Miss Frizzle Skirt

As a kid, I always loved the show "Magic Schoolbus," and later, as an adult going in to teaching, I wanted to emulate her creativity and spunk.

Before I began student teaching, a few years back during my original dry spell, in 2013, I sewed a few garments for myself to wear in the upcoming school year. Since these fit the criteria of a post (completed after I started the blog, and something I made), I'll post them now. If I'm not mistaken, these are the last flash-back posts I'll do.

So, low and behold, I present to you my Miss Frizzle skirt!

I used a McCalls pattern, and it took be about two days to get it done. I love this skirt! It fits so wonderfully and is comfortable. The only downside is that there's no pockets!

The wind was acting up quite a bit during this photoshoot, so forgive the nature of the pictures!

In real life, the skirt is actually very seam-lined. There are pleats built into it and ironed out every time I wash it, which I suppose is optional, and it's made with basic cotton fabric.

Fall Hand Warmers!

Firstly, let me say that I'm sorry this is coming to you late.  Things have been a little crazy recently, what with it being the start of a new school year, working at a new school, and all that comes with the first year of teaching.

I've also been having a little problem coming up with things to post since the vast majority of the projects I'm completing are Christmas gifts - I'm running out of non-surprise completions!

So on that note, I'd like to ask - if I know you in real life, could you please comment below?  I'd like to know which sub-sets of gifts I can post!  My fingers aren't quite fast enough to make extra things right about now (though I do wish they were!).

With all of that said and done, I decided to give myself a grace week, so I will not be attempting to post a late entry from last week - I will just skip it and move on.  It feels good.

And on to the main event...

As some of you may know, particularly if you've seen me over the summer, I have been knitting away at a set of wrist warmers modeled after the changing colors of fall leaves.  These were a test knit project for my amazing friend Lea over at Leafcutter Designs, who recently published a book called Knit the Sky.  The book is filled with creative designs and patterns that show knitting in a whole new light, and once my Cold Sheep stash is mostly busted, I'm hoping to jump on several more of her delightful ideas!

In any event, these handwarmers were knit with her yarn choice, the same are you would receive in the kit if you were to purchase it from her, and they are perfect for their purpose!

As you can tell, I haven't blocked them yet, but right now they are touring the country with Lea and her book!  I encourage you to take a look at it, and I'm not getting paid to say that!  I really enjoyed reading it, and the perspective it gave me has really encouraged me to keep being passionate about my craft - it doesn't always have to be about getting through enough yards of yarn a day to make it to Christmastime!  And so, because of that new realization, and because everything has been so hectic at work for the past few months, I'm choosing to take a month off of this blog.  I want to focus on enjoying my knitting for a while.  See you in a month!

Ravelry Project

PS: Stay tuned; I also have another knit-kit from this book, but I'm not sure when exactly I'll get a chance to work on it!

Randall's Socks Take 2 (Also known as the forever socks)

9On my continued Quest to make socks that work perfectly for the Mister, I have made socks that never fit to begin with, and socks that slid down over his heel, and now, finally, socks that fit!  Sortove.

Orange being his favorite color, I jumped on the KnitPicks Stroll Brights snapdragon to get him some neon socks..and then started to wonder how to make them fit.

I started by realizing that the main problem is that the Mister's heels are about 2 sizes bigger than his feet, and that his ankles are about a size smaller.

I chose a base pattern from ravelry, Little Minx, which was a gorgeous and simple pattern, but every fourth row had every stitch cabled once, and it was slow-going.  In fact, it took me so long I almost gave up.  It also ended up coming back to bit me, since cables aren't very stretchy, as you'll see later.

About an inch and a half before the start of his heel, I started increasing one stitch on each side of the center stitch of the sole every other row.  Essentially, something like this:

Row 1: knit instep pattern, knit half the sole, m1r, k1, m1l, knit the rest
Row 2: knit instep pattern, knit sole
Row 3: knit instep pattern, knit half the sole, m1r, k3, m1l, knit the rest...

I continued on in that fashion, making two on either side of these growing insets, until there were 18 extra stitches, and then continued on to the heel, which I did in short-rows, the amount of which had basically doubled because of the inserts.

At the end of the heel, I decreased stitches in the same manner as the increases, only backwards, until I had decreased about 10 stitches.  I ended up with more stitches on the cuff than the original sole, and continued in the pattern all the way around until the bind off.

The result?  They fit perfectly.  Too perfectly, in fact.  They're almost impossible to get on and off!

Well, they're comfortable while he's wearing them, and that's a start.  Hopefully the next ones can be a bit stretchier while still fitting well!

Ravelry Project

Gifts of Love: Wire Earrings

Previously, I posted about making a pair of earrings for a friend who I had overlooked in my wedding planning.

Here is the second pair I made, knit from wire with blue beads upon it.  I really liked this pattern, though knitting with wire took a little getting used to.

Has anyone else done that?  What do you think?

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Dad's Cozy Gator

As you know by now if you follow this blog on anything like a regular basis, I make lots of gifts.  Lots.  Well, my Dad's birthday was this past Monday, and so, surprise surprise, I made him...a gift!

My Dad is always hard to shop for.  He doesn't really have a keen appreciation for the arts, doesn't particularly enjoy unique items of clothing, and really only will use something if it fits directly into his current routine or optimizes his life somehow.  Last year, I got away with Double Helix Socks, which he seemed to like, but socks again?  That was out of the question.

But, lucky for me, he does have a few hobbies, and most of them are outdoors.  A Miami boy transplanted to Boston, he's learned to love the cold without impinging his outdoor passion.  This means November through March, you can find him winter camping, skiing (cross-country and downhill), snowshoeing, or mountain biking in the snow.  It's certainly an invigorating set of activities!

When I moved to San Francisco, a place where 45 degrees is a chilly day, I found a plethora of people who used this newfangled item called a "gator."  As someone who always wore down coats and scarves, I hadn't ever considered this an item one would use, but upon further investigation, I saw its use.  It can be just that little extra warmth you need on a day between the seasons.  It can line your scarf-coat area where the wind sneaks through on a particularly blustery day.  And it can be pulled up to catch the bottom of your ears that never quite get covered by the hat.

You guessed it: I made my father a gator.

I followed a pattern I found on Ravelry, but used Bulky weight yarn, bigger needles,and fewer stitches.  It actually ended up being less stretchy because of that, which was somewhat sad, but it worked anyway.  Next time, I would make it longer by at least a few inches.

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Belated Thrummed Mittens

Last year, I promised my mom a pair of mittens for her birthday.  For a woman with poor circulation who lives in one of the coldest and windiest regions in the US, I thought I would make some windproof, fuzzy mittens!

I decided on the thrummed/stuffed/fluffy mittens pattern from Joan Janes on Ravelry and they came out wonderfully!  Essentially, the concept is that you use a basic yarn as a background, and then use ripped roving yarn to make "thrums," with the fluffy ripped ends sticking straight into the mitten.  When you wear it, the ends felt together to the sides and all you feel is a beautiful wind-proof fluffy warm barrier.

I made a pair of these mittens for my mother...and they wouldn't even go over the heel of her hand.

So, determined to rip them out and start over despite the fact that I had just become homeless, I returned to the drawing board, only to decide within the next week that I was needed to graduate early, which meant I had to start on the wedding knits! (here, here, here, and here)

So now, as we're approaching her birthday again, I decided what better than to send these mittens over with her gift for this year?

The muppet slaughtering.

I wanted to re-use the yarn from the original pair, but instead I slaughtered a muppet (phrase coined by Randall).  Yep, undoing them was a horrific experiment in un-felting, poorly-pulling, and exploding all over the living room.  It was okay, though, because when I made the original pair, I ended up slicing little cuts on the insides of my knuckles from ripping all the roving yarn (cutting them doesn't give the same effect), so I knew at the very least I needed those thrums!

And here we are, finally, with a pair of mittens that will hopefully fit my mother!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Soap Cozy 2

Previously, I wrote about the Soap Cozy I made for myself in lieu of a washcloth.  As promised, I have come to report.  It works very well!  Except for the part where I left it at my parents house in Boston when I moved out here.

Well, lucky for me, last summer my hubby-to-be was really upset about leaving for California by himself.   I lovingly knit him one of his own to send his way as a surprise and to help him feel more at home in this strange new land.

I picked dark blue because it matched the towels he loved and took with him, and filled it with home-made soap.

I learned from my last one, though!  I made this one bigger so the soap could fit inside more easily, though it's still a hassle.  With my first one, I have to break the soap into slivers to slide it in now that the i-cord is fastened, and so with this one I almost doubled the width.  Overall, it still works well and gets the job done.

PS: No dying in my sleep of bacteria, though I do make a point to let it dry out and to wash it between bars of soap.

Ravelry Pattern
Original Ravelry Project | New Ravelry Project

Bartering: A Hat and Mittens for WiFi

Previously, I posted about how I became an unexpected vagrant over the past year.  As part of that adventure, I lived with a good friend in a sparse, ghetto apartment for six months during our final semester of college.

Well, due to the fact that it was only six months, we were unable to get any sort of internet, which we both desperately needed during this semester.

However, we were saved by wonderful, kind neighbors, who generously gave us their wifi password.  We tried to help them with the bills, but they wouldn't hear of it, and only accepted payments in the form of cookies, and only when we initiated.

Well, just a few weeks before we were due to move out (and, for both of us, graduate, move across the country, and for me, get married), one of these lovely neighbors mentioned the fact that I knitted.  Cold as it was, we stood outside and had a quick conversation about it, which ended in a question.

"Would you make my granddaughter a hat and gloves or something?  I know she would love it."

How could I say no?

There was only one problem.  As you've been reading, I was in the process of making five Bridesmaids Shawls, three Flower Girl Cootie Catchers (and fortunes!), four Musician's Baskets, and five Groomsmen's Beerds (description to come).  I was swamped!

So, here I am, after graduating, hosting fourteen people for a week, getting married, moving, dealing with legal bureaucracies, and moving again, finally getting down to this gift!  Hopefully she'll still like it this year!

I decided to go with cables, since I wanted it to have a nice, knitted feel.  I also wanted to use chunky yarn because it's super cold in Rochester, and it's also a much faster knit!  (After a string of socks and beerds, it was a welcome change!)

First, I settled on An Unoriginal Hat for the hat.  It came out well.

Then, I went for the Completely Unoriginal Unoriginal Mittens to go with it.  For these, I decided to just do a loose bind-off after the cabling and skip the ribbing, since it was for a 9-12 year old, after all.

Then, I decided to add a scarf into the mix.  Stay tuned to see the pattern I wrote!

Hat Ravelry Pattern | Hat Ravelry Project
Mittens Ravelry Pattern | Mittens Ravelry Project

Little Bitty Socks

Last summer, I found a wonderful ankle-sock pattern called Mouches and I decided to make myself a pair.  I had two skeins of Heart and Sole Toasted Almond Sock Yarn (georgeous!) on hand, so I worked away.

The first thing you need to realize about this pattern is that it is written for European sock sizes.  I did a lot of research to figure out how to adapt it.  Basically, google a chart of size conversions to find the size difference between these socks and your feet.  Then, google a size chart to find the length of the foot for these socks and your feet.  Do some math.  If the difference were "one unit," then how many units would be in the larger sock?  Seven?  Ten?  Four?  This will give you a fraction (ie 1/7) to take off your length.  Don't bother changing the width.

Play with it.  It took me a while to get it right.

Anyway, I love the socks.  The pattern isn't as pretty on the self-striping yarn, and I might do aother pair later on a plain yarn, but for now, I'm a fan.

This pattern used one skein of yarn, so I have another Toasted Almond lying around.  Should I make another pair of Mouches?   What do you think?  Suggestions?

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Accidental Socks

A while back, I decided I was going to make socks for my fiance (now husband).  He is constantly running holes into his and I was in a sock-making mood.

Well, I tried to adapt a pattern to fit his foot, but it wouldn't go over his heel.  He has bony, bony heels, and they protrude far from his ankles, and no matter what I tried I was out of luck.

So, after much agony, I finally decided that I would just have an extra pair of socks for myself that were a little too big and my husband's favorite color!

A few comments on the pattern: I used some sock yarn from Jo-Ann's that didn't really work with this pattern.  The striping wasn't profound enough, and so the dew drops looked a bit strange.  The pattern was pretty straightforward, though, and fun to knit.  I would just use a better quality yarn!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Flower Girl Cootie Catchers

I posted a few weeks ago about how I decided to knit shawls for my beautiful bridesmaids.  It seemed like the perfect answer.

And then I realized that I would have to knit the gifts for the entire bridal party.

What in the world would I knit the groomsmen?  The musicians?  What about the flower girls!?

I'll eventually post about all of those, but for now, I'd like to share what I found for my flower girls:

Crocheted Cootie Catchers!

Ellie's Cootie Catcher

No, it wasn't technically knitting, but it was the same idea, and I'm sure my girls wouldn't mind.  You see, I had three flower girls.  My cousin Grace, age 9, and her sister Ella, age 5, as well as Randall's cousin Ellie, age 3.  They were all adorable, but trying to find something they all could like?!  A hassle.  And then I found this.

They were super easy to make, though I've never been very good at seaming, and I asked each girl what her favorite colors were in order to personalize it.  I also made my own version of the insets with those pretty color-waves in Microsoft word, so that each girl had a combination of each color she asked for.  I'm really happy with how they turned out in general.

Thoughts?  Any other cute flower girl gift ideas?

Ravelry Pattern
Grace's Ravelry Project | Ella's Ravelry Project | Ellie's Ravelry Project

If you liked this post, you might like these ideas:

• Bridesmaid's Shawls
• Musician's Baskets
• Groomsmen

Bitty Target Flowers

In an effort to become more homey, I bought two one-dollar flower sets at target -- one for strawberries, and one for forget-me-nots.  They came in these little tiny pots with pellets of (surely under-quality) soil and packets of seeds.  The directions were pretty easy to follow, so I'm optimistic.  We'll see!

Has anyone ever used these before? What do you suggest I start planting with?

Homemade Sugar "Cubes"

I decided to attempt some sugar cubes.  I have a bag of sugar, but when you only want a spoonful or so to put in a cup of tea, it's much easier to grab a cube.  After I found this link, my experiment began.

The idea is simple, really.  You mix some sugar and water in a bowl, and then you bake them and cut them into cubes.

The execution was not so simple.

First, I made the mixture, but then realized I'd have to wait until the next day to bake it, so I threw it in the fridge.  When I took it out again (on the left), the crystals weren't maliable at all, and so I added some extra water (on the right).

This turned out horribly.  Everything dissolved immediately.  I lined the casserole dish with a double layer of parchment paper and kept adding sugar the the bowl until it had some what of a chunky consistency.  It was still too liquidy to score, so I decided to just bake it as is (left).

When it came out, it was still bubbling (left).  This was a bad sign.  Then, I discovered that it was stuck.  The mixture had oozed out of the sides of one piece of parchment and then around behind the other piece of parchment, coated the bottom of the dish, and was now locking everything together.  Great.  Deciding that removing the concoction at all was better than dumping it all down the sink, I opted to try double boiling (right).

The results?  Well, you can see for yourself.  It all came out in a glop with parchment paper stuck all throughout the insides. I pulled at it, essentially removing shards of the sticky substance to use as very non-cubical sugar cubes.  Effective, essentially, but a mess and not at all worth it.  I advice going to the store!




Has anyone else done this?  Have you been successful?  What am I missing?

Denim Rug

For those of you who don't know, I've done a lot of moving in the past year.  Around October, I knew that my biggest move -- the one across the country -- was upcoming, and I had a lot of denim jeans that I was trying to save as fabric. Knowing that they would be easier to pack if I cut them now, and needing a little break, I decided to take on a quick project: a Denim Rug.

I got the idea and directions from this link on Intractables.

First, I followed the instructions here

to get the most out of my jeans.

Then, I placed all the waistbands on the floor, organized them how I wanted, and began to sew.  In between each waist band, I had a think piece of seaming.  I also used several thick cuffs instead of waist bands and edged the entire project in the seaming.  Full details are in the project link.

This went very well.  It was easy to make and the sewing was quick.  I did break my needle a couple of times in the thicker parts, and I would only do this with a machine that can sew denim.  I also find that the edges of the seaming fray a little bit.  Over all, I really like it, though!

Wool Dryer Balls

While I was on my homemade laundry products spree, I started looking for a way to make homemade dryer sheets and they all seemed really messy and complicated.  I just wanted something I could throw in the dryer to make my clothes smell good and to keep them from getting staticky.

That's when I stumbled across this DIY Wool Dryer Balls Tutorial.  As a knitter, I immediately was in my comfort zone.  Felting?  I can felt!  I had almost purchased dryer balls at the store the other day, but I was glad I didn't!

So, for those of you that aren't familiar with felting, here's the way it works.  It's actually pretty easy.  Have you ever had a wool sweater that you weren't supposed to put in the washer, but you did, and when it came out, it was smaller, tighter, firmer, and fuzzy?  You felted it.  Felting is where you take non-washable wool, usually in the form of yarn, and throw it through a washing cycle to shrink and bind it together.

So basically, to make these balls, I pulled out some old balls of feltable wool yarn I had left over.  You can use an old shirt, too, but just unwind it, and make sure it's non-washable wool and that it hasn't been washed before.  You make them into balls, tuck in the ends, and tie a small knot.

Here comes the fun part.  Take some old pantyhose and slide your first ball down to the toe.  Tie a knot in the pantyhose right around the ball, or, alternatively, tie some yarn or string around it.  MAKE SURE THIS YARN IS NOT FELTABLE, otherwise you'll have a caterpillar when you're done.

Add all the other balls in the same fashion. You can see my caterpillar here on the right, after it's been through a cycle.  (Look at the fluff leaking out from the felting process.)

Then you throw your caterpillar in with a normal load, through both the washer and the dryer.  Undo your caterpillar and take a look at the balls.  Can you undo them?  If you run your fingernails across, do the strands move?  If so, repeat the caterpillar cycle, but if they're not budging, you have successfully felted your wool dryer balls!

The next step is just to throw them in your load!  They bounce around, fluff the clothes, and reduce drying time.  You can also put a little bit of essential oil in the wool balls right before you throw them in the dryer; this will scent the clothes naturally as they get fluffed!  During this cycle, I was washing some sheets, so I used Bergamot and Petigrain, which help fight insomnia and anxiety, both of which keep me up!

Has anybody else done this?  How did it turn out?

Bridesmaids Shawls

Common tradition states that, as a bride, you are supposed to give gifts to your bridesmaids.  I had heard tales of amethyst pendants, shoes, and heartfelt cards.  I didn't have the money for something like a pendant, and I knew, more importantly, that most of my bridesmaids would never wear it.  They all had completely different shoe styles and things that they would like, so I briefly thought about getting them each something personal, but realized quickly that might cause drama if one was "better" than another.

Then it dawned on me.  The wedding was to be in December, and they were all graciously wearing sleeveless, knee-length dresses.  I would make them all shawls!  Though I knew at least two of them would probably never wear the shawls again, they would all use them at least once, and they would be knit with love.

I found a pattern on Ravelry called "Old Shale Shawl" that was perfect!  The yarn was think enough that it would provide some actual warmth, the pattern simple enough that I could be assured that it wouldn't clash with any shoe or jewelry flowering, and elegant enough that even the most tomboyish of my bridesmaids would enjoy wearing it.

I shot up to JoAnn's fabrics to get five skeins of Caron One-Pound Yarn in Cream.  The color scheme of the wedding was browns and creams, with the theme of wood and candles, and so the flickering light shone brilliantly on the satin brown dresses under the cream knit-work.

Over all, I really liked this pattern.  It was repetitive enough that I could work on other things, like reading, while I was knitting, but sophisticated enough to avoid boredom.  It did seem to stretch out toward the end, though, because the pattern starts with the shortest rows on the bottom.  Each shawl took about two and a half weeks, knitting a few hours a day.  I highly recommend this pattern!

Later, I realized that because of the "wood" theme, our bouquets were made of beautiful Cedar Rose pinecones (from Seasonal Bounty on Etsy), and so my lovely maids got to keep those as well! (PS: Sarah from Seasonal Bounty is a pleasure to work with and did an amazing job dealing with my incredibly complicated and specific 24 piece order!)

Amy's Ravelry Project | Hannah's Ravelry Project | Rachel's Ravelry Project
Katie's Ravelry Project | Kat's Ravelry Project
Ravelry Pattern

If you liked this idea, here are some more posts you might like:

• Flower Girl Cootie Catchers
• Musicians' Baskets
• Groomsmen

Homemade Laundry Detergent

When I moved to San Francisco, I moved into what had once been my husbands bachelor pad.  During the time before our wedding, he continuously expressed his interest that I would "hurry up and graduate so I could make this place a home and not just a place to sleep."  Well, needless to say, when I got here, there was quite a bit to be done!

One of the things that my husband did was buy a box of laundry detergent.  Because he'd been using it for six months before that, it had about ten loads left by the time I got here.  As someone who's always been on the "do-it-yourself" edge, I decided that while we were waiting for it to finish off, I would research making my own laundry detergent and fill the box up with my own concoction when it was empty.

I based my version off of DIY Natural's recipe.

Supplies:
-1 (or 1.25) cups of Borax
-1 (or 1.25) cups of Soda Ash
-4.5 (or 5.625) ounces of Grated Ivory Soap
-A container for your finished product

The first step is to obtain your ingredients.  The container was easy, since I was just using an old one.  Any jar or box would work.

I made my Soda Ash by hand the day before, and pulled out some old Ivory soap I wanted to get rid of.  You can use any natural, Castille, or handmade soap in this recipe, which I usually do in my cleaning supplies, but I had some old Ivory bars I wanted to use up from before my soap-making days, and since the recipe said go for it, I did!

Grating the soap turned out to be a laborious process.  I used a simple cheese grater, but I'm sure there are other ways to do it.  The original recipe called for a 4.5 ounce bar of soap, but I found that if I grated two bars until they were just about stubs I couldn't hold anymore, I ended up with 5 and 5/8 ounces of grated soap -- exactly 125% of what the recipe called for -- so I simply added an extra quarter-cup of the other two ingredients and wha-la!

Once you have all your ingredients, the next step is to add them together and stir for five minutes.  Easy enough, right?  WRONG.  I kept having to stop because I was coughing from breathing in all the soap particles.  While you're stirring, the volume of your mixture actually decreases a lot, partially from breaking the bits up more, partially from minimizing empty space, and partially from all the dust it releases into the air.  I highly recommend doing this step outside or in a well ventilated room!

When I was done, the finished product fit nicely in my old box, so I threw a rubber-band around it and put it in the closet.  I can't wait to use it!

For each load, you only need a tablespoon!  That's right, just a tablespoon of the detergent.  I'm estimating there's just over 3 cups of detergent in the box right now, which is about 50 tablespoons.

Let's take a look at the cost:

Box of Borax: $4.29
I used: 1/4
Borax: $1.08

Box of Baking Soda (to make Soda Ash): $1.35
I used: 2/3
Soda Ash: $0.90

Ivory Soap 10-Pack: $4.50
I used: 1.75 bars
Grated Soap: $0.79

Total Cost of Detergent: $2.77

That's about half what the original box of store-bought detergent cost!  Now here's the kicker:

Homemade Detergent: $2.77
Makes 50 Loads
5.5 cents a load

Store-Bought Detergent: $5.50
Makes 15 Loads (as per box)
36 cents a load

Look at that!  You've saved 85% of your cost of detergent!  What's not to love?

Next time, I'll tell you about another way I found to cut costs on laundry.

Has anyone else tried this?  How does it work?  Any tips?  Let me know in the comments!

How to Make Washing Soda/Soda Ash

When I first arrived here in San Francisco, I had a lot on my plate!  I'll talk more about that tomorrow, but one of the first things I looked up was how to make my own laundry detergent. It seemed pretty simple: three ingredients, two steps, what could go wrong.

Something pretty serious went wrong -- one of the key ingredients, Washing Soda (also known as Soda Ash), wasn't available anywhere in my area!

I started wondering: what's the difference between Baking Soda and Washing Soda, anyway?  Can I just use Baking Soda?

That led me to this post, by Penny of Penniless Parenting.  And then this post, by Jill of One Good Thing.  And then this one, from Nature's Nurture.  There seemed to be a pattern: bake Baking Soda to make Washing Soda!

This was perfect!  As a soap-maker, Soda Ash is a must-have to counteract lye spills, and I'd never gotten around to getting some, so here I was, discovering that I could shoot two birds with one stone.

So I gave it a try!  Here in our tiny apartment, we don't even have a real oven, so I spread some Baking Soda into a Bread Pan that could fit in my mini-oven I brought, and baked it at 400F for an hour.  If I were you, I would use a cookie sheet.

I took it out and it looked clumpy.  Not what I wanted.  I put it back.  Much grainier, but still a little clumpy.  I stirred it, looked at pictures on the posts mentioned above, and decided it was good enough.  I ended up doing three "shifts" with the Bread Pan to get through a box of Baking Soda, but it worked!

The one problem I've had so far with moving across the country is that I lost my container collection!  Ah, well.  I put the Washing Soda in an old Ricotta Cheese container from last week's lasagna and labeled it.  Stay tuned to find out how I used it!


Has anyone else done this before?  How did it turn out?  I'd love to hear about it!

Snowflake

I finally finished a snowflake pot holder from a pattern I snagged for free at JoAnn's Fabrics back in January.  Here it is! :)  I might make some more, too!

It didn't take that long, though the pattern was a little confusing between rounds 2/3 and 3/4.  I like it a lot!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Pants! Finally!

In June, I found some ladybug fleece for sale at Wal-mart, along with my apron fabric and pattern.  For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with ladybugs.  I have ladybugs everywhere.  When I turned eighteen, I tried to convince my Dad to let me buy, for $20 on E-bay, a box of 5,000 chilled ladybugs to release in our basement for the party.  Needless to say, I was given a resounding "no."

The plan was to make sweatpants, but I didn't have a pattern, so I just got a couple of yards.  I found a pattern on instructables (here).  And then, I ran into trouble.  I didn't have any pajama pants that fit -- I had one pair that was too big and one that was too small -- so it was hard to judge the size of the legs.  Then I did one leg backwards, so I had to cut it open, stitch chunks together, and do it again.  I ended up with chunks of extra fabric on the top of the back.  But it worked, overall.  They've been sitting in my great room waist-band-less for a few months, and I finally got around to finishing them up.

I'm glad I did!  They're super comfortable!