Special Delivery

I couldn't wait for these packages to finally get here. I tracked them and I never track things.

The small one contained lye. Who would have ever thought I would be excited about lye but I am.

 The big box had all kinds of stuff to make cold process soap.  I bought more clays for color and fragrance oils.

 This is a cold process sampler kit. Lots of oils and butters.

 There was also a thin and tall mold which is all the fashion in the soap making world these days. Now I need to clear the calendar and get down to business-after I do some serious homework. Playing with lye is no joke. I need to know what I'm doing this time. No errors allowed.

Six Months Done

 My pretty little warp is still sitting there waiting to get put into the reed. There just isn't enough time in the day is there?

 The last installment of my six month towel of the month club arrived to shame me. It worked.

The problem is that I love these pretty little kits so much I almost hate to use them up.

This is the kit for the Cayenne Pepper towels. They look rather simple but I bet there is a catch somewhere.

It will be a while before I find out because there are four other months ahead of it.

Up to No Good

 I bought out the plastic aisle at Walmart. #5 polypropylene to be exact.

 I had to get thick vinyl gloves and goggles.

 I needed a tall pitcher and long plastic spoons, too.

I also needed some whisks and a thermometer.

There is a gadget involved.

 Then I needed to look for something that could be used as a drying rack.

 For now all the plastic is labeled and stored away in the fleece shed while I'm waiting for a few more things to show up in the mail.

The drying rack has found a home where it can sit undisturbed for 4-6 weeks.
Have you guessed what all this is for? I know Delighted Hands has because I caught this bug from her.
I'm going to be making some cold process soap which is when you take only oil and lye and make a hot mess. Seriously. I can't wait.

Fiberlicious 2

 The Corriedale leftover skein is done. The plying didn't turn out as terrible as I thought. There were just a few kinks.

A good soak and a thwack took care of most of them.

It lost a little dye but since I was the dyer, I wasn't at all surprised. I'm not too good at it.

For odds and ends it's not bad if you don't mind wonky yarn and I don't.

I'm thinking this may be a lined hat. Scratchy on the outside with something soft on the inside-but not now. It's getting tucked away until next winter.

Sunday Soap: Redemption

 Between the sweating and the bad batch, I've had my soap making confidence shook up a bit recently. I have to keep telling myself I am just a newbie at this. There's still a lot to learn.

 This project was success until I went to add a little mica sprinkle on top of the glitter. I got mica globs. Next time I need to use a smaller screened sifter.

 This loaf turned out pretty nice. It's calendula and jasmine.

This was made from the same soap base as the bad gardener's batch so it must have been me-or those darn grits. Next time I will use a suspension base-if there is a next time.

 I also had fun with some cake making tools I had stashed away. You can cut out soap like you can fondant. Cool.

 It looks like a jello mold doesn't it?

 It's not. It's rainbow colored glycerin soap. It smells like lavender and lemon. This time my layering was a success. I even used a scale to get the layers even. Aren't I getting fancy shmanchy.

My new favorite is Brambleberry hemp base. I added honey fragrance to it, poured it over bubble wrap and then dusted it with gold mica so it looked like honeycomb. It's fabulous. I've been busy as a bee with this melt and pour soaping thing but that's it for now. I'm out of base and other even bigger soaping adventures are calling.

I also want to wish everyone a very happy Mother's Day. I am extending those wishes out to The Mister  (with a box of chocolate for his very own) because he's been doing double duty here. In the mornings he's been helping me get Daddio's house ready to put on the market and in the afternoons he takes an hour drive to his 95 year old Mom's house to give her a hand as she's been on shaky ground lately. It's nice when the whole family rallies around the old folk. He's been lucky that way but now his sister is spending her final days with a son she is losing to cancer and on Thursday his brother and sister in law are taking a well deserved Florida vacation leaving him in charge of Mom-all by himself, for 9 whole days. This should be good-at least for me. I'm locking myself in, turning off the phone and taking a 9 day nap.

Happy Mother's Day!

Knitting in Style

I love getting stuff in the mail. I order stuff all the time but this particular delivery gave me a real senior moment.

Webs? Did I order something from Webs in the middle of the night and forget? I do stuff like that.

 Now I get it. I didn't order this at all. Someone sent them to me and I knew who right away.

 I was coveting her needles in a post comment and darned if she didn't send me a pair.

 Some mighty cool StitchKeepers came along for the ride.

 They are dreamy needles. I can't thank elns enough. This is not the first time she has surprised me.

 She has a genious for gifting. She could make a living from it.

 I had some pink Opal ready to cast on so now it's all tucked safe and sound in my new bag from Wandering Cat.

Speaking of Wandering Cat, look what is going on with that yarn she sent me. That is crazy amazing and I love it. Gradient stripes inside of stripes. Who does that?

Thank you Ellen and Valerie! Pretend friends (as kathy b calls her blog buddies) are the bestest!

Dog Daze

 Yes, that's a dog stroller. Our 14 year old Maltese can't keep up anymore with the new pup so getting one made complete sense-to me. The Mister isn't quite on board yet.

The old dog loves it and I don't have to carry her everywhere we go any longer. I wish I had bought one for Dear Old Doggie. Life would have been so much easier.

 I think the cat was jealous.

 Pup wasn't. She hated it. She jumped right out and ran away.

 As long as she has those fast little legs she doesn't see the need for it but one day....well, you know-and it happens so fast.