"Knitted with a hot needle" is a translation of the German expression "mit heißer Nadel gestrickt", an idiom used to refer to something done haphazardly due to an impending deadline. My PhD adviser introduced me to it. The dict.leo forums suggest "quick and dirty" may also be an acceptable translation.
"Der Schuster hat die schlechtesten Schuhe", or "the cobbler has the worst shoes". That is, the one working the hardest on a particular task may fail to take care of themself.
Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages by E. B. Mawr, 1885.