Finishing things, starting things

I don't make soap to sell anymore but I like it too much to stop making it altogether.  I've discovered that one batch makes enough to get us through a year, and it's that time again.  I looked at the upcoming week and realized that yesterday was the day.  The kitchen is pretty small so I have to put things away after I get them out, which really is no different than my weaving studio.  

I've made soap for over 20 years and things change from year to year.  I still use the equipment I started with with the exception of the electric stick blender.  Now soap is poured into silicon molds and if I were starting out now, I'd invest in some.  The palm oil and sodium hydroxide I was using yesterday were completely new to me.  I was nervous about the volume of the flaked lye but since I measure by weight, it turned out to be soap in the end.

I wrap it up in one of my favorite quilts and let sit for 24 hours before I cut the bars.  And then the bars cure for a month before they're ready for use.  We only have a couple bars left so I felt the ticking clock.

I started this morning by attending church on our patio.  I must admit that it's mighty nice to take my coffee and iPad outside and be there.

I've signed up for Sarah Jackson's Prayer Shawl weave-along.  This was a difficult warp for me so I only did it in increments so I could stay focused and even then I had to redo more often than I wanted.  It changed from light/dark to dark/light and the heddles changed direction with the color change.  Clearly I need more practice with this.  I finished the last of it this afternoon and recounted everything again.  I'm sure there are lurking errors anyway.

I also finished the Summer and Winter dishtowels.  I made too many threading errors.  I probably should put on more warp and do it again, but this evening I'm tired of them.  I had dangling loops on the backside of two towels which I started trying to stitch in place, but then decided - the heck with it.  I'll hem them and use them as hostess gifts.  They look good from the front.

I'll wash them with the towels this week and start hemming.  I have 16 towels to hem which is more than a little daunting.

I took away the automatic pencil that Delaney loved and have substituted three fat crayons.  She was pretty angry at first but is getting along just fine with the switch.  I'll see how she does with the little pads this week and maybe tape some butcher paper to one of the walls as has been suggested to me.  The problem I see if that she might not understand the difference between the paper and the wall.  I figured these little pads are good for this week at least.  And the good news, I've found another work-around that I think will still be effective after Google does their upgrade in September.  

 

Worth the Wait!

Our little herd of deer continue to hang out in our front yard.  Ian thinks that since the twins were born here and it’s been safe for them so far, that they’ve adopted our strip of natural vegetation.  We haven’t had rain in four months so we’re putting out buckets of water for them and they obliging us by drinking it up.

I haven’t made soap in quite a while and when we got down to our last two bars, I decided that as much as I don’t want to make my soap, I really do want to use it.

Our kitchen is half the size of our previous one and it was a challenge to weight out the oils and get everything assembled.  This will produce 24 bars.

This plastic plant carrier from the nursery is perfect for holding the 24 bars without tipping onto each other.  When I brought it downstairs I saw the note from my last batch.  I always put the date in it so I would know when the soap was cured, especially important when I was selling it.  It turns out that I made it November 29th last year and November 16th this year.

These are my essential oils which I thought hadn’t been packed in the move three years ago since I had never come across them.  I ordered a couple scents for the last two batches I made but they’re so expensive, it took the wind out of my soap-making sails.  We gave grandson Logan our camping supplies this summer and in going through the bins, Ian found all of these, carefully wrapped and snugged safely in with all the supplies.  Since we no longer camp, we didn’t look in these bins and they would have remained lost to me if we hadn’t passed everything along to Logan, who was thrilled by the way.

Matt and Julia were here today to connect the water to the sink and hang the towel bars which we just bought yesterday, bringing the bath to fully functional.  We have continued to use the upstairs bath in the meantime so it’s nice to be able to move back into the master.  It’s a small narrow space and Matt did a terrific job of making it beautiful.  We bought the white set of shelves at Redux, a consignment furniture place on Friday.  I wanted storage space for linens, something the house doesn’t have so I divided up our linens into the bedroom closets which are already small.  Downsizing has it’s foibles.  I have placed a basket below the towels because the door could hit the towel bar otherwise.  There are so many hard surfaces that the room has a bit of an echo.  Hanging the towels helped but I’m thinking about getting a silk flower arrangement for the top of the shelves to see if that would make any difference.

Here’s further demonstration of how narrow and long the room is.  The shower is where previously there was a bathtub which we never used, not even once.  Now we have to finish moving everything back in.  I’m going to shop for towels to replace these which are at least ten years old but I couldn’t see replacing them before now.

This is what we started with.

And this was the original shower, plus the toilet was low and the counter only 30” high.

Demolition started June 16th so it’s been a journey.  Matt built a 6” box and put it under the sink cabinet, elevating it to a wonderful 36”, the same as the kitchen counters.  I am no longer bowing to the sink god when I brush my teeth!  He could only work on weekends and only some of them, but the results are oh so worth the wait.  We are thrilled!  And Julia’s pregnancy is beginning to show!!!!!!!

Eating my words

I know I just declared that I was going to return to warping from the front and boy do I love these colors - can’t wait to see how Summer and Winter works.  But switching my style of warping was kinda like switching horses in the middle of the stream.  Not a good idea.

I double checked my tie-up and that wasn’t the problem.  It had be in the threading.  This is Sarah Jackson’s pattern and I originally had decided to warp from the back so the complicated threading would be exactly as the she had written it.  That’s when I switched horses.  That’s when I fell off into the stream.  I thought I was going to have to cut it off but messaged her and was advised to put a cross in the back behind the heddles, and cautioned me to be sure it was tied securely to the loom before I undid the tension.

Having done the two methods so close together in time was actually a very happy accident.  I realized how much easier it is to thread the heddles from the front and it’s at an angle that is much kinder to my neck.  I just got my mind made up for me!

It’s been at least six months since I’ve made soap but we are out.  I’ve been low before, but never out!  I know I’m low on supplies and realized that I don’t have enough lye or palm oil to make another batch after this.  This is about $150 of soap were I to buy it, but it’s about more than just economics.  I like my soap better than any I’ve ever used.  I have another six months before I have to fold up shop or buy more supplies.  Meanwhile, we’ll have soap in about three weeks.
About a month ago I joined a knitting group and am surprised to find how much I’m enjoying these ladies.  We reserve space in Jackson’s Corner from 1:00-3:00 and people come within that time.  Some eat, most order drinks.  I discovered that one of the ladies is my neighbor who likes to talk walks around our area so tomorrow morning we’re going to meet up and walk at 10:30.  It should warm up to about 30 degrees by then.  I’m looking forward to having the company!

Making Lavender Soap

We got between 15-18" of snow in that last storm and today is the third day of school closures.  I think the bench in front of our house says it better than my words.  Since we're snowed in I really have no excuse for not making soap and after 15 years of making and selling it, we are finally out.

I know a lot of people who love to make soap.  I'm not one of them.  I just happen to love the soap I make.  First I have to haul everything in from the garage.  And before I can even begin, I have to make an origami box of waxed butcher paper and set it inside my mold.

All the oils including essential oils have to be weighed by pounds and ounces and it's messy.  Oils in winter are in a solid form and have to be cut and placed in a measuring cup in chunks.

Any botanicals need to be milled.

Once the oils are in the pot and are melting on the stove, I clean out the measuring cups and weigh the olive oil.  I add this to the carrier oils after they're liquid and put the pot in ice water in the sink to quickly bring the temperature down.

Then it's time to weigh the lye which I do in grams.  

I weigh the water and put in the pot before adding the lye.  Always add lye to water.  I do this step in the garage because it makes a ghastly vapor that you do not want to breathe.  I hold my breath, add the lye, stir, go in the house and come back in a while to repeat.

I get the oils and lye water to the same temperature, usually 86-92 degrees, and then I carefully pour the lye into the oils and stir with an electric stick.  I like this lower temperature but if you're using fragrance oils, 110-120 would probably be more like it.  This soap is at "trace" which means it's ready to pour.  I added the milled lavender and poured into the lined mold.

Next comes the worst part - clean-up.  Everything is oily and I end up using several dish towels before I'm done.  It's a good thing I have a lot of them!

At this point I've put the soap to bed.  It's sitting on some quilted place mats to insure the heat stays in the mold.  It needs to sit for 24 hours all bundled up cozy like.

I have to admit that it's pretty rewarding to unmold the block the next day.  I don't love cutting this into bars anymore than I don't love making soap.

What I love is using it.  I think these should last us for another year.

My mother made some crocheted snowflakes many years ago. I found some directions online and chose the easiest pattern to make some of my own.  I found a recipe for spray starch online - 2 cups water and 1 1/2 tablespoon Argo cornstarch.  Mix together in a small pan and boil for one minute. They said to put in your spray bottle but I just dipped my snowflakes in the pan and it worked. Snowflakes for a snow day!!

Springing into Spring, sort of

So this is how the yarn knitted up that I spun from our Shetland fleece, plied with bamboo and then dyed.  The colors are more intense than I'd like - too close in value.  This was an experiment, a starting point.  I'll do it again, but next time I'll shoot for contrast.  But it's not bad for a first try.

The gray teal yarn that I've been waiting for - back ordered since January - finally arrived.  It's a perfect match and it was worth waiting for.

And somewhere in this week I finally made soap.  My notes say that I last made this September 20th, nine days before my life came to a screeching standstill. The soap-bar well is running dry, and after using other soap, I know that I like it too much to retire it.  I'm my best customer.

With nicer weather, we've started working on the yard.  There are less than a dozen plants that grow successfully here so we fill in with non-edible stuff.  We bought this kinetic wind spinner at Costco.  We saw it and there was no question that it was going into our cart.

Ian found this the other day - too cute to pass up.  This bunny can't eat anything because it's made of rocks.  My favorite kind of rabbit.

Yesterday Sandy dropped me off at the gate after we'd shared a trip to town.  As I was opening the gate, I heard Carol's voice - my neighbor just above us.  Hi Carol - what?  Can you call Tom when you get to the house and ask him to come down with the shotgun.  I have a rattlesnake.  We have cell signal at the gate so I called him from there.

Their puppy had flushed out this rattler so Carol threw her into the truck, grabbed the only tool she had and pinned the snake to the ground.  I have no idea how long she'd been there and teased her - how much longer would you have stayed?  Oh, a while.  Tom is a marksman and popped the head off in one shot, and it's Tom who popped the head off our rattler last summer.  It's not that we hate rattlers.  We worry for our dogs. Rattlesnakes actually are good neighbors but not with dogs.

I'm subbing for the next couple of days at the Verdi Elementary School and very much looking forward to it.  It's the school furthest from our home but everything is far from here.  The sub year is almost over - another month.

Getting Ready for Holiday Sales

After two weeks of subbing followed by the natural dye workshop, I knew that I had some serious work to do this week if I want to have anything to sell in the last farmers markets of this season and the upcoming craft fairs -'tis the season.  The worst to be behind in is soap since it requires weeks to cure.  I made three batches this week, and since I only have one mold, I can only do one batch a day.

I also finished weaving the four undyed rayon/silk scarves.  They look terrible when they come off the loom and it's hard not to discouraged - they're stiff and look like gauze bandages.  They're one project that truly isn't finished until it's wet finished.

They're worth it though because they finish up very nicely.  The yellow and green ones are from last year so I'll have six - I'm feeling better about Sunday though I still have very little soap.

The real push though was to finish the two commissioned rag rug runners.  I pulled them off finally about noon today.  I used every bit of the six Goodwill sheets I bought and was getting nervous that I would run out but I didn't, and that's what counts.

My client wanted them for her kitchen that she said was decorated in Red Rooster.  I'm not familiar with that theme but have a couple of roosters of my own that I used to direct the palette.

I put one down in the hall because I don't have any place to put both of them.  Her kitchen must be really big.  I absolutely love them.

The next order of business is to get warped for more dishtowels.  I've chosen these colors and with the help of my Ruby Beholder there in the foreground, arranged them according to value.  Believe it or not, that bright red has a color value very close to the yellow.  It helps me avoid creating stripes and get a more random effect - I hope.

My Neoworx counter emailed me this week that I had a visit from a new country - the Faroe Islands.  Check it out!  I'm always amazed at the global reach of the Internet and wonder how on earth (pun intended) someone from islands near Greenland found their way to the northwest corner of Nevada and me.

Home Again

Thursday morning over coffee, Sue and I got onto the subject of kitchen knives and then realized that we had both heard the NPR American's Test Kitchen episode where they tested chef's knives.  We were both astonished that Swiss Army Knife had been their hands down winner - again.  It's been their winner for several years in a row and comes in at under $30.  Sue remembered that the model is Victorinox so I went upstairs and ordered it on my iPad.  I was astonished when I arrived home Friday to find an Amazon box on the counter - it was my knife.  The blade isn't better than my Henckel but the handle is what seals the deal.  In case you're looking to upgrade~

Pam and I got together after church on Sunday and went to work on Kelly's wedding-favor soaps. We spent the first hour trying to get the little cards printed with their names and the wedding date.  I had done the cards in advance and had them on my laptop but Pam struggled to find her WiFi password - a little setback.  We finally got that resolved and printed the cards and Pam sent Kelly a picture for approval.  We had misspelled the groom's name, after printing and cutting apart half the cards - on special limited paper. 

We had a wing-ding of a mess on our hands, tearing the seed-impregnated paper into strips,  cutting the little cards into precise 1.5 x 1.25 squares to slip in the back and then there was the rafia.  We had left off Kelly's requested line - Hand-in-Hand Soap.  It was supposed to be a pun and bypassed both of us.  Kelly was so upset that she said that she and Steve would print the cards and slip them into the soaps themselves.  I told Pam - no.  They're on overload, leaving for his family in San Diego in the morning and back to their hospital shifts when they get home.

Pam and I have been friends for over half our lives, from before Kelly, and we have absolutely nothing in common, other than the experiences we have shared.  She is one of the most artistic and creative people I know, but these soaps were her Waterloo.  I was counting as we went, stacking in piles of five.  Finally I said - okay.  I have forty here, what do you have?  She looked around her and counted the various bars - nine?  We both laughed.  That's my Pam.

The final step is to hot-glue the flowers onto each soap.  I wish I could help Pam with this step as school starts this week and I know she'll be be swamped.  Steven and Kelly have purchased little clay pots and will place a seed ball and a bar of soap into each one.  They have done this entire wedding on a tiny budget.  The actual ceremony is on a peak in Yosemite and the reception is in her dad's backyard. I haven't seen her dad in years.  I'm looking forward to the reception. 

I picked up this roll of corrugated cardboard when I was at Ingrid's last week - her with a non-functioning well and me with an overheating car.  Cindie Kitchens asked me how I was going to cut it.  Well now, that thought had never crossed my mind.  I got the end of a roll from someone who was very willing to share.  Cindie suggested a box cutter on a concrete floor.  I can see that this isn't going to be a simple task.

I've finished the Knitting Pure and Simple shell from Knit Picks CotLin.  It turned out great, fits well and I can see is going to be easy to maintain.  I don't know how to work in ends on a fiber like this so they're pretty unsightly.  I guess as long as they're out of sight, they're out of my mind - anyway, I'll knit this again. 

I finally finished my scarf.  This is from handspun BlueFace Leicester and dyed with indigo.  The warp was a light blue that I dipped back into the pot on one end to get two colors of blue in the skein.  I used a darker blue for the weft.  My struggle has been with gently pulling the beater back.  Imagine a bug and don't squish it, was the advice from one weaver.  When I left Ingrid's, she said - remember.  And she gestured a tiny pull back.

I learned a lot on this project.  I think it looks great but handspun wool doesn't make a great neck warmer.  I'll still wear this with my winter coat because I like it.  I sampled at the end of the project - next time I'll do it at the start.  This would probably have been better in plain weave.  Cindie sent me samples and I can see their value.  I used a flashlight and periodically shown it back up to see if my beat was even.  It's necessary to have a space between each weft beat so that the cloth isn't rug-like and keeping it even is a challenge.  I have a sample from this project and I'll continue to collect them.  It's the best way to learn.  I'm sorry I've been so slow to catch onto the value of samples.

I wanted to read this morning in the area we created a while ago but this gorgeous caryopteris has asserted itself and alas there's no room for legs.

I had Ian help me relocate the furniture to this spot.  It's on the east side of the fruit trees and I just checked - it's totally in shade.  When we moved here there was nothing but sagebrush.  We've grown our own shade over the past 11 years and it means that we have to adapt each year as the shade changes.  I'm not complaining.  Shade is good.