Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Sock Machine
As the holidays are fast approaching I am a knitting machine. Recently I ordered 2 bracelets from my friend Erin for gifts. She is so nice and gave me a deal on them, so I wanted to do something special for her. I made her these fall socks that I thought were fitting for this time of the year. She loved them, and I can't believe that I got them finished in time. It was a new pattern for me and I really enjoyed 
knitting it.
knitting it.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Success!
Last night Melissa and I took the soap out of the molds and it was a success... we weren't sure there for a little bit about one batch. We ended up making another batch, but did not have a place to mold it in since the first batch was not done yet. So, we did what we do best and improvised! I dumped all the yarn out of a plastic bin and molded the soap in there. Here are the successful pics of us taking the soap out of the molds, and in the case of the bin cutting it up into bars.
Since I live in a one bedroom apartment, and have a kitten that likes to get into everything storing the soap was a small problem. The soap has to stay out in the air for about 6 weeks before it will actually be ready to use (yes I am well aware that I am cutting it VERY close for Christmas!). So since space and not having the cat eat the soap was a major concern we decided to store it on cardboard on top of the kitchen cabinets! At least the house smells very yummy.
We ended up making one batch of oatmeal, honey, and milk, and one batch of citrus. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun learning a new craft. There will DEFINITELY be more soap making in the future!
Since I live in a one bedroom apartment, and have a kitten that likes to get into everything storing the soap was a small problem. The soap has to stay out in the air for about 6 weeks before it will actually be ready to use (yes I am well aware that I am cutting it VERY close for Christmas!). So since space and not having the cat eat the soap was a major concern we decided to store it on cardboard on top of the kitchen cabinets! At least the house smells very yummy.
We ended up making one batch of oatmeal, honey, and milk, and one batch of citrus. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun learning a new craft. There will DEFINITELY be more soap making in the future!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Soap
A few months ago a friend of mine said oh no I don't think your yarn/stash thing is weird. My weird craft is making soap. So of course that got my wheels turning and I immediately wanted to make soap too! So, tonight she came over and taught me to make soap. It was so much fun and I totally think I might be addicted to it. We used the cold method to make our soap.
1. The first thing we did was was measure out the oil into a pot and put it on the stove on low to melt
2. While that is melting we measured out the water and lye. As this is very toxic we mixed it outside and left it there to cool.
3. The lye and oil mixture have to be the same temperature, so after the oil was melted we put it in a cold water bath to cool.
4. Next we mixed the oil and lye mixtures together in a large bucket. At this point the mixture has to be well... mixed. There is a couple different ways to approach this. You can mix by hand. This takes about 45 minutes or you can use an electric mixer. Can you guess which one we picked?
5. Yup... you guessed it! We chose the mixer. This takes about 5 minutes total. When the soap is almost ready we added the scent. We chose oatmeal, milk, and honey scent (8tsp). We also chose to put abut 1/3 cup of ground oatmeal in the soap. This will act as a gentle exfoliating agent. Then, we mixed the soap until it started tracing. At this point we needed to prepare the box.
6. The box gets lined with a plastic garbage bag. The bag is cut open so that it can be on the bottom and on the top.
7. The soap mixture is poured into the box
8. The divider is set in and the box gets covered for the night to keep it warm. The soap cannot come out for 24 hours.
1. The first thing we did was was measure out the oil into a pot and put it on the stove on low to melt
2. While that is melting we measured out the water and lye. As this is very toxic we mixed it outside and left it there to cool.
3. The lye and oil mixture have to be the same temperature, so after the oil was melted we put it in a cold water bath to cool.
4. Next we mixed the oil and lye mixtures together in a large bucket. At this point the mixture has to be well... mixed. There is a couple different ways to approach this. You can mix by hand. This takes about 45 minutes or you can use an electric mixer. Can you guess which one we picked?
5. Yup... you guessed it! We chose the mixer. This takes about 5 minutes total. When the soap is almost ready we added the scent. We chose oatmeal, milk, and honey scent (8tsp). We also chose to put abut 1/3 cup of ground oatmeal in the soap. This will act as a gentle exfoliating agent. Then, we mixed the soap until it started tracing. At this point we needed to prepare the box.
6. The box gets lined with a plastic garbage bag. The bag is cut open so that it can be on the bottom and on the top.
7. The soap mixture is poured into the box
8. The divider is set in and the box gets covered for the night to keep it warm. The soap cannot come out for 24 hours.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Socks, Socks, Socks, and More Socks
Hello Everyone! As I am getting ready to finish school the desire to resurrect the blog and scream LOOK AT THIS! LOOK AT WHAT I MADE! is becoming increasingly strong. I'm pretty sure my fiance is sick of socks. If he never sees another hand-knit sock in his life he will probably be a very happy guy.As you all could have guessed I have been very busy knitting socks for Christmas. I knit everywhere,the car (while riding not driving), the Dr.'s office, work, the movies (only plain socks cause it's dark),and even during class. It was interesting because everyone thought I was completely crazy at first and now that we are towards the end of the semester they all want hand-knit socks too!
So, here is a preview of what is to come for Christmas... I will continue to knit and hopefully finish the rest of the list before Christmas (YEA RIGHT! who really ever finishes their X-Mas knitting)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
