The Sweatshop of Love Blog

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 at 6. I made pickles. I still smell like pickles; you can’t get that smell out of your hands. Like garlic. Or lemon.

Pickles are not something you  make by yourself. Making pickles is ridiculous, and Oliver and Batley just didn’t appreciate the ridiculousness of making pickles at 6am to the extent I needed them to.

And I did something stupid.

Work? No Thanks, I'll Start A Sweater

I started the Vogue Cropped Jacket. Yesterday. As you can see, I made some progress, because I don’t want to do anything but knit this sweater. I didn’t even turn my computer on at all yesterday. Get this! I READ THE PAPER to get scores. I felt like such an old dude.

Seed St Bottom, Bell St Body

My mom and I ran to Hobby Lobby yesterday morning, through torrential rain, to pick up Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool in the dark tweed, and of course I can’t just sit and do some actual work, like I’m supposed to be doing, I have to start my sweater, and not stop working on it for one moment.

Isn’t it pretty?

I’m at Biggby this morning. Made pickles, came to Biggby. I’ve been sitting here for about an hour and a half now; I’m the only one sitting, and I 3 couples have come and gone. Sunday morning in Allendale is not a big morning for coffee, apparently. And everyone has said the exact same thing:

Coffee Guy: Morning!

Man: It’s a hot one out there!

Coffee Guy: Iced coffee? Haha!

Man and Woman: Haha!

Woman: Iced ___________

(Coffee Guy makes drink): This will help you stay cool!

Man: We’ll need it! Haha!

Woman and Coffee Guy: Haha!

Have I mentioned how much I love it here? I got a small coffee, and when I moseyed over to the self serve area I found the Michigan Cherry medium roast. Halla! It is delightful.

'Sunday' Dinner

I’m extraordinarily lucky to have grandparents I’m very close to and that live 15 minutes away from my parents. They have been coming over on Sunday afternoons to eat a huge meal and play cards for as long as I can remember. We moved our Sunday meal up a day this weekend because today is supposed to be 95 degrees and my parents don’t have air conditioning in the cabin. The ‘Sunday’ dinner spread was my papa’s potato salad, which is the best potato salad in the entire world and has spoiled me away from every other potato salad there is, that huge fruit salad, grilled potatoes, and grilled lemon pepper chicken.

And please take a moment to stare with amazement at my mom’s table runner! She knit that with her yarn scraps. The contrast of that table runner on the dark wood immediately catches your eye and lights up the entire room.

My Plate

Here is a closer look at her work! And my plate. I had a heeping serving of both potato salad and potatoes, with ketchup, and a few pieces of the grilled chicken. And a lot of fruit salad! The fruit salad had watermelon, blueberries, nectarines, early apples, and apricots all from Michigan, and grapes, but I’m not sure where the grapes came from.

I whipped up the marinate from the chicken with the zest of four lemons, the juice of 6 lemons, maybe a tablespoon of olive oil, and a whole lot of pepper.

(And my mom is going to kill me, but I have to point out that the woman uses paper plates, paper bowls, and beautiful hand made by her cloth napkins. The ridiculousness of that is exactly why I love my mother so much. Of course she would use the napkins she made because they are beautiful and look great with the table runner she made, but she doesn’t want to wash all those dishes. It’s logical and ridiculous.)

I also finished my second Two Texture Mitten in 24 hours, because today is my grandma’s birthday and I wanted to give them to her. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries and the battery charger is at home, so I won’t be able to take a picture of them, of her, or of the brunch we are about to have at The Peppermill Grill, (Papa: The Butter Wagon, The Butterball. Dad: The Buttermill. Matthew: The Butterbutt – I don’t know where they all got butter from) which has a yelp page now! But no reviews. (cough, PT, cough)

Church Wear: A dude in his early 20s just walked into Biggby wearing tan flip flops, white cargo shorts with a newspaper sticking out of his back pocket, a tan fabric belt, a black button down with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a silver tie. Oh! And he ordered an iced peanut butter cup latte.

I’ve got to pack up quick if I’m going to catch him before he jumps back into the Jeep Grand Cherokee he took the time to back into a parking spot for a 30 second stop at the coffee shop!

On, and Perfect!

Cute Thumb!

Done!

This weekend I finished the Two-Textured Mittens I’ve been working on this week. I think they turned out really well! I’m especially proud of the thumb, which was picked up after the body of the mitten was finished, and then shaped. I didn’t want one of those floppy thumbs on beginner mittens, and I thought working the thumb with different needles and different yarn while working the body would be too much. I can’t even picture how that would work.

But this way is simple and fun and cute and I’m really happy with this mitten. And hopefully I’ve got four months until I need it.

Fuzzy Yarn Balled

I balled up the huge mass of fuzzy yarn. I still don’t know what it is, but it was impossible to figure out what was going on with it; I was knitting from the outside of the ball which I hate doing. Yarn winder to the rescue! It wound up so nice! It is tight and feels really secure. I’m pretty sure I have enough yarn for 27 more mittens.

Oats and Banana Toast

Grilled Cheese, Zucchini, and Carrot Sandwich

Sultan's Market Falafel Sandwich and Spinach Pie

I had some pretty solid meals this weekend, starting with an abundance of oat bowls. I have so much fruit in the house, all over the kitchen, that every time I go in there I hear the voice of a little oat bowl, ‘Allyson, look at us! We are lovely blueberries and we would go VERY well in a bowl with oats, milk, cinnamon toast crunch, a little apple, a little coconut, and some raisins!’ Then the banana chimes in, ‘Don’t forget about me! My best friend is crunchy peanut butter on toast!’ So I eat that. A lot.

After the mini sandwiches from earlier in the week, I had that Dubliner cheese, zucchini combo in my head and had to repeat, with some carrot. Awesome! I love this sandwich.

And a falafel craving lead to a trip to Sultan’s Market. Though, that falafel is sitting pretty heavy in my tummy right now.

Ooh Velma

What is a Sunday without a cat in a box? Velma likes to sleep in very small spaces. Sometimes I wish I could fit in a box and just chill there until I have a reason to leave. I feel you, Velma.

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.