04/03/2012

New Activities

Apologies to my blog readers for the length of time between posts but New Activities take up lots of time.

First a little list of the knitted and mainly gifted

Spiraluscious in Debbie Bliss's Andes, a lovely mix of Alpaca / Silk and such a beautiful vibrant teal colour.And in fact I had enough yarn to make two.


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Two pairs of Marvellous Mitts
One for my box -
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And this pair was a present for Harriet.

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Two pairs of socks

The first one - probably the most exciting socks I've knitted for some time!

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I'm very excited about this pair - Bright from Bits because they are knitted entirely from leftover oddments of Fyberspates self-striping Echo - a lovely soft 4ply 100% wool.

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The pattern just kind of developed as I knitted.

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They are the usual toe-up, short-row heels magic looped on a 2.5mm circular needle.

And the second for Michael

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He seems particularly fond of the circle pattern - a shame because I find it tedious to repeat a pattern. But needs must...

Miscellaneous Scrubbies (crocheted) to go with soap and face balm - no photos of these.

And the last is my Brown Simplicity cardi

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It is based on the same Simplicity pattern that I used for my blue one, with slight variations along the way.
I shall try and post more details and time although the details are getting lost as time passes.

I am very excited about my two new Activities - Sour dough bread making and Soap making.

Sour Dough first - because in fact I started about this time last year after tasting Kate's delicious bread. I can't remember how she became addicted but I think it was watching a Richard Bertinet programme on the television and her enthusiasm was infectious, so much so that we've had no shop bought bread for over a year! Richard Bertinet's two books -Dough and Crust have both proved invaluable.

Now, my newest and most exciting current activity - Soap Making . A bit different from knitting...A bit different from bread making.....

Well, it all started with hand balm and lip gloss kits I bought last year and once I'd seen how easy and how few ingredients were needed to make very effective products it was only natural that books and more ingredients followed quickly.I was amazed how much potential there was to tailor- make basic skin care products. And how much fun. The books I've started with are "Make Your own Skincare Products" by Sally Hornsey and Karen Gilbert's "Natural Beauty", hopefully I'll have something to show you soon.

But my Main New Activity.... Soap Making....my interest began ages ago when Donna first started making soaps - and this is whereI bought my first handmade soaps (Thank you Donna - they were lovely) . And that was the start.


Here is my first picture - not the first soap,that one wasn't so pretty. This was the sixth batch I made.

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It is a very simple soap, the only extra is essential oil of lavender. I chose olive oil, coconut oil and palm oil for this - it seems that these are a classic combination and I can see why. My only problem was the environmentalism of the palm oil but on reflection I decided that I am happy to use it as long as it is from sustainable sources and I trust my supplier.

I haven't been able to try the soap yet because after it is made it needs to "cure" for 4-6 weeks while it becomes milder and harder.(Although it is looking good )

More next time.

3 comments:

Auntie Noo said...

Wow! no wonder you've been quiet. Lovely to see so many achievements tho' xx

Cazzie said...

Love your projects especially the Bright from Bits socks :0)

Kai said...

All the projects are fabulous.. love the colour of the first pair of mitts! And the soap... wow. I am in awe. :)