Blast from the past

I'm a child of the 80's, through and through. The other day, one of the girls at work and I were talking about Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I reminisced that I had seen it in the movie theater with my sister and a friend from school. And that I remembered getting posters and buttons because it was some special showing. Well, lo and behold, I went looking and found my stash of buttons...
I was a HUGE Duran Duran fan, so the majority of my buttons are theirs, but there it is, my "Leisure Rules" FB button. I'm such a geek that it makes me so happy to have found it. Probably even more so that I'm blogging it!!

Lucy!!

After a month of waiting for the USPS to get around to delivering it, my Lucy Neatby dvd's finally arrived today! It was a real chore having to go back to work this afternoon and not plant myself in front of the tv and watch them. I started watching Knitting Essentials 1 tonight while I rode the exercise bike (damn holiday pounds). I LOVE it. The video is excellently shot, you can clearly see every stitch she makes and she explains things very well. It was so worth the wait. I ordered mine directly from Lucy at Tradewinds in Canada. I have since found several online retailers that carry the videos so I might order the other 2 from US retailers in hopes of not such a long wait.

The sock knitting love continues...My Online socks are coming right along. Here they are ready for the heel turn. The Mister Joe Blanket socks are a thing of joy. Check out the heel. I wanted funky heels to show off in my clogs. I think I succeeded.There are holes where I picked up stitches for the gusset (I hate when that happens), but they should be easy enough to sew up. This yarn is a bit finer than the Online 6ply, but these socks are still knitting up very quickly. I am (again) under the spell of socks. For some reason, I just can't get into knitting anything big right now. I've done a couple of inches on the KnitPicks afghan, but all I really want to do is knit socks. Seeing as how I've got yarn to make at least 2 more pair waiting in the stash (um, and perhaps a few more on the way), I'm hoping the sock knitting bug sticks around for awhile.

And finally, a batch of soap...I haven't thought of a name for this one yet. It's scented with Creamy Vanilla from Lone Star. It's a new scent for me and I'm hoping it doesn't discolor. Vanilla scents are notorious for turning soap brown. But I've always had good luck with Lone Star's scents. They are a great source for soap scents for people like me who only make small batches and want to try lots of different scents.

Cat on clean laundry

I'm currently reading Wendy Johnson's Wendy Knits. She mentions that when she decided to blog, she made a commitment to post daily. And she does. She always finds something interesting in her day to post about. Now, I have no such goals or commitments, nor do I delude myself in thinking I have something anyone wants to hear about every day. But I would like to blog more often. So I've decided to take a small influence from Wendy and post my cats. Stuart (grey cat) and Quinn (black cat) are an endless source of joy for us. And, generally, provide some form of entertainment (or frustration) everyday. So today I present as evidence of the frustration quotient...
Cat on clean laundry. At least it's towels and not clothes!

Soap

I realized I haven't mentioned my soap in quite a while. I'm not really sure why. I'm still soaping. Quite a lot actually. As my family will attest to since I'm constantly gifting/pushing soap on them! Soaping goes much quicker than knitting. Far less photo-ops. But recently, I decided to slow down and get pictures of the process, at least this is how I do it.

I keep all my supplies boxes for easy transport from the storage area (basement) to the work area (kitchen).
I start with making the lye/water solution and setting it aside to cool.Next I weigh and melt my oils.While the lye cools and the oils heat, I prepare my mold. The mold needs to be lined with freezer paper to keep the soap from sticking to the mold. It also ensures the sides of the soap will be nice and smooth. This is a 2 pound mold I purchased from Saratoga Scents. I have a silicone bread loaf pan that I sometimes use, it does not require lining, but I'm not as happy with the shape of the finished bars. The wooden mold provides nice, square sides. Very little trimming is needed with this mold.

If I'm scenting and/or coloring the soap, I measure the fragrance oil(s) into their own cups and I combine the color powder with a little water to dissolve. I like to use disposable plastic bathroom cups for this since these ingredients are messy to clean up.

Once the lye/water and oils are about the same temperature, you combine them and stir until the soap thickens. I like to use a stick blender for this step. I've never tried making soap the "old fashioned way" by hand stirring it to trace. I hear that can take a long time, hours even! With the stick blender, I reach trace in less than 10 minutes.

When trace is reached, I add the scents and colors. This batch was a fairly ambitious 3 color swirl. I pulled approximately 1/3 to be left plain, 1/3 was colored with cocoa powder and scented with chocolate fo.
The final third was colored burgundy and scented with cherry almond fo.
Then the 3 colors were poured into the lined mold. The color looks exceptionally bad at this point. The soap then sits in the mold for about a day before unmolding. (Missed pictures of this step). I cut my soaps into 1 inch bars and let them air dry for a few days before stamping with my Milky Way cat stamp. The final result...Chocolate Covered Cherries soap. The log of soap probably should have sat another day before cutting, you can see the marks at the bottom where the soap stuck to the blade. And the swirl is practically non-existent. I've come to the conclusion it would be better to keep the majority of the soap one color and have much smaller amounts of the swirl colors. Regardless of it's cosmetic flaws, it's a fabulous soap (if I do say so myself).

Here are some more pictures of recent soap creations. This picture shows my drying area, a piece of needlepoint plastic on newspaper on a shelf in the basement. Works very well and can hold 3 batches of soap (I only make 1 or 2 pound batches). Finished soaps. Clockwise from the top: Cocoa Rose (my husband's aunt's favorite. I make this pretty much just for her since I'm not a huge rose fan); Green Tea (this is a new one for me, made with green tea in place of water and scented with green tea fo. The scent is very herbal); Pumpkin Spice (made with real pumpkin, see recipe here, and spices. This was done in the silicone pan, see how the shape is different); and a soap I made just for the holidays this year called Merry Christmas (it smells fantastic, but I hate the color of the lather. I'm picky about stuff like that.)
And finally, my all time favorite soap, Lavender. This batch is as close to perfect as I've come. I used lavender essential oil, the real stuff, not fragrance oil, and it smells DIVINE. The swirl is nice and the bars have the right "feel", hard but not brittle, nice opacity. I have given some of these away, but I'm hoarding the rest. I love them so much.If you want to learn to make soap yourself, I encourage you to pickup a good book and check out the abundant resources on the Internet. Some of my favorite books are, in order of preference: 1 Everything Soapmaking (a 2nd edition of this is being published this spring if you can't find the original); 2 Soap by Ann Bramson; and 3 the Soapmaker's Companion. There are tons of great websites to explore. Some of my favorites are, in no order: Soap @ About.com; Soap Calc; Miller Soap; and these Yahoo Groups... SoapMaking 101 and SoapMakers.

I hope you enjoyed this look at soapmaking. I feel better having given my second favorite hobby some much deserved attention. Soaping is a fun and satisfying process. It feels to me like modern alchemy, taking unrelated substances and producing something completely different, even if it's not gold.

Christmas wrap-up

Although still unseasonably warm, it's been a wonderful holiday week. Lots of good food and fun time with the families (the diet starts today!). Everyone loved their gifts.We sat around Christmas afternoon watching Finian's Rainbow (love that movie!!) Santa was good to me this year and I was lucky enough to get nearly everything I wanted. I got movies and candy and gift certificates galore; a cozy sweater and an awesome MP3 player. Two knitting gifts to note...a gift certificate for the LYS and ...I was thrilled!! I read just a bit in it so far and was instantly reminded why I love EZ so much. I had almost ordered this book and the accompanying dvds a few weeks ago, but ended up ordering some of Lucy Neatby's dvds instead (still waiting for them to get here from Canada though.)

Here are the pictures of the gifts I made that I couldn't post before.
The way cool pirate dishcloth...And the cute and cozy house socks...
I am on a major sock kick right now. Just finished the first sock in my pair of Online Supersockes
I thought these would turn out more green, but there isn't much green in them at all. Still a nice neutral colorway. I needed some car knitting last night so I cast on the Mr Joe yarn to make the Welsh Country socks from Folk Socks.I'm having just a little trouble with my super-pointy Knit Picks Options needle wanting to catch in the fairly loose spun yarn, but I'm getting the hang of it now. I think I'm really going to like this yarn for socks. The color is ever so slightly mottled when it's knitted up. And it feels soft and warm. I'm considering changing the sole to a fair-isle pattern (just got the Sock Hop book and am inspired to try some colorwork). But the two strands of yarn would also add strength to the sole. I've got a while before I get to that point and have to decide.

Martha Stewart redo

The Martha Stewart Holiday magazine was FILLED with fantastic ideas this year. I've got many of the projects flagged to do "someday". But one particular item really struck my fancy...hand warmers (pg 65). My hands are always cold and I thought these looked perfect to tuck into a pocket. I made one, mostly following the directions in the mag only I used rice instead of pie weights to fill the warmer and I machine stitched around the edge (I hate hand sewing!) The result was less than I had hoped...You can see my attempt there on the left. Part of the problem was the fabric. I used wool felt, which ended up being too stiff. I also used too much rice further adding to the stiffness of the piece. And the over all dimensions were too small. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with an improved version of the hand warmers. I call them Hot Spots. Mine are a bit larger and have an inner bag containing rice and salt which is sewed up with the tiniest stitches possible to prevent leaking. Then I sewed a larger bag to encase the rice bag and blind sewed it shut. Finally, I hand stitched around the edges for decoration (this step could be skipped, but it does look nicer if you take the time to do it). The result is a soft, flexible little pillow that can be warmed in the microwave and stuffed in your pocket to keep your hands warm. It's also great for spot heating an sore muscle. I added a drop of fragrance oil to the rice bags of a few of them, these are particularly delightful.

Today was Christmas Bread day. Can't wait till Monday to have some!

Check out my cool flea market score last week...Clara, Herr Drosselmeyer & the mouse king nutcrackers!!
We got to the flea market about an hour before closing time and really didn't expect to find anything. I saw these three nutcrackers laying in a box. When I asked the stand owner how much he wanted he said "$8 each or I'll give you all 3 for $9". I thought he was pulling my leg, so I asked his wife if he was joking and she just laughed and said no he's just like that. Needless to say, I took them. I'm sure they aren't worth much, but I think they are so adorable. The mouse king needs a sword, but I should be able to find something that will work. Clara appears to be missing something to go on top of her head. I've looked online, but can't find this particular version of Clara anywhere. There's a hole in her head where a peg for a hat might go. But I'm thinking of just getting some blond doll hair rather than trying to make a hat.

I must be off to finish wrapping and baking. Merry Christmas everyone!

A bit of history

I love to bake. Especially this time of year. My husband's friend sent me a bread recipe that sounded really interesting. You basically just mix together the four ingredients (flour, yeast, salt & water), give it a good stir, let it sit for hours, knead it 2 or 3 times, let it sit some more, then turn it into a pre-heated pot, cover it and bake. It sounds way too easy, but that makes it all the more intriguing. Trouble is, I have only one large covered oven safe pot and it's in use making ham & beans for supper. Enter this fantastic piece of family history...This is one of my late Grandma Miller's cast iron pans. My dad told me, his dad made (that's right I said MADE with his own hands) a whole set of cast iron pans for her. This was back in the '30s when he worked for steel mill (I'm not sure if this was when he was at Bethlehem Steel or perhaps another mill). This pan is awesome. It's some 70 years old and not a speck of rust or wear on it. It is perfectly seasoned and smooth as a baby's butt. My grandma used this pan to make her corn pie, unquestionably the best corn pie one could ever hope to taste. I wish I had her recipe, although I've been able to come pretty close with an amish recipe I found. I think while the pan is visiting her at my house I may have to whip up a corn pie in her honor.

As promised, a picture of the finished hats for the in-laws. Hats are kind of hard to photograph without a head in them, so they look a little wobbly.
These are the rolled brim model from the Holiday 06 Knit Simple magazine. As I said in the last post, I put in a couple of inches more in both the brim and body section above the checkerboard on the second hat (which is actually the hat on the left in the picture). It feels like it will fit an adult size head much better.

A little peek at my current knitting.
Can't say much about this one as it may or may not end up a Christmas present for someone, depending on how much knitting time I get in the next 2 weeks.

A small bit of stash enhancement this week, courtesy my good friends at Elann.
This yarn, Mister Joe Blanket, was featured in this week's newsletter. It's a wool/nylon blend and it's super soft to the touch. It's a bit finer than I like (sport weight) but I'm thinking I may use it for socks. It's funny how frigid temperatures and cold feet make you long to knit nothing but warm socks.

I decided it's about time we got the tree up for Christmas and set to work at doing just that this morning. I got the tree on it's stand and put the skirt on, we'll do the decorating tonight. I walked out to my laundry room to flip the wash, came back to the living room 3 minutes later and found this...Anyone care to place a bet how soon the tree will be on the floor?

Mom loved her socks. She even wore them the day after I gave them to her, even though they were wool and it was well into the 60's that day. Meanwhile, I finished the kool aid socks.The are a bit uneven, probably due to the fact I switched needles and methods several times throughout the process. They started on two circs and ended up on one circ, different brands every time (we all know needles aren't always consistent between manufacturers.) I also lost the instructions for the heel between doing the first and the second. Thus the second heel doesn't match the first.This is a bummer for me since my shoe wardrobe is nearly all open heel slides and clogs. You don't really notice it when they are on, and they fit very well, so I'm keeping them as is. I plan to purchase more of this yarn. It's KnitPicks dye your own (they've changed the name to Bare now). It's soft and warm. There is a nice sheen to it too. The kool aid dye took fabulously. Everyone that saw me knitting on these socks commented how much they loved the color.

Current knitting is hats for my MIL and SIL for Christmas. The holiday 06 issue of KnitSimple had a whole slew of hat patterns and, although I had decided not to knit Christmas presents this year, I couldn't resist. I finished the one for my SIL in 2 days and should have the other one done tonight. The patterns are wrong (in my opinion) and produce hats that are way too short. I followed Stephanie's "Rule" for hats for the second one and it looks like it will fit better. After I get these done, I plan to cast on another pair of socks. I've still got all that six ply sock from the other month to knit up. And socks are PERFECT car knitting. Plus, I think I've finally got the method/pattern/rules memorized so all I need to carry is the yarn and needle.

In other news...Santa came early to the fuzzy faced creatures of our home. When Stuart and Quinn were babies, we had a pet fountain for them to drink from. However, it died a few years ago and we never bothered to replace it. Lately, Stuart insists on drinking out of the spigot. Whenever you brush your teeth, or take a bath, or wash your hands, he's right there on the counter trying to drink out of the faucet. It got to be just too annoying. So we broke down and ordered them a new fountain. Even after 2 or 3 years, Stuart remembered what it was. Here he is waiting for me to fill it.He tried every way possible to get water out of that empty fountain. I could barely stop laughing long enough to fill the darn thing. Here's Stuart a few minutes later.Happy as a clam. He played with that water and drank and played for 45 minutes straight. Quinn accepted it with her normal aplomb. When Stuart finally finished, she strolled over, drank a little, then laid down for a nap.

Another FO

The knitting is just rolling along! I finished mom's Online Supersockes this weekend.
Hope she likes them. These will be her first wool socks as well as her first hand knit socks so I'm anxious to hear her opinions. They turned out fairly identical, which I'm very happy about. I'm usually not to fussy about having identical socks, but since they were for someone else and the pattern is very obvious, I thought it was important in this case. I used the Dutch Heel. I'm not sure I like it though. It's very narrow and I'm afraid you may be able to feel it under your heel. Again, will have to hear what the jury says.

I'm back to knitting on the mix 'n mingle kit from Knit Picks. I've made it through one full repeat of all 8 yarns. I think Shamrock is my favorite and Suri Dream my least favorite. I found on the Suri rows I added stitches because I couldn't see or feel the stitches very well, it's just too fuzzy. I've wised up and added markers to mark the double yo's so hopefully I can stay on track now. Loving the Shamrock as much as I do, I'm tempted to order some to knit these stockings. But I'm really trying not to buy any more yarn until I finish the projects I have going (afghan, cardi, kool aid socks). I should have the socks finished by Christmas since I'll have plenty of car & visiting knitting time between now and then. The cardi and afghan are going to take awhile longer.

I took time out to get some of the Christmas decorations up today. I can't believe Christmas is coming so soon! Thanksgiving was great. We had a good meal and watched Miracle on 34th Street. My mom and I went shopping at a big mall on Friday, rather than going to our local stores. Although it was a lot of fun and really great to see the different stores, it was far more crowded than if we had gone local. Thus we missed out on some deals because the lines were just too long. I ended up doing about half my shopping online (gotta love Amazon!) I still have a few gifts to buy, but Chuck and I have a shopping trip planned in a few weeks when I have some time off from work, so we should be able to wrap it up then.

CC Tunic finished!!

YEAH! And it's about time. I looked at my notes and I started this sweater Jan 21! I finished it on Nov 18. Obviously, it was an on again - off again project. But well worth it.

Here are the stats: used 14 balls of Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran in Jasper and 1 ball in Oak. I used a size US 8 needle and got 4.5 st/inch. The sweater is thick and warm. I wore it today and experienced only the very slightest itch (I did where a thin shirt underneath). Despite the fuzziness of the yarn there was almost no pilling or shedding. So far, I truly love this yarn. The color is fabulous and it looks like it will wear like steel. I liked the pattern. It was very easy to follow and the sweater fits well. But I don't think I will knit it again. It's a lot of knitting. Knitting it in one piece is great in that there is no seaming up to do at the end. But toting around the whole sweater as it grows larger and larger made me not want to work on it except on cold days.

I knit a few Christmas gifts this weekend. Just little somethings. One is so awesome (hope the recipient thinks so too), I can't wait to post the picture, but it will have to wait. Now I'm trying to finish mom's socks and my socks. Then I'm planning to work my way down the pile of UFOs. It's not too big a pile. I've got the kitchen rug, the wool-ease cardi and the awesome KnitPicks afghan. The afghan will probably take the lead since it will be nice to have it's warmth on my lap this winter.