A Shawl to...Share?

Last week I finally picked up the needles to finish this shawl that I had started back in November to use up a bunch of odds and ends out of my yarn stash.  It was meant to be a gift when I started it before Christmas but I ended up making a different one for that person so this one ended up being for me...although my cat seems to be pretty sure it was meant for her.

I tossed it at the foot of the bed when I was done knitting it because I thought I would wear it over my shoulders when I was sitting up in bed reading at night.  Putty had a different idea and every time I go into the bedroom, there she is...hogging it!

I should have known this was going to happen by the way she always came to sit on it whenever I was knitting it and scowled at me each time I dared to move it a bit as I was knitting.  I actually had to pick her up and move her so that I could "borrow" it long enough to get these pics taken.

 Now she's miffed!

Citrus Swirl Soap

I've been wanting to make a batch of soap for my husband. He likes citrus-y smells so I thought it would be fun to use some dried and ground orange peels along with several citrus essential oils for his batch.

I also wanted it to look sort of orange and yellow with a bit of darker orange.  I decided to dry some orange peels and try using those. I cut them up and let them dry and then ground them in the blender.

I was thinking that the ground orange peels might give it a darker colour but then was reading in a soap making book that quite often you end up with a different colour than you think you might based on how the plant material reacts with the soap.

It suggested using spices to get different reliable colours. I wanted to try paprika but was out of it and so I googled to see what colour turmeric might give and decided to give that a try.  After pouring most of my soap into the mould I added a spoonful of turmeric to a small amount of soap and whizzed it to mix it in - it went quite red when I added it .  It ended up being a sort of saffron colour, and looked great when swirled into the main batch of soap.

It ended up looking just the way I had hoped and it smells delightful (I'm hoping the citrus smells don't fade too quickly).

Here it is almost dried after sitting overnight.

This was a basic coconut oil and olive oil soap. I had used this combination before for the first batch we made and really like the hardness of the soap and the lather.

Each batch I make has me wondering why I waited so long to try soap-making.  It really is a very simple thing to do and SO much fun to be able to make all kinds of different soap.  The toughest part is trying to wait patiently while it cures before you can try it...something, it turns out, I wasn't able to do with my batch of peppermint soap.  More on that later. ;-)

Peppermint Soap for Laundry

We've been busy making lemonade out of lemons here lately.  A flood in the basement kick-started my Spring cleaning a little earlier than usual.  ;-)  I do actually love Spring cleaning and I likely would not have made as much time as needed for it this year (since this week I'll start seeding the greenhouse for the market garden and things will just keep getting busier after that) so I'm choosing to find the silver lining in the flood in this way.  All the Spring cleaning upstairs is already done and, as soon as restoration work is finished,  the downstairs will all be deeply cleaned as well. 

Awhile ago I decided to try out the homemade dry laundry soap that I've seen on other blogs instead of making my usual liquid laundry soap.  I used Dr Bronner's peppermint soap and enjoyed the scent so much that I decided to try making my next batch of homemade soap with peppermint oil.

The boys helped me to make it the other day and this morning I cut it into bars to cure.  This is the first time I tried making an all vegetable shortening recipe (other methods here and here) and it came out well and will make a nice bar to use in the laundry soap recipe.  I followed the excellent video tutorial on this website (there is a fantastic amount of soap-making info. there).

Simple Shawls and Simple Fudge

Today I finished another shawl.  I'm pleased to have these two shawls made and looking forward to gifting them.  The last four years some very special women in my life have had cancer - these two shawls are a celebratory gift to two of these women who have recently finished their treatments. 

I'm hoping they will keep them just a little warmer and cozier this winter and that they will feel wrapped in love and healing thoughts each time they use them.

This last one I finished binding off with just this much to spare!  And, during those last tense moments, when I thought I might run out, I wondered why on earth I hadn't just done one less row to be sure I would have enough yarn to finish.  I've made a mental note to remind myself next time but feel free to remind me because I'm sure to forget (I've done the same thing before).

I did make sure that I used a bigger needle to bind off rather than trusting myself to bind off loosely - it makes the shawl lay so much nicer if it is not bound off too tightly.

I really love this shawl and have one on the go for myself as well (using odds and sods of wool).  It is a simple but pretty shawl (free download Herb Garden shawl on Ravelry) and I especially love the rounded bottom instead of a pointy one.  If you've never used a shawl I highly recommend them - there really is a reason why women have used them for centuries.  They're Just Right for a little added warmth and comfort (and Perfect if you like to sit up and read in bed).

E has been wanting to try fudge for ages and so we decided to make a very simple recipe that I used to make when I was younger.

Not health food for sure but a delicious treat all the same (we used 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips).

And since teens don't get the concept of Christmas baking being for Christmas...another batch of brown sugar buttons to replace the one that was scoffed eaten.

Goodies and Greenery

E and I have been enjoying watching A Victorian Farm and A Victorian Farm Christmas together.  It's fun to know that the way we decorate our home is not unlike the way a Victorian farm family decorated their home for the holidays. 

(we drove by these guys on our way to find a tree, by the time we got the camera all we could get was a bum shot)


We've been collecting greenery on our walks for some time and last weekend we set out to the woods to get our tree.  We came home with red cheeks, a sweet little tree (which, I admit, took some getting used to after two years of massive trees) and assorted other greenery (we are fortunate enough to have yew, ivy and lots of other greenery right on this property including these gorgeous red berries, no holly but oregon grape leaves do in a pinch).

I've had some fun making two simple green decorations outside - one in an old milk can and one in an old cream separator.

The rest of the greenery has been placed throughout our home - I couldn't resist tucking a string of white lights under some old glass insulators on our mantel.

Simple, lovely and all able to be tossed back outside afterwards to compost - my favourite kind of decoration. ;-)

We've been doing a bit of baking, some of our favourites - toffee, brown sugar buttons, seedy crackers - with shortbread, gingerbread men, thimble cookies and nanaimo bars still to go.

Yesterday we made a treat for our favourite canine companion and, since I've been working on planning a new business, E and I talked about a business idea for him - homemade dog biscuits sold at the farm stand.  This batch - carrot, apple, molasses - seemed to go down a treat so it will be a keeper recipe.  Happily we have our own very willing taste tester dog (and actually E tested them out too as they are made with ingredients that non-furry creatures can also enjoy). ;-)

And, I don't usually like to post photos of myself (camera shy and all that) but I thought I would share this one because I wanted to show this great hat.  I wear it all the time because it is so warm (felted wool). I've had so many compliments on it and I love being able to say, "Thank you, I got it at the dump.".  Fun to see the looks that gets.  This summer we were camping on a little island and they have a re-store at their dump, it is a place where people can drop their stuff off and then others can buy it for a small donation.  There is a similar place up near my folks' house (although things are free at that one).  I LOVE the idea of this and wish there were such places at all landfills.  Such a wonderful idea and interesting to me that it is often in island communities where you will see these.  I'd like to be able to say that I usually look much tidier than this but, no...that's me, hair knotted in a bun, stuffed in a hat and off I go. ;-)

Now...to get back to that knitting.

Owls, Angels and the First of December

A special young friend is celebrating a birthday soon and so when we went to visit yesterday we took along a handmade gift.  I Love having a young girl with an appreciation for crafts in my life, my boys have always enjoyed my handmade things but there is something very fun about crafting for a girl too (I've had fun, fun, fun in years past making her gifts).  This girl has a connection to owls and so, when I saw this post, I couldn't resist making a woolly owl for her.  I still have my sweater scraps from my patchwork blanket so I chose a gray one and got started. 

I dug out our needle-felting supplies which haven't been used since we moved and needle felted the eyes and beak. 

I stuffed it with some batting. The feet were cut from another felted sweater bit.

And then I used some buffalo wool (also in thrifted stash) to crochet a nest.  The entire time E eyed it covetously and so I think I know what to make him for his Solstice gift.  He does have a fondness for felted animals and I thought it was so cute that I might just have to make myself one too.

November has passed by so quickly that I could hardly believe it was already time to get the boxes of decorations out last night so we could find the advent calender.  We put up the calender and then got out one of my favourite childhood decoration - this angel chime candle.  We sat together and watched as the candles burned down and we talked about what we look forward to in December.  This was always the first decoration I would set up when I was little, that way I could listen to it chiming as we set about putting out the rest of the decorations and there really is just something magical about candlelight, isn't there.

This afternoon E and I made some paper snowflakes (as we do each year) to decorate the windows then E lit the advent candle because the first day of the month always takes a bit longer to burn down than the other days (there are markings on the candle and we burn one section each day).  And, as I took this photo I gave thanks again for the grace that brought us to this place...right here...right now.

Here's to a magical month.

Handmade Lavender Soap

I enjoyed the first attempt at soap-making so much that the boys and I made a second batch the very next day.

Lavender is one of my favourite scents so we used some lavender flowers with some lavender essential oils in this batch.  This time we made an all olive oil soap (the first batch was olive and coconut oil).

The longest part really is waiting for the lye to cool.  We waited...and waited...and put it outside to hasten cooling and waited some more.

Then it was ready to mix.  We used a stick blender and it quickly came to "trace".  We added the essential oil and mixed a bit more.

We poured some into our mold (a cardboard box lined with a plastic bag), added some lavender flowers then poured the rest of the soap mixture on.  The next day it was ready to cut.

I think that soap making may very well become an addiction for me. This seems to be an issue for me...although I have overcome my edging addiction (only by selling that home, mind, so I'm not sure that counts but still...). When my soap-making-guru friend emailed me yesterday to let me know that soap has a shelf life and that I might not want to make more than a year's supply I felt quite robbed - I'd just been enjoying sniffing this latest batch and was contemplating my next batch. What to do?  How many pounds of soap could my family actually use in a year?!?

I may have a plan that will support this new addiction  love, I think I might just sell any excess at the farm stand next year (big plans in the works for this!)...that way I can keep making new batches to my heart's content this winter and not have to worry about overwhelming my family by urging them constantly to "use more soap!!".

Handmade Soap

I can't quite recall for how long I have been wanting to make soap.  I've made all kinds of other goodies from scratch but never soap.  At long last I decided I Must Make Soap and it could not wait a moment longer.  A dear friend came over so that we could make it together (surely this must be the best way to make soap - or anything, for that matter - for the first time). 

Now, this friend and I both seem to be instructionally-challenged, by that I mean that we both find it difficult to follow (or stick with) directions of any sort, we both have a tendency to want to try something different.  We started off following one recipe and then, as we looked at our carefully measured ingredients and considered the amount of soap we though it would make, decided we need more.  Happily, I had a recipe from another friend on file and we were able to slightly change our proportions and continue on.

I had some spices another dear friend had passed on to me after her sachet making (when she was clearing out in preparation for her big move) and I ground some up to add to our soap.  We both were wanting our soap to look something like these beautiful bars.  We added a few bottles of our favourite scents - orange, clove, cinnamon and tangerine.

It was incredibly simple to make, the longest part was waiting for the lye/water solution to cool to the appropriate temperature.  So quick and easy!

What amazed me most is that one can take such simple, few ingredients and end up with something so beautiful and useful.  It's magical to me.  And actually, it is, to me, very much like gardening - take very little and with a touch of magic (and perhaps a bit of luck) you have such goodness.  I love it.

In fact, I loved it so much that the very next day, after slicing up these bars and phoning my friend to rave about them, I started another batch with my boys.  And now I can hardly believe I waited all these years to try it.  Hmmm, it seems I've many years of soap-making to catch up on...I could make calendula, comfrey, chamomile...even nettle!