My mom got me the Knit Picks Blocking Mats for my birthday a few weeks ago! I had my eye on these for years, and have been using towels laying all over my house to block on since I started knitting.

My Stack of New Blocking Mats

One of the main reasons I wanted to get these mats is because I thought they’d attract my cats less than towels always do. I swear my cats lay in wait for me to block things because they are only truly happy when they are sleeping on wet towels.

Velma Scoping it Out

Velma, the smart one, was the first to check it out. She took a few minutes to sniff around, but lost interest quickly.

Pudge Testing the Water

Pudge really wanted to make this work! She is usually the one sleeping on the wet sweaters the most, so once Velma walked away she was all over it.

Pudge Giving Up!

But it just wasn’t the same! She walked around the sweater and the blocking mats for another few minutes, but ended up leaving, too. It was fantastic! No yarn pulls, no messed up sweater, no wet cat hair! And the sweater dried overnight, and even though it’s cotton, the sweater is worsted cotton! Overnight drying is still pretty damn good.

So I’m in love with my blocking mats! Thanks mom!

… and y’all can just go ahead and ignore that sweater drying on that mat. There is nothing to see here.

Related Sweatshop Love:

• March 9, 2011 -- Kimono Wr- YAAAWWWNNNN -ap Cardigan
• July 5, 2010 -- Happy Birthday Velma!
• May 3, 2010 -- FO: Built By Wendy Mini Dress
• December 30, 2009 -- Cat Distruction and a Blogger Award

I first shared the Ruffle Rose Pillow project a couple weeks ago, and then the project stalled. Between needing to finish the wedding shrug and then getting caught up in the Vogue Sweater disaster, it just hit the sidelines.

Velma and Ruffle Rose Pillow

I picked the pillow back up this week and finished it! After getting through that ruffle on the front, the back was a breeze, and it came together around a 16″ pillow frame really quickly.

Ruffles!

It looks fantastic, if I do say so myself. I’ve got two more pillows to make before Christmas, but this pattern is going to stay in my queue so I can make a few for myself. They feel awesome, it’s a great size, and looks really cool.

Yarn Suck!

I used all but about 5 yards of the white Caron One Pounder I picked up on sale at JoAnn! The pillow takes up a comical amount of yarn. The tiny ball of yarn I had left after I got done seaming was pretty ridiculous.

Even The Back Is Awesome

The ruffle part is only on the front of the pillow, but even the increases all lined up in sections on the back of the pillow looks cool, and because of the sizing of the front and back, you can see the front is ruffly.

I love this project, and better yet? The pattern is easy to read and correct, unlike what I’ve been use to dealing with. One pillow down, two to go!

Pattern: Ruffle Rose Pillow by Tracie Barrett

Hook: Size G

Yarn: Caron One Pound in white

Ravelry Project Page

Related Sweatshop Love:

• September 15, 2011 -- A Pillow, a Shrug, and a Sweater: WIP Round Up
• January 23, 2012 -- Anti-Kitty Blocking Mats
• January 12, 2012 -- FO: Half Fabric, Half Crochet Infinity Scarf
• November 23, 2011 -- WIP Wednesday (for once!)

Last week I started working on Roaring Dinosaur from Knitted Toys, and I finished him up yesterday!

Roaring Dinosaur! And Velma

He’s HUGE. Like, huge. I used worsted weight yarn, Red Heart Super Saver, to be exact, and size 7 needles, which is MUCH larger than the gauge for this pattern.

Because who doesn’t want a huge dinosaur?! It’s AWESOME!

DINO!

I’m going to preface this review of the pattern by saying that the end result is totally worth the hassle. BUT it is an annoying pattern. I was saying last week that the pattern is written line by line and it is impossible to keep track of without marking your rows. There are silly things, like using Inc AND M1, just to be tricky. And there are glaring errors in the pattern so if you are scared of flying by the seat of your pants and making things just work in a pattern, take a look through the finished projects before tackling him.

Ok, Velma, I'm Almost Done!

But if you go in knowing the pattern is a little messed up, and use your knitterly common sense, you’ll get there. And when you do you’ll be so pumped about it!

This dude is for Baby Nolan, of course. He’s been getting a lot of play around here lately. Roaring Dino will make a great baptism present in a few weeks! I’ve got this Godmother thing in the bag!

Pattern: Roaring Dinosaur by Zoe Mellor, from her book Knitted Toys

Yarn: Red Heart Super Savor in Tea Leaf, and some red scraps

Needles: Size 7s

Ravelry Project Page

Related Sweatshop Love:

• March 29, 2011 -- K&C Blog Week Day 2: Mad Skillz, and a Dinosaur
• January 23, 2012 -- Anti-Kitty Blocking Mats
• October 3, 2011 -- FO: Ruffle Rose Pillow, the First
• April 18, 2011 -- FO: Wedding Present Afghan

It’s Day 2 of Knit and Crochet Blog Week! All week knit and crochet bloggers are going to be blogging answers to the same yarn-y art related questions. And I’ll be doing my best.

Day 2!

Today we are chatting about skills.

Q: Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year.

Well EXACTLY a year ago today PT moved to NYC. That is pretty crazy. I just reread that sad blog. I wish I could tell 2010 me that in 365 days you’ll STILL be in an empty apartment, but because most of your stuff is in Minneapolis, and you’ll STILL be in a long distance relationship, but MN/CHI.

That’s better! It also makes me wonder about what will go down in the next 365 days. I’m sure 2012 me will be big pimpin’.

Wait. Knitting! Last year at this time I was designing my Summer Ebook. Now I’m knitting dinosaurs for my nephew and bow headbands for Renegade Brooklyn. I’d say that’s a backward step, really.

But it’s all the process. I’d say I’m making huge strides as a designer every day. Designers learn by doing, because while construction can be taught, being able to design things that people want to knit can not be taught. You have to design and fail and design and succeed and grow from there.

Knitting takes a long time. I’m designing and knitting for Renegade Brooklyn right now, and that is keeping me from designing patterns to self publish. It’s a choice I’m making, and hopefully going to Renegade and doing summer jewelry knit kits will get The Sweatshop exposure. Will it expand my business as much as working on patterns to self publish? Who knows. It’s a gamble business owners take every day.

That Dino Body is as Big as Velma!

So that dino I’m knitting Baby Nolan is turning out awesome! It’s Roaring Dinosaur from Knitted Toys, a book I got for my birthday last year. It’s the first pattern I’ve knit from this book, but it’s chocked FULL of amazing and totally knit-able toys.

I finished the body over the weekend, and now just need to make arms and legs. As you can see, the body is as big as Velma!

Slightly annoying: The patterns are written LINE BY LINE. All flat, as far as I can tell, and lots of, ‘Do that again, only reverse shaping’. It takes a lot of concentration for a damn toy.

Also annoying: I’m NOT knitting a TOY in size 3 needles. I upped this like whoa – worsted weight yarn, Red Heart Super Savor projected leftovers from my Zig Zag Afghan that is about 80% finished, and I’m using size 6 needles.

This dino will be his baptism present. I’m going to be this kid’s Godmother so I’ve got to bring it with the presents. That is basically all I’ve gotten out of googling, ‘godmother responsibilities’.

Related Sweatshop Love:

• April 7, 2011 -- FO: Roaring Dinosaur
• January 23, 2012 -- Anti-Kitty Blocking Mats
• October 3, 2011 -- FO: Ruffle Rose Pillow, the First
• April 4, 2011 -- Dead Blog

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.

Related Sweatshop Love:

• January 23, 2012 -- Anti-Kitty Blocking Mats
• March 3, 2011 -- My Next Sweater: Kimono Wrap Cardigan
• September 28, 2010 -- Christmas Present Update: PT
• July 21, 2010 -- FO: The Two Boyfriends Cardigan