The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Why does PT get a birthday WEEK? Maybe because it’s been like 20 degrees in Minneapolis and I’m feeling generous.

SHRIMP ATTACK!

But mainly because we’ve done some fun things this week, all corresponding with PT’s birthday, and, thus, PT’s birthday week.

The Birthday Boy and his Birthday Meal

PT wanted to make shrimp and grits for his birthday meal, so we grilled up some shrimp, roasted up some mushrooms, and stirred up some grits. I have never made grits before so I had no idea what I was doing, but they turned out great!

Brownie A La Mode

Instead of cake PT wanted brownie a la mode, and here we had fudgy brownies (best brownie recipe ever!) and some caramel frozen yogurt from Stoneyfield.

Lake of the Isles

And, since it’s like 20 degrees, we’ve been getting out more! Here is a beautiful shot of the Minneapolis skyline across Lake of the Isles, one of the chain of lakes through Minneapolis. There are some insane houses around these lakes and I can’t wait until it is actually nice out to walk around all of them.

Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center

And last night we went to Target Center in downtown Minneapolis to watch the Timberwolves take on the Oklahoma City Thunder! I really couldn’t care less about basketball but the Timberwolves are so bad you can get a great seat for $8.

Ann, Chris, and Mark

Mark, Chris, and Ann look unimpressed, but we all had a super good time. They are just gearing up for the heartbreak to come.

PT Enjoying Himself

Little does PT know that the TWolves will lose dramatically by 1 in overtime.

And I’ve got to give a little shout out to poor Velma:

Miss Velma

Pudge has been getting a lot of press, between Tuesday’s video appearance and her cameo with my Beatnik from last week, and people were starting to worry about her. Here she is! Being beautiful. As usual.

So, my PT, happy 28th birthday! But I hereby decree an end to our constant celebratory eating, because we are both getting super fat.

Velma gets a bad rap.

Velma Attacked by Elephants

She is the bitchy one. The princess. She is anorexic and bulimic at the same time because she is too vain for only one eating disorder.

Velma on the Toilet

She is the hot one, and no one likes the hot one.

Velma turned 7 this weekend. Which means I’m coming up to my 7th year in Chicago.

I transferred to Columbia College here in Chicago in 2003 after one year at Adrian College, a tiny liberal arts school in south east Michigan. I liked it there but spent the whole year planning my escape.  I spent the summer between schools at home with a healthy case of social anxiety disorder and a cheating boyfriend. Luckily for me fleeing from the cheating boyfriend overwhelmed my desire to stay in my house and not talk to anyone, so I found an apartment and headed to the big city.

Velma and Edmond

But not before my friend Jeff and I were driving around the unpaved roads of our hometown, Allendale MI, saw a free cats sign, pulled over, and walked into a cat-infested barn.

There were a million six toed cats running around, and tiny Velma sitting in the corner. Jeff spotted her.

“She got stuck in the milk tower for days, that’s why she is so skinny,” the owner informed us. “She was screaming so loud we had to climb up there and get her.”

Clearly cats weren’t a huge priority on this farm, so what I now know as Velma’s sounds-like-a-baby-being-strangled cry saved her life. Spending days at the top of a milk tower as a kitten set her up for her life of self imposed malnutrition.

We moved to Chicago a week later.

Velma, named after the super hot man killer Chicago character Velma Kelly, (clever!) only likes me because I’m much less attractive than she is. I’m her ugly pity friend, which I’m ok with. She is one of those cats that sticks to herself unless you need her. If I’m upset she senses it and is by my side immediately. Every time.

Velma, Pudge, and PT

She’s had quite a few men in her life, and, being the slut she is, has loved the shit out of every one.

I remember thinking, at 19, that I’d have Velma when I started having kids. But now that I know her I know she would never stand for that shit. Babies? She can barely handle Pudge.

Pudge is the opposite of Velma in every way; lovable, big, cuddly, and a big slob. Pudge sleeps on her back with her legs open and, GASP!, eats in front of people.

I love them both. But Velma will always be my first pet on my own. It was me and her, alone in the big city, before anyone else. She is the super hot bitchy model friend I’ll never have in person form.

So, Miss Velma Kelly, happy 7th birthday. I know you are telling people you are only 4, but I know the truth.

Built By Wendy Mini Dress

When I get something in my head I just need to do it. That is why, two days after writing a post about needing to sew a dress, I sewed this dress.

It was SLOW going. I haven’t sewn a garment in a long time, so it was hard getting the language down. I’ve always had a hard time with right sides and wrong sides, and making sure the seams are in the right spot and match with other seams.

Materials for Dress

It’s kind of amazing that just a zipper and some fabric is all it takes to make a dress. I think we lose sight of that when we are in a store shopping for clothes. Well, fabric, a zipper, and a LOT of time.

You’d think that without needing to form the fabric sewing would be a snap. This dress took me, opening pattern to these pictures, about 8 hours. Granted, I seriously screwed up a few times and needed to rip it up. But that is a lot of time for a little dress.

Funny how I have patience for knitting but nothing else.

Pudge and Velma Helpers

I also had to fight with Pudge and Velma the whole time. They REALLY wanted to help. I really locked them in the bathroom.

Gathered Top

The gathered neckline was kinda tricky, and it needs some more pressing. I was a little over ironing yesterday since I managed to not only burn a finger, but also my bicep. With an iron. Smooth. But I’ll press it more before I wear it for real.

Mini Dress!

I need a friend to help tie the ties, but I love the color, love the neckline, love the length, love how it looks with my plaid tights. I think I’ll throw on some heels (and some makeup!) and be good for my Memorial Day wedding.

Sewing is fun!

Edmund Likes Records!

I joke a lot about how I always, ‘go for cute.’ If something is cute, I love it. If I see the chance to make something cuter, I do it. If I see a pattern for an owl with huge fabric eyes and a scarf, I knit it.

This is Edmund the Owl. I found him on ravelry here and his pattern is here.

My grandma loves toys. She says it is because when she was little they didn’t have any toys so now she is making up for it. I knit those elephants for her for Christmas and she psychotically loved them! I don’t think a conversation between us ends without an elephant update. They are hanging on the TV. One of them attacked Papa. Those elephants are hard to control!

Hanging out with Velma

My papa hasn’t been doing to well lately, and my grandma has been understandably distressed about it. Who am I kidding; do I really need an excuse to knit an owl for my grandparents?

Going for a Bike Ride!

He knit up really quickly. The pattern is super easy to follow and he obviously turned out great. I cut his little eyes out of some fabric I had laying around, then used a sharpie for his pupils.

Pondering Life

PT made a guest knit appearance! He knit that scarf all by himself. Well, besides the CO and BO. He did a great job and Edmund is now very warm!

I’m going to ship him off to my grandparents this afternoon. I think Velma is going to miss him!

I had to leave Pudge Rodriguez and Velma in Chicago while I went to Michigan for Christmas because they are both spoiled and hate other people/animals. Especially Velma. I left the house in tip top shape.

Yarn and Puke

More Yarn and Puke

Six days later, not so much.

My apartment has five rooms. Four of them were covered in yarn and three of them had puke in them.

Three balls of yarn got it bad, and one rug.

I love them but they are menaces. I blame Pudge for the yarn and Velma for the puke. They were both looking seriously guilty for hours after I got home and Velma avoided me for the rest of the day.

New Pillows!

My mom made me these pillows for Christmas! She knit them with strips of fleece, then used them to cover pillow forms. And, looking at my futon, she made almost everything on it! That quilt, the other pillows behind the new ones. Everything but the knitted shawl over the back. That was my first knitting project!

Which brings me to my random facts! Anne at fANNEtastic food gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award! How sweet is that? It is funny when you are reading someone’s blog and then come across yourself. I recently found Anne’s food blog and have been really enjoying it. She is fun and genuine and a really engaging writer. Thanks, Anne!

So the deal is I’ve got to share 7 random facts about myself, then choose 7 people to pass it on to.

1. My first knitting project was that gigantic shawl on the back of my futon. I learned to knit when I was a senior in high school, and my knitting teacher found the pattern and just told me to go for it. The pattern ran out but I just kept going, figuring it out along the way. It’s too big to wear, but makes an amazing blanket! It taught me to never worry about trying to do something you don’t know how to do, in knitting and in life. Try it, figure it out, make it happen.

2. I was bitten by a dog when I was little. I’ve got a big scar on the left side of my forehead and my hair doesn’t grow very well on that side, so I’ve got to have a right side part to cover it up so I don’t look like I’m bald, or scare small children. I call it my Harry Potter scar. I’ve got cuts around my nose from it, too, but they kind of look like freckles, so they are actually just enhancing the cute.

3. But I still love dogs! I get super irritated when people go on and on about how they got bit by a dog when they were little, so they are scared of them. Buck up, dude. You can’t live your life scared.

4. I really, really, really, really love baseball and football. I joke around about it on the blog and in person, but in a list of people/things that I love, baseball and football would be in the top ten. I read about it excessively, I get depressed and happy depending on how my team is doing. I even cry about it. It’s sick. I love it and it never loves me back. I hate it, but I love love love it.

5. I used to be an ugo fatty. I was a dessert vegetarian for years before I got it together. I stopped eating red meat when I was in 5th grade, and replaced protein with sugar. I weighed 180 pounds at 5′ 6″. I made up for it by being funny. When I was 21 I started taking care of myself, working out and eating better, lost 50 pounds, and now I’m a hottie. I’m still not used to it. Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and don’t even recognize myself.

6. I don’t do fancy. I’d much rather buy fancy ingredients and make a meal at home than go out to a fancy restaurant. I gauge the worth of food in terms of burrito prices – if I’m spending $20 dollars on a meal I better want that meal more than I would want 6 burritos. And can you really want anything more than you would want 6 burritos?

7. And I don’t like jewelry. I never got my ears pierced. I wear bracelets sometimes but not really. I can’t remember the last time I put on a necklace. I always joke that if someone wants to propose to me they better bring me an engagement couch or put a down payment on an engagement house, because if you spend a million dollars on an engagement ring I’ll return it and buy myself a room full of engagement yarn.

And now for the people I’m choosing:

1. Noel and Joelle at The Owls are Not What They Seem, for having super style with a hit of crafty diy love.

2. Jeanna at I Didn’t Hit You, I Just High-Fived Your Face, for always being funny, no matter what crappy things might be going down.

3. PT at Acme Valley, who needs a little blogging motivation.

4. Sarah at Brainphreak, for her ability to just jump into things! Figuring out patterns herself and being a ridiculously fearless crafter.

5. Beth at El Dugan, for being an amazing and seriously funny writer.

6. Nick at NICK HAUS. EVERY post makes me happy.

7. Julie at Knitted Bliss, for always knitting the most beautiful and the most silly patterns out there.

So again, Anne, thanks so much for the blogger award! I hope y’all have as much fun with it as I did.