knitting update + some soap base

[2eclipse]

since the gracious plsurkity  has been so good as to give me instructions for posting images without a paid account, i am able to provide pictures here-to-fore unavailable.


these are the cotton socks i finished



these WILL be marie antoinette socks. they still kinda look like cat yak, but i think they will be better when blocked. and i like the bee pattern - which you can kinda see here, but mostly its smooshed.


these are my brother amos socks. i'm currently a lot further along than this. it is my first attempt at knitting socks 2 at a time. so far so good. cross your fingers for me.
this fleece artist really is this gorgeous. actually it's more gorgeous since there's a hint of raspberry in there with the reds and browns and black.


i got this yarn at borealis to make a clapotis for my sister in law. it is actually much prettier than the picture shows.


and this is the latest batch of soap base i made. it is now all grated for re-batching, but i thought this batch came out particularly nicely. it has a lovely creamy color to it and you can smell the olive oil i used. we really just need me to make more soap, since we were running low, and i'm honestly looking forward to coming up with creative combinations for this, but it seems to be timely in other ways as well. one of the ladies at the local coffee&chocolate shop has asked me if i'd be interested in going in on a craft booth. that could be very neat.

Comments

[dragonintherain.livejournal.com]

that soap looks really nice. :) you make it from scratch?

[frog-lady.livejournal.com]

Is soap base somehow different from soap? (Is it the "plain" soap to which you add other scents/scrubby things?)

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

thanks!
yes i did. from lye and fat and water. :)

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

well...
not really. base refers to how i intend to use it, but this is, in fact, soap. and you can wash with it. i use cold process method to create soap, but i don't use that soap as my finished product, so i tend to think of it as a base for my final product - which i get when i melt down some of the grated base, add whatever fregrence or super-fatting oils or botanicals or color i want, and then pour into clever molds that i like better than the shapes i could cut by hand.
i think i also think of it as base because i am giving myself a pat on the back for making it from scratch rather than simply buying soap base from online stores, melting it down and crafting the final product. i am proud that i make my own and am a bit of a snob about being a soap-maker instead of a soap-crafter.

[frog-lady.livejournal.com]

Ah! Thanks for the explanation.

[patchhat.livejournal.com]

"the gracious plsurkity has been so good as to give me instructions for posting images without a paid account"

i've actually been curious about this myself... would you mind passing along the ancient secret of photo posting for poor people? *hopeful grin*

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

yes, I'd like that too please!

[keisolo.livejournal.com]

Purrowr.

Must learn make socks. want learn make socks. Pretty pretty socks.

Want more learn make soap. Find time to, also, yes.

Kicking myself out of half yoda half drenni speech, the soap part is almost becoming necessary, given my allergies to a large chunk of common typical commercial ingredients, and the price of most better-made.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

*bows*
thank you so very much. if you are ever up this way i am happy to teach you to make both. however, i will warn you that neither is a terribly cost-effective thing to do.
the pretty sock yarn i buy costs between 18-24 dollars per skein. 1 skein = something over 1 pair socks. i haven't broken down the cost effectiveness of the soap..but frangrances can get pretty pricey. most of the equipment can be got at thrift stores, which helps.
what ingredients are you having problems with? maybe i can send you some?
i just made some re-batches out of that base. i will try to post pictures soon.

[keisolo.livejournal.com]

*nods* I figured, I've picked up on some of the yarn cost, just because I do swoon at some of what you've shown, and you drop a detail here and there about the cost.
If I was going to make socks, I'd have to find a way to figure for durable and shiny. I have a weird habit of strange socks - dragons and guitars and tassles and patterns and... I think maybe it is my inner rebels response to the general severity of how I dress? Not sure. One of those things I'll analyze at some point. But durability is necessary for me as far as clothing goes. I'm hard on it. Sometimes it seems like I have an entropic effect on objects that stay in relatively close contact with me. (Though I now have a pen that defies that effect. Thankfully. I've only had two incarnations of it in 12 years or so.)

Sad thing is, I'm not sure all the things I have issue with. I have gotten to a point where I avoid unexplained "fragrance" like the plague. C is the one who is more up on all the yuck they put into cleaning products - but I've just begun to only buy things where I can identify all the ingredients without needing to know more latin than I do, and can identify them as things I do not have issue with.

[keisolo.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* And forgot to mention, that would be lovely.