knitted menagerie - Part 2

Some of you may be relieved that I'm not going on about soap and candles today... it's time for a return to knitting!  

This is just a quickie to share Part 2 of my Knitted Menagerie...  or, in other words, three more random knitted creatures that I have been making for the baby that is due next week.  I blogged the first three animals here (Frog, Owl and Bunny)  and now it is time to introduce Pig, Bear and Caterpillar.

These have mainly been a way to keep my mind and fingers busy in the last couple of weeks, on days when my body has been too achey and inflated to move.


The caterpillar and the bear are adapted from a range of excellent little patterns that I found on Ravelry, by  Sarah Gasson, aka Knitables.   She has designed a whole range of small animal patterns which are very nicely priced and easy to follow.  I made a few adaptations of my own, the main change being to knit everything in the round, and to convert the bear from a finger puppet into a stuffed toy - (e.g. I improvised his lower body and gave him arms and legs adapted from a lion pattern by the same designer).

As with the first three animals, the pig was adapted from this book of knitted egg cosies by Susie Johns.  Again I had to improvise the lower body and legs, and also dressed him in a t-shirt, as is my whim.

  

When I started this gang of six critters, I was planning to turn them into a dangly cot mobile.  But I'm now wondering if they may be a little on the large size for a mobile and might actually be nicer as hands-on toys to be played with.  

In fact, a couple of friends have already begun to think up adventure stories for Frog and Owl...  (and I suspect I might add to the menagerie over time, especially now that I've discovered Sarah Gasson's patterns).   

As ever, full project details (yarns, needle sizes, etc) can be found on ravelry, here

Soy candles... another delve into handmade aromatics

I don't know what happened to the time, but I meant to blog this little project for soy candles weeks ago...

Like a lot of crafty people, I dabbled with candlemaking as a child, but somehow it never really captivated me as a craft.  I think the crux of the problem was that I always tended to use those kits involving smelly, flakey paraffin wax that had to be mixed with stearin and then set within unforgiving plastic moulds using lurid artificial colours and fragrances.
 
It was only recently that I became inspired to give it another go... largely thanks to this post on the iMake blog, which sold me on the idea of beautiful container candles made with soy wax... a vast improvement on paraffin wax.  The urge was helped along further by my revival of interest in soapmaking...  (lets face it - once I'd got all of my essential oils out of hibernation, scented candles became something of an inevitability.)
 
So here are my candles - and I have to say I am very pleased with them!

I made a batch of these one Sunday afternoon with a friend and we chose the scent combinations together, as a result of the blending experiments that I discussed here.  We decided to scent half of them with a very pleasing combination of Sweet Orange, Ylang Ylang and Cinnamon essential oils and the rest with a fresh, foresty combination of Lavender, Peppermint and Rosemary.  The orange-based ones are real crowd-pleasers and do wonders to generate a feel-good scent into the room, whereas the foresty ones have a cleansing, freshening property and would be ideal to burn around the house after a good spring clean.

Overall this project was very quick and easy indeed and barely needs any explanation.  So the rest of this post is a series of comments on the ingredients and equipment used - along with some personal thoughts about scenting, in case anyone out there fancies giving it a go.

 
In terms of equipment, you don't really need a great deal of stuff.   First you need some kind of containers - and a great place to find these is charity shops.  I managed to find some ideal bits and bobs of glassware, which suited me just fine.
 
And of course you need some wax.  I ordered some lovely organic soy wax from The Soap Kitchen and found it much easier to work with than paraffin wax.  It is much softer and less brittle in texture and it melted very easily in a glass jug over warm water.  It also washed easily out of the jug, simply using washing up liquid and hot water.  (I suspect, for anyone who finds soy wax to be too soft, that it could be tempered by mixing in a few beeswax pellets to add hardness.)

As for the rest of the bits - the main thing you need is some wick, which can be got from any online candlemaking supplier.  For container candles, the only advice I'd offer is to choose your containers first and then purchase wicks that are of an appropriate gauge (or thickness) for the diameter of your containers.  Personally, I went for a very easy option and bought ready-made lengths of stiffened wick, attached to little metal holders at the bottom.  I used a tiny blob of special wax glue to attach the wick holder to the bottom of the container (but if that all sounds a bit much, there are plenty of online tutorials for sealing your wick into the bottom of the container simply by bending the end and using a bit of melted wax).

An optional extra which I found very useful was a pair of skewers held together at both ends with rubber bands, which you can lay along the rim of the container and use to trap your wick so that it is held perfectly stiff and upright when you come to pour in the wax.   You can see the general idea here, as my candles were setting...

Finally.... depending on your whim, you might want to add some scent and colour.  If adding essential oils, you want to do this as late as possible, after the wax has melted but not if it is piping hot.  Let it cool as much as possible without re-setting and then bung in your essential oils and get it quickly mixed just before pouring.  (This is mainly to prevent the precious scents from evaporating in a mass of aromatic steam).

   

My personal preference was to keep the colour natural, but to scent the candles thoroughly with essential oils.  When I say 'thoroughly', lets just say that I am no stranger to spending crazy money on the sort of beautiful container candles made by brands like Diptyque...  so I was looking to emulate this sort of high-quality product for a lot less money.  And this is where I bothered to do some research, reading advice from the sort of candlemakers who cater for the upper end of the market.

My main problem with a lot of candle tutorials out there (and the same goes for soapmaking books) is that they so often fail to recommend enough essential oil.  They also rarely offer any useful advice about the volatility and fleeting nature of different essential oils - or tips on ways to combat this.  As a result, beginners are deluded into thinking that a few drops of sweet orange essential oil will be enough to scent 200g of wax or soap.... and then end up disappointed when their product doesn't smell of anything.  This can be quite disheartening and is a wasteful learning process to go through...  (I seem to recall it took me a good year of trial and error back in the late 1990s to work out exactly how much essential oil is really needed to create a long-lasting scent in a kilo of handmade soap).

So, for scented candles, I am going to offer my 2ps worth.  Others may beg to differ, so take this as my personal opinion...

If you want your candle to smell like a top-end designer candle when you burn it, then be prepared to put in approx 10% of essential oil (e.g. 20ml of essential oil into a 200g candle).  Of course, this is a very basic rule of thumb and will vary depending upon your choice of essential oils (some are far more potent than others).  So my real advice is to read up a little and find out which essential oils have better staying power than others and which ones can act as 'scent anchors' for the more fleeting oils, by combining them.  Often the scents that people are immediately attracted to (such as the citrus oils) tend to be the top notes.  Sadly these are also the most fleeting - but you can still use them to achieve a sophisticated and long-lasting scent if you take the time to plan a combination that has the right balance of top notes, middle notes and base notes.

For anyone wanting to get into this, I'd strongly recommend that you spend an idle afternoon playing around with scent blends using the chopstick method that I described here before starting on your candle projects.

As an example - in the case of my orange candle, above - the vast majority of the scent blend is made up of my top note: sweet orange essential oil.  The middle-note of ylang ylang adds depth and sophistication to the orange, without overpowering it.  Finally a very small % of cinnamon leaf acts as a base note, to 'anchor' the orange scent for longevity.  A couple of months on, these candles smell as strong and orangey as the day they were made, and the cinnamon remains a very subtle undertone that is barely-there.

Well...  I appear to have rambled on for far longer than I intended , so I shall stop right there.  If anyone has bothered to read this far - I hope at least that you found something useful...

Home spa treatments - a simple tutorial using soap offcuts

As a break from knitting, I'm using this post to share a recipe and tutorial for a really nice home spa scrub/bath soak that I've been playing with, which is very easy to make at home and is a great way to pamper yourself.

Supposing you've made some gorgeous handmade soap and, after trimming the bars, you're left with a pile of beautiful-smelling offcuts...  (In my case, these are the sliced-off strips from a batch of my favourite handmade soap that I made about 6 weeks ago, scented with lavender, ylang ylang and patchouli and embedded with calendula petals)

...or perhaps someone has given you a bar of lovely soap, but you have very sensitive skin and you're just not 100% sure about using it on your face or body.  This recipe solves either of these problems, by combining the finely grated soap with oatmeal, creating a very mild skincare product that can be customised to your skin type and used in a variety of different ways.  

Mixed with honey, the mixture can become a deep cleansing and antibacterial facial scrub.  Alternatively, encased in muslin, it can become a very mild skin-softening bath sachet, which doubles up as a face & body wash.   

For the sake of brevity I won't attempt to elaborate on the skin softening properties of oatmeal or the antibacterial properties of honey, but if you're curious about these ingredients I'd suggest googling it, as there is a wealth of info available online.  I shall simply talk through the steps to make the treatments...

 


What you need...

Soap offcuts of your choice
Oatmeal (plain and simple, with no additives)
A fine cheese grater
Storage jars (little ones make ideal gifts)  

Optional items...
Clear honey (for use as a facial scrub)
Small pieces of muslin and ribbon (for use as bath sachets/body wash)
Essential oils (e.g. if you wish to bolster the aroma or properties)

Method

Step 1 - Using a food processor, grind your oatmeal down to a fine grain.  The most economical option is to buy regular rolled oats from the supermarket and blitz them in the processor until they reach a texture similar to wholemeal flour.  (Alternatively you can sometimes find oatmeal in finely ground form - e.g it is often sold as 'Colloidal Oatmeal' in  health food shops).  

Step 2 - Grate your soap cuttings until you have a a pile of fine gratings, at whatever quantity you choose.

Step 3 - now simply blend the grated soap with the oatmeal.   Depending on your skin type you can use a proportion that suits you.  A ratio of 40% soap to 60% oatmeal is pretty good for most skin types.  But if you're after a very mild product, try lowering the soap:oatmeal ratio to 30:70  ...or for a more cleansing product, up it to 50:50.   (If in doubt, you could always test out small amounts as a handwash, to find out what works for you.)

At this stage, you may also choose to add some extra drops of essential oil to the mixture... e.g. if you're using unscented soap, or a very low ratio of soap:oatmeal.  Given that this is a skincare product, I'd strongly suggest that you avoid artificial fragrances and go for pure essential oils that are known to have beneficial properties for your skin type.
 
Combine and shake the mixture thoroughly, until you can see that it is perfectly combined, then decant into a jar for storage.  At this stage, the mixture is ready for use as a honey facial scrub (see instructions below) or  could even be scattered loosely into a bath, if desired, to scent and soften the water.

Step 4 (optional) - If you'd like to package the mixture up as bath sachets or body scrubs...  cut out a circle of muslin, approx 7" in diameter, and place a pile of the mixture in the middle.  (If you're a true perfectionist you could go so far as to hem the muslin or use pinking shears to avoid fraying).  Tie up the muslin tightly with string or ribbon, until you have a securely filled sachet - and voila!

Using the treatments...

To use the powder as a honey facial scrub...  
Wet your face with warm water.  Now take about a teaspoon of the powder into the palm of your hand and drizzle on just enough runny honey to form a thick paste.  Massage the paste into your face, allowing it to exfoliate the skin gently.  As long as the oatmeal has been ground thoroughly it will not feel harsh or 'scrubby', but very gentle.  If desired, leave the paste on a for a few minutes as a mask (e.g. while soaking in the bath) and then rinse off thoroughly when ready.

To use as a bath sachet...   
The next time you take a bath, try dangling the sachet under the taps while the water runs through it, or alternatively drop the sachet into the bath and swish it around for a while.  You should notice the soap and oatmeal infusing through the muslin, scenting and softening the bath water without creating any sludgey mess to clean up afterwards.

To use as a face & body wash... 
While you're in the bath or shower you can use the sachet as an all-over face and body wash, simply by soaking it in the water and then rubbing it against your skin.  This creates a gentle lather through the muslin, with the softening properties of oatmeal, and you'll get several uses out of each sachet before it needs refilling.

Enjoy!

Ritual Baby Humiliation

Well I promised myself that I'd knock up an owl hat for my soon-to-be baby, and lo and behold it was not an empty threat.  The best thing about babies (especially unborn ones) is that they don't really get the option to say "no"...

I wonder what it is with knitters and owls?  I've never met a knitter that didn't have a soft spot for these feathered lovelies.  I suppose they are the bird equivalent of cats...  and knitters do tend to be cat people.  In fact, my ever-docile cat, Truffle, does a great owl impersonation when I do this to her ears...

Anyway, back to the hat...

The sharp eyed among you might have noticed that this is not a knitted hat but a crocheted one.

There are many patterns on Ravelry for baby owl hats, both knitted and crocheted, but I chose to use this one by Kristi Simpson partly as an excuse to practice my crochet skills.  I crochet so sporadically that it's a good exercise for me to have to read a proper pattern every now and then.  (And I can vouch that this one is really very simple and easy to follow).  

My main fear now is that the hat might turn out to be too small for a newborn.  I think I will block it a bit just to be on the safe side.  (Though, frankly, if a newborn's head turns out to be too big for this hat, then I have bigger worries to contend with than a day of wasted crochet.... ulp!)

As always, full details of the pattern, yarns and hook size can be found on ravelry, here

knitted menagerie - Part 1

Hello, knitty friends.  I thought I might pop in and mention that the 'craft project' in my belly is due to complete in 3 weeks' time (eek!)  

Since I stopped work I've been hideously busy trying to prepare the house - and myself - for a new baby boy.  But I have managed to find a few hours here and there to make the first few pieces for a knitted menagerie that I plan to dangle over baby’s cot as a mobile.  

Each animal is around 5-6” tall, including the legs.  The patterns are more or less adapted from a book of twenty knitted egg cosies by Susie Johns, which I came across in John Lewis.  The heads are knitted as per the patterns but the lower bodies and legs have been improvised and stuffed.

I have to confess I have a special soft spot for the owl... 

I made the feet using experimental icord and am quite pleased with them.  I'm now thinking of making an owl hat for the poor boy too...  (there shall be no escape for babies!)

The frog is also quite a cute pattern...  the stripey top is my addition, and again, his legs are simply made from icord.

For the rabbit, I again added a stripey t-shirt and adapted the legs from the arm instructions.  You can't see it here, but I also added a pop-pom bunny tail. 

I've yet to decide on the animals that will make up the rest of the menagerie... but I suspect it might include a pig and a bear - and maybe an octopus.

I've mainly used cotton DK yarns from Sirdar's Simply Recycled range and  Freedom Sincere Organic. (But I've also bolstered with a bit of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino here and there where I had a suitable colour available).

Full project details are on Ravelry here. 

Handmade soap-fest!

Ye gods, my flat smells heavenly. This week I decided to get some serious soaping out of my system before my pregnancy renders me unable to pursue chemical shenanigans and whimsy. So here are four new batches that I have whipped up...

All of these were made with base oils of olive, coconut, palm and palm kernel. They also all contain either goats milk or coconut milk and were made using the 'cool technique' described by Anne L Watson in her truly excellent book, Milk Soapmaking. (Seriously, I've become such an Anne Watson convert that I'm on the verge of throwing away all of my other soap books. Although some of them are great for aesthetic inspiration, none of them come close to the simplicity, clarity and common sense of Anne's methods).

All of these soaps need a few weeks to cure on the rack before they will be ready for use. But for now I've given a bit more on each soap below...

Lavender Soap

This is a goats milk soap that I made using all of the leftover vegetable oils I had at the end of a day's soaping, so it ended up having a higher proportion of coconut oil than the others.


I decided to keep this one simple and scented it with nothing but pure lavender essential oil, which I love. The lavender buds on the top are purely decorative and will come off after a couple of washes. (Lavender unfortunately does not keep its colour if you embed it within the body of the soap itself)

Orange Oatmeal Soap

This is another goats milk soap, made with a crowd-pleasing scent blend of sweet orange, ylang ylang and cinnamon leaf essential oils. I actually discovered this scent blend as part of my essential oil experiments and it was so utterly delightful that I used it for both soap and candles (which I will blog separately).



The oatmeal is finely ground and has two purposes - firstly it adds a gentle scrubbiness to the soap; secondly, along with the cinnamon, it will help to anchor the sweet orange scent which is notoriously fugitive and prone to fading over time. (Suffice to say I also used a LOT of essential oil in this batch, to help counteract the risk of fading, which created rather a nice pale orange hue).

Earthy Blend soap

This is a repeat of my all-time favourite soap, made with lavender, ylang ylang and patchouli. I made this batch mainly to counteract the number of bars that I have given away from the last batch! This scent is beautifully earthy and, to my mind, greater than the sum of its parts.



The addition of calendula flowers adds a bit of rich colour to the bars, which are made with coconut milk rather than goats milk.

Minty fresh soap

The scent of this soap is so fresh and zingy it practically jumps up and down to be used. This batch is made with goats milk and scented with peppermint and spearmint essential oils. The speckles are the contents of a peppermint tea bag, which tend to turn rust-coloured when you add it to soap.



The subtle greenish hue is due to the addition of a couple of teaspoons of French green clay, which adds extra cleansing properties and will also make the lather somewhat creamy. This is a particularly nice soap for men - or anyone who appreciates help waking up in the morning.


Finally - I thought I might show off a pair of glass jars that I use for displaying handmade soaps in my bathroom... (I bagged these bargainous items about 6 years ago at a bric-a-brac stall in a village fete).