Young Entrepreneurs Challenge

We had a fun day yesterday at the event. It gave the boys a taste of what it's like to work in the day!! They were my little packers and cashiers. We even sold the little rainbow hat and booties in one of my previous posts, but the best sellers were the soap and the lace headbands. Now I can continue with my knitted book covers

Raw Soap

I thought I'd post a pic to show the beginning stages of what soap looks like. In this pic the soap has just reached "trace" which means the oils has combined with the lye solution and is now letting of heat. It is a bit like cake mix. When this happens, I always let out a sigh of relief because the last thing I want is a batch of ingredients that DONT REACH TRACE. That would mean I went wrong somewhere with the measurements.

The next picture is what the soap should look like once the additives have been added and it has been poured into the mould. This one is lavender and smells lovely!! The next stage is to wrap it up in a towel and leave it alone for a day. It should then go through a gel phase and then turn opaque, ready to cut.

Ebroidery class 101

A kind lady has offered to teach a few of us "mature " students embroidery. I feel very privileged to have such an experienced lady teach us. so far we have been taught a few different stitches such as running stitch, couch stitch, chain stitch, blanket stitch and stem stitch. It is quite addictive and therapeutic... don't worry knitting, my love, you are still my number one :)

In the meantime...

Between knitting overload, I just about manged to squeeze in some soap making. A friend ordered some cold process soap so here is a pic of the finished product. Shea Butter and Rose Geranium..smells gorgeous

OK...well it seems I was a little over enthusiastic with my latest project. I am still only half way through the first one! But it's not because I don't want to, I just got busy with a few other things...more knitting of course.  I would like to have a stall at the Young Entrepreneurs event which will be held in just over a week. It's for a good cause so I need to start knitting up some stock! I think headbands and a few other bits should be OK.

A Blank Canvas

I found these realy nice (all be it a little plain) craft books when I went shopping today and I got the idea for my next project... Cute knitted covers for personalised craft books. I'm excited so I got started right away! Hope to have the first one finished by the end of the day!!

Say No to Hats and Bootie

When I began knitting again (thanks to a reminder from a good friend that we should be using the skills that we already have in life), I took the traditional route of scarves, hats and booties etc. It was ok to get me re-acquainted with knitting but I want to knit something other than the norm. Dont get me wrong, cute baby stuff is realy fun to make and make realy special gifts but I'm sure there's more to knitting. Anyway I've got lots of ideas so watch this space as they say...

Ode to a Knitted Tale

Well here's a crazy addiction if ever there was one....I am taken over with the love of knitting...Sorry, not as eloquent as John Keats as the pun in the title may have suggested! Slip one, purl two, pass slipped stitch over... the more complicated the knit, the better. I almost feel, dare I say, that I have found my hidden passion. I'm not a complete novice to knitting (and not at all a pro) but I've never been so excited by it.
I learnt to knit when I was about 9 years old but then my teenage years rolled on and it wasn't cool to knit anymore...especially as I was likened to a "granny". So the needles were put away and the yarn slowly disappeared along with any aspirations of becoming a pro! In between I managed to learn how to make handmade soap, which I also enjoy, and even became certified to make and sell, but compared to knitting, it fades into second best. But 20 years later, I have been reunited with my needles, like a long lost friend, and I find myself spending many hours catching up. Testing different yarns is like finding out their personality..how flexible are they, soft, rigid, easy to work with or just too stubborn (ok, I don't get out much.) So here I am with my needles and yarn and I will keep you updated as my skills as they progress and I hope new ideas keep flowing.