?

Not the case with omelets. I love omelets and make them pretty often. 9 times out of 10 they look like this. My problem is that I want to put too many things in them and then they fall apart because there isn’t enough egg. This ‘omelet’ had broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, and corn in it, with some cheddar sprinkled on top. It’s just too much stuff for 3 eggs.

Despite how it looked, though, it was really good. I had completely forgotten I had eggs. That is the one complaint I will make about the produce box; I felt like I never knew what I had in my fridge. I opened my crisper drawer last night and had to do a clean sweep (never got to the cilantro from a few weeks back – that was ugly). When you forget you have entire pineapple in your fridge, you have lost control. Three produce boxes a month, instead of four, would have set me up for life. If I cared enough about money to actually make it.

Sock #1 Done

So Pretty!

Something I do care about making? Socks. I finished one of these cute socks yesterday. It was kind of bitter sweet, actually. When I started it PT and I were still kinda together. It was my comfort sock, my no brainer pattern I was sadly knitting in the quiet.

Does that happen to you? You remember what you were doing or going through when you were knitting a project much much later when you pull that project out? I’ve always done that. I have a piece of pottery I made in high school the week George Harrison died, and I remember that when I see it. I have a shawl I was working on when I moved to college that I remember working on in the room I grew up in that doesn’t exist anymore.

Two-Texture Mittens

So, I started these last night. I’ve had these mittens in my head for a while; I am almost done with the outline for my pattern/recipe book and these are in there. I just need a pattern for them! I always forget how much time you have on your hands after a break up. Time to be ultra productive. Half a two-texture-mitten-in-one-night productive.

I left out the thumb, changing from knitting in the round on the double pointed needles to back and forth for the size of my thumb. I’m going to go back and pick those stitches up later with the cream yarn. I know, I know. Genius!

… and I’ll probably have it done tonight.

Finished Sock, and Pudge

I’ve had a rough weekend. I fled to Michigan where I finished these socks, which Pudge Rodriguez really likes. Actually I think they just smell like my mom’s house full of animals. So, she doesn’t like them. She is confused about how they smell. I’m often confused about how socks smell.

… what was I saying? Right; I had a rough weekend. Then I came home and PT and I broke up for realzies.

Blueberry Pancakes, and Potatoes

So we made blueberry pancakes and potatoes and onions. Because, well, you eat pancakes when you are sad. And my mom sent me home with a ton of blueberries. And blueberry pancakes are one of the best things ever. And we ate them.

Comfort Socks

Needless to say, we didn’t make it to Duck Soup. I was really bummed because I was looking forward to it. I love that movie, and I had the best time last week. But there would have been tears and crap. So I knit this sock, with the nice striping yarn, and watched the Tigers, who eked out a win for me. It’s really the least they could do.

I can’t stop knitting this sock. I’ve memorized my pattern so I’m just knitting and knitting. I’m just knitting and thinking and enjoying the quiet of the apartment. The Chicago quiet, so car alarms and people laughing and cars cars cars. If it were warmer, like it should be, there would be yelling and screaming and kids fighting in sprinklers, which I like. I miss being miserably warm.

I’m going to knit this sock some more. And make myself a dinner I will hopefully have an appetite for. I want zucchini pasta, with zucchini my mom sent me home with. The produce box just came so I can dig around in there, too.

Deep breath. Cooking for one.

Body Finished!

Between all the pie and traveling this weekend, I got a ton done on my sweater! I just kept it in my bag the whole time and pulled it out whenever I had a spare minute. Once I got past the shaping it was just knitting for many many inches, and that we can all do in our sleep.

I was feeling good about it, and knitting away, and in Sweater Club Sunday I picked up the sleeve stitches and was knitting away, and finished one sleeve! Then I picked up stitches on the second sleeve and was knitting away, knitting away, la la de da!

When I ran out of yarn.

Within 12 rounds of finishing the sleeve. I was so close I was looking at how much yarn was left hanging off the sweater at color changes. I was so close I knit myself right up to the end of the skein in disbelief. If I would have knit two fewer rounds of total sweater I would have had enough yarn to finish.

Can You Believe It?

It is ridiculously infuriating! I need like 4 yards! Gah! I looked all over my house for a leftover ball of it and of course found nothing. So, this afternoon I made my way over to Joann.

Stupid Skein

I know these Carron Simply Softs are only like $3, but it is the principle of the thing. I know I’ll use it, I use this yarn all the time.

Yeah, ok, I should stop complaining.

Velma is obviously not worried about it.

I’m still kind of irritated with it, though! I haven’t even finished the sweater yet. It will take me 10 minutes at most, I know it will. But I’ve got my sock in my lap (for picture uploading time). It can wait. It can wait until I’m not angry with it anymore.

Sock #1 Done

I finished sock one somewhere this weekend, too. I ended up cutting it off mid-calf, as you can see, and I’m happy with it. I want to start knitting socks with my new stripping yarn! I’m over this yarn.

Detox: Asparagus Pasta

After this weekend I’ve needed to chill in the eating department. I’ve been trying to stick to veggies, fruit, and wheat. Like this beautiful asparagus pasta with carrots and my tomato sauce.

Detox: Caramelized Onion Quesadillas

And these caramelized onion quesadillas with pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, and romaine.

Detox: Lots of Oats

And, of course, lots of oat bowls. This one has raspberries, apples, nutties, milk and cinnamon. With peanut butter toast. The tummy is slowly recovering.

A Little Bonus Shopping

So I’m almost finished with my sweater pattern, I’m on my second sock, and I’ve really had nothing else lined up! I recently had this tote pattern, the Elisa Nest Tote, sent to me, and since I have never knit a market bag, and since I’ve been complaining that I don’t have a summer shoulder bag good for biking, I thought, what the heck? I picked up this ball of Lion Brand cotton yarn with a 40% off coupon. The pattern says it should only take one ball, and in that case this is one economical project. And it’s cute, right?

I’ll keep you posted.

60 degrees and rainy? I’ve gotten a lot of knitting done these past couple days with absolutely no guilt about sitting inside watching baseball.

My Sweater Pattern!

I’m into the easy part of my sweater. I’ve figured out the sizing and the sleeve increases are correct. Now I’m just going. The stripes worked out perfectly at 20 rows per stripe? I have no idea how that happened. I ran out of the light blue at the perfect time to make my color change look normal! You can see a couple little brown rows started at the very bottom of the sweater. I knew I wanted to switch colors at some point, the amount of blue yarn I had just made it very easy. A couple brown stripes at the bottom? I’m digging it. I’m also digging how awesome my boobs look in this sweater. I think my boobs will be a great selling point for this sweater. I added some boob shaping (called ‘boob shaping’ in the sweater pattern, of course), and it helped. I was right about my boobs being 12 stitches big! What a fit.

Boob Increases, Waist Decreases

Here you can see, I increased two stitches each side every three rows three times, all in that top white stripe. Then I knit even for a while and decreased two stitches each side every inch and a half three times.

Sock Progress

Amazingly I even had a chance to work on my sock, though I can’t remember working on it at all. Somewhere within the last four days I’ve finished turning the heel, decreased back down to 64 stitches, knit even for a couple inches, and even started ribbing. The problem is that I have a ton of yarn left! It feels like well over half the skein. Usually I just keep ribbing until I finish the skein but if I do that I’m sure I’ll have thigh highs. I might just bind them off after a couple more rib inches and start sock two with the same skein, to see how far I get. This must be a different yarn than what I’m used to working with? Though I’m pretty sure this yarn is the exact same yarn that I knit my first pair of toe up socks with, when I established the one skein/one sock method.

In any case, I knit this sock without realizing it, and my sweater pattern is coming right along, too! You won’t hear me complaining about this weather.

While I’m coughing a lot still and can’t quite muster up my regular energy, I’m feeling much better. I went for an afternoon walk with my friend Rachel yesterday and by the end of it I was wiped. What normally would be an easy 2 hour stroll around the boulevards felt like a half marathon. I hate it. Of course I get sick four days into my gym membership! I haven’t been in a week.

Sick Person Food?

More like cold person food. It is 57 and rainy and all I wanted was soup when I clomped my way home from work in my rain boots. I stole a can of PT’s Progresso lentil soup, which was pretty good. I made an amazing grilled cheese to go with it, and have been drinking chamomile tea all afternoon.

Egg Sandwich and Potatoes

For dinner last night mixed four eggs, a couple spoonfuls of chunky salsa, some onion and a splash of milk together and poured it into two big muffin cups. I baked them, sliced them, melted some cheddar on them, and ate them as a sandwich with potatoes. This little improvised egg sandwich was great! So tasty with the salsa and cheddar. And you see how beautiful my bread looks? This was a really good batch.

Toe Up Sock

Tuesday was part one of my Toe Up Sock Class, so I got to start my next pair! Last night after dinner PT and I walked over to Streetside to watch the Tigers Sox game and I worked on this the whole time. I’m about an inch away from where I need to be for Toe Up Sock Class Part Two – The Heel.

Tonight is Sweater Club. I just ordered more yarn for my Summer Sweater, and a couple skeins of sock yarn, so I’ll be working on my sweater pattern tonight. I’ve gotten a few calls for sweater help, so I’m not expecting much knitting time for myself, however. I’ve got to make sure my ladies are on the right track!

I feel like I might ‘-apalooza’ too much. Not every post I write falls into the ‘an all out amazing party’ definition that ‘-apalooza’ brings to mind. In any case, Lots of Status Updates:

Loving Frank Status Update: Page 7. Vr Bad.

Toe Up Sock Status Update:

Vr Good

Finished them last night! …while I should have been reading but couldn’t pull my eyes/8 year old boy away from a most certain, and ultimately confirmed, Tigers loss. And now I’m not starting another project until tomorrow night’s Sweater Club. I will be starting my summer sweater in class, meaning I will be going the next 29 hours without knitting.

3.1 Pound Michigan Weight Gain Status Update:

Vr Good

PT and I threw together this cold pasta salad without ever having done it before! It turned out great. In fact, I made another one for lunch just now.

We also made some amazing corn, but I made an alarming discovery. I eat corn around, PT eats it type writer style, which I’m pretty sure means we aren’t meant to be. But I’m already down 2 Michigan pounds so I’m not worried about needing to find a non-type writer style corn eater.

High School Classmate Status Update Told Through Emails Between my Friend Susan and I:

Me: Jodi Bosch now Overweg something just friended me on facebook and is preggers with her THIRD child. She looks exactly the same. THREE. How fucked is that?

Susan: shut up. wow.  i feel so empty and unsuccessful now when i think of what might have been…. but seriously, did you think THAT girl was going to grow up to be anything besides a mom?

Me: I didn’t think she would grow up at all! She has to be the same retard we knew in high school, but now she has three kids. I was hoping she would just fall into a hole and wouldn’t be able to find her way out of it.

Susan: being 25 and a mother of three certainly sounds like falling into a hole to me.