Blog Claiming

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Since we’re nearly at the switch-off day for GReader, I thought I’d better sort myself out at last. For reading blogs, I’m using Feedly, whose interface I really like. But I’ve seen enough people say how much they like Bloglovin (even if they almost all express dislike for the name!) that I thought I should give it a try.

So far, so baffled, but I don’t give up that easily!

Apparently one of the things you have to do is post the link above in a new post, so with that done, I’m off to see what this new fangled gadgetty thing can do for me.

The gentle art of soapmaking (amateur edition)

I had hoped to show you all pictures of my lovely finished shawl today, but between horrible weather and a horrible cold, I’m in no position to take any decent pictures, and it really is the kind of thing you have to have good light to photograph.

Instead, I thought I’d catch up on something else I made for Christmas presents, which was a bit out of my usual area: soap.

(okay, okay, what actually happened was that I was taking up too much of Roobeedoo’s comment space with soap rambling, so it seemed like a good day to write this )

I should start this by saying that for many years, I couldn’t use anything scented or perfumed at all. My skin is ridiculously sensitive, to the extent that I can’t wash my hair in the shower, I buy trial sizes to test my itching reaction before going further, and I’m rather nervous of new products. So the world of perfumed toiletries was rather closed to me until a few years ago, when I started being brave and trying things out.

So needless to say, making my own soap was never high on my list. But having done it once, I’m definitely going to give it another go. I had some citrus essential oils leftover from my toiletry making last year, and so I started to dig around for ideas.

My starting point was this blog post at Offbeat and Inspired, which I can’t recommend enough. The ingredients came from Sainsburys and Holland and Barrett, and I ordered the equipment from Wilkinsons Online – a wide-topped measuring jug, some thermometers, a silicon spoon and some new bowls. My silicone loaf mould was sacrificed to the cause (I’m fairly sure I shouldn’t make cakes in something that’s been used to make soap!), and J picked me up a cheap electric stick blender from Sainsburys.

Normally craft shopping is a bit more exciting, or at least more colourful, than this…

Of course, being me, I couldn’t just follow the recipe, although for once, it was for practical rather than personal reasons. Once made, cold process soap needs at least 3-4 weeks to cure. I was making it 3 weeks before Christmas. Even I can tell that maths doesn’t work. But I found some blog posts about oven-curing – put the oven on, put your soap in, leave it for 30 minutes, then turn the oven off, leaving the soap in there overnight. As far as I can tell, this worked just fine, and the soap seemed to cure perfectly.

The only other problem I had was that I didn’t start my making until 8pm, and so was using the hand blender at 9pm, and the motor was shockingly loud. If you’re going to do this, folks, consider your neighbours!

Overall, I quite enjoyed making it, although it was a bit nerve-wracking. While there’s lots of stuff about how much fun and satisfying it is, it’s also hard to put the safety warnings out of your head. Don’t get lye on your skin, don’t breathe the fumes, mind your eyes etc etc. Not that they’re not good, but when you’re a rather nervous soul anyway, they don’t do much for your confidence.

Not shown: scales, rubber gloves, and the goggles I would have worn if I didn’t wear glasses anyway. Only slightly paranoid…

Then there’s the whole mysterious ‘trace’ thing that’s so important to soap making. It’s the point where all the oils have reacted with the lye, and it’s ready to be poured into the mould. The trouble is, if you’ve never done it before and you’re attempting it on your own, it’s really quite hard to tell when you’ve got there. I mean, there are lots of descriptions, and I watched a few Youtube videos, but you can’t really use them when it’s just you and the mixture and you have to get it right. The mixture goes cloudy quite quickly, but it takes much longer to reach trace, and knowing when to stop once you’re out the other side is kind of hard. Given how my soap came out, I’d be more confident next time, but if you’re going to attempt this yourself, I really do recommend the videos as the best guide.

On the other hand, having tried to be very precise about my lye and oils, I did just chuck in all the scents I had, pretty much hoping for the best. I had lemon, orange and lime, and even combined, they didn’t reach the amount I actually, technically needed. I don’t know if I got away with it because I was close enough, or if the sharpness of the citrus compensated for the lack of quantity. But the scent is strong without being overwhelming, so that’s good enough for me, and has me worrying a little less than last time. Instinctively, I feel soap making is sort of like baking, more science than art, but just as in making a cake, there’s enough wiggle room in the recipes that if you don’t get the fringe details exactly spot on, you’ll probably be okay anyway.

And the results? Creamy, sharp scented, and generally pretty good, I think. I sent the bars around family and friends for Christmas and haven’t had any complaints so far. My mother has even requested more! I think I will make another batch of this soap once I can get some more essential oils, but I’d also like to try making pure olive oil soap. And maybe my own shampoo. And maybe some bath bombs. And maybe some moisturiser.

Well. You get the idea

Christmas in March

Photo credit: Andrewbrnt

As is traditional after taking a long, unexpected break from blogging, I wanted to say thanks to folk who dropped me a note to check I was okay, and to apologise for not replying! Things got a bit sticky, mental-health wise, in the middle of November, and for my own sanity, something had to give. Since I’m not allowed to stop coming to work or food shopping or sleeping or hoovering the flat, and I had Christmas presents to make, that thing turned out to be blogging. I’m still suffering from crafting burn-out, I think, but I had a lovely time teaching crochet at the weekend, so hopefully I’m on the road to recovery.

Trying to catch up on everything that I’ve done since I last blogged is a bit overwhelming, and going back through my pictures doesn’t really help. There’s just so much, so I’m just going to pick something for now.

These are probably the Christmas presents that surprised me the most. My father in law loves his campervan, and my original plan had been to make him a paper-pieced picture of his van to go on a quilt. Sadly, my skills are not quite up to it, and the sample was a complete and utter disaster. On the plus side, that’s why you make a sample first. On the down side, I had 3 weeks to Christmas, and no present.

Never mind, internet patterns to the rescue! Some emergency Googling turned up the Coastal Cruiser pattern by Tula Pink, and I worked out that I had more than enough in my stash to put 2 of these together. I did the fabric pull, printed the pattern and cut it out and set a Saturday aside to get them done.

Then my father in law decided that he was free to come and help us hang new doors in the flat after all.

If you have ever wondered if it is possible to sew 2 over-sized cushions in a small-ish bedroom using a folding table to put your sewing machine on then I am happy to report that yes, yes it is possible. Not recommended, but possible.

More to the point, he didn’t have a clue what I was doing, only that it was ‘something crafty’. How crafty, he had no idea.

Sadly, I only have bad camera phone pictures of the cushions themselves, but I’m so chuffed with them that I couldn’t not post them.

There’s more, of course. I made quite a lot for people at Christmas, and I have pictures of most of it. Which is good, because since Christmas, I’ve barely picked up my hook. I did manage to finish one thing, which hopefully I’ll be able to post about on Friday, but for most of this year so far, crafting has been the last thing on my mind.

On the plus side, there’s still plenty from last year to tell you about. I’m going to take the silver linings where I can find them at the moment.

Hope 2013 is being good to everyone so far

NaBloPoMo Day 17 – relocation relocation

I think this picture and the time stamp on this post tell the whole story of my day, really. Most of it has been spent ferrying things From the study to the garage, ready to start turning it from a general dumping ground into a light, airy study and music room. Of course to do that, some pieces of equipment have had to be relocated, and the living room is looking a little crowded, but hopefully it's going to be worth it.

(the black thing in the foreground is the computer monitor, and yes, that is my sewing machine set up as well. Well, with this much in the room, what's one more plug?)

It's been one of those long, hard-working days, but at least I feel like we'd actually got somewhere by the end of it. And who needs step aerobics when you live in a flat on the first floor and have a garage on the lower ground? At least I will sleep well after all that exercise, even if it means most of my frequently used craft supplies have been given a new home in the garage. I'll let you know how I manage without them later in the week!

 

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NaBloPoMo Day 16 – FO Friday

Phew, end of the week, and I might only have worked 3 days, but it feels like it’s been a whole lot longer. But I am chuffed that I have something to show you today:

I only had a chance to grab some snaps before parcelling this up as a gift, so apologies for the garage-setting of the photos! It’s still better than the light in our flat on these grey November days.

As is so often the case, this project has a bit of a saga behind it. The pattern was in the (now defunct) magazine Sew Hip, and I really loved the idea. It was described as a child’s craft tote, and I really liked that it had practical handles, that it had big pockets and a zip around the outside.

You’ll notice that while my tote has 2 of these features, it does not have a zip. Instead, I put poppers around the edge and a button on the front. The button doesn’t do anything, but I thought it gave it a more finished look.

As was so often the case in Sew Hip, while the finished pictures looked good, the instructions on how to get there were somewhat difficult to follow. I cut the pieces for this at least 9 months ago, but I found the construction so complicated, and at the time I wasn’t so confident at just trusting my instincts and going for it. A few quilts and bags later, I decided that I’d just wing it and hope for the best, and besides, the child I’d intended it for would be just the right age, as long as I finished it this week.

So on Tuesday, I got out the pieces, threw away the instructions and followed my nose rather than the pictures. I think it turned out okay! I had to sew the gusset slightly weirdly because if I’d made it the way instructed, it would have been so thin as to be largely pointless. So I made it wider, zigzagged down the middle and am calling it a design feature.

The fabric is a Kokka print bought from M is for Make, and I have enough leftovers to make a little project bag for myself as well.

This craft tote is now winging its way around the world to its new home, and I’m looking forward to seeing pictures with its new owner (hint, hint, C ;D). To see if anyone else has well-travelled projects this week, head over to Tami’s Amis here or by clicking the picture below.

NaBloPoMo Day 15 – We interrupt your regular blog posts…

Just a quick post today, as it’s been a crazy couple of days at work as well as long ones, and my brain is starting to fizz under the pressure.

One of the pressures it’s had to deal with was a minor first aid incident that nonetheless resulted in my sending someone off to hospital. They’ll be fine – like I say, it was minor – but it reminded me that my first aid training is due for refreshing soon, which is something I’m actually looking forward to. When you deal with things as rarely as I do, it’s easy to forget what you’ve learned. It comes back, but still, there’s a moment of ‘I hope I remember how’.

So this is just a quick PSA to say that there’s lots of first aid resources out there, and I really, really recommend learning a bit more. Personally, I think the best place to start is St John’s Ambulance, whose site is here, although I’m biased because I went to their junior club, the Badgers as a child. I even got my Super Badger, which I am very proud of!

They’ve upgraded these since I got mine – mine isn’t holding a shield!

I think since I grew up learning first aid – and considering I am epically squeamish, that’s no mean feat – I take it for granted that people know roughly what to do in an accident, but with 140,00 people die each year from situations where basic first aid could have saved their lives. St Johns offer a free leaflet, and there’s all the information you could need, right here on the internet.

Why not take 5 minutes and learn the basics? You never know the difference you could make.

NaBloPoMo Day 14 – The Great Winter Tights Experiment

Rather than the usual WIP Wednesday, today I'm announcing the start of THE story of the winter: which tights really keep you warm when the temperature starts to drop?

The thing is, I'm not really a leggings person. They're the obvious choice for this weather, layered with boots or thick socks, but somehow they just don't quite work for me. It doesn't help that I can't find boots big enough to go over my calves*, so my ankles tend to freeze when the wind is blowing. To that end, I've done some shopping.

The selection up there is from Primark, BHS, M&S and the brand Pretty Polly. All claim to be heating or warming or fleecy or to offer some such protection against the chill of winter. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be pulling them at random from the bag by the bed and testing them against the worst November can throw at them (and me!). I'm going to be rating them on comfort, fit, price, how they survive being washed, and (most importantly) the ankle-wrinkle-factor, which for those of us short of leg but wide of hip is a major consideration when buying these things.

It'll be a week or so until I have my first numbers for you, but as I go on, do let me know what your favourite tights are – are there any brands that I should add to my list?

*I have some boots from Duo that have done me nearly 2 years, but while they fit well at the calf (minor miracle) they're so big on the ankle that they sag, the folds dig into me, and the zip has pulled away from the leather. I've had them repaired once, and probably will do again, but it would be so lovely to have a pair that fitted in both places!

 

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