The Price is Right

It was such a busy weekend. I always feel behind and I hate it. I was grouchy and so was Eric. Fun times.

Winter increased the laundry exponentially which just compounds the behindedness. (I want someone to explain how I can go from 1 load of darks in the summer to 4+ a week in the winter. I realize that jeans and sweaters/sweatshirts take up more room, but this is ridiculous!)

At Christmas, my SIL gave me a recipe for making laundry detergent. I’ve waited to post it here because I wanted to see how well it worked for myself.


The very first load of laundry I did was towels that had been used to sop up spilt coffee. They were filthy. I figured it would be a good test load, if it could get the towels clean then there wasn’t much it couldn’t do, especially as the towels had sat for a couple of days before I got a chance to wash them. And if it didn’t work well, then, it was just a bunch of towels.

They came out from the wash without a spot of coffee on them. Pale blue towels, no less. The only other concern I had was fading and while I’ve only washed each article of clothing a couple of times, I haven’t noticed any so far.

Honestly, I am a convert; at this point, I can’t image buying detergent again.


Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup washing soda (not baking) (Arm and Hammer) (~$2.99/box)

1/2 cup borax (~$1.99/box)

1/2 bar of Fels Naptha soap grated ($1.09/bar)

Heat 1 gal. of water on stove. Grate the soap into a 5 gallon bucket. Add the boiling water and stir until melted. Add the washing soda and borax stirring until dissolved. Let cool for 1 hour then add 2 gallons hot water to bucket*. Pour into old milk gallon jugs with a funnel.

Use 1/3-1/2 cup per load
Makes 3 gallons

So, the first batch cost right around 6 bucks and made 3 gallons. (I was able to nab 3 empty laundry detergent bottles from our upstairs neighbor and filled those. The cap is a ½ measure. Milk cartons would work as well.) The next batch will be free because I already have the other half of the Fels Naptha. After that, each batch will only cost 55 cents because I already have the washing soda and the borax.

The only down side that I have notice so far is that when the detergent sits for more than a few minutes, there is a gloppy something that rises to the surface. A quick shake of the bottle takes care of it, so it falls under minor inconvenience rather than deal-breaker.

I have been doing some knitting on the Ribbi Cardy and am about halfway to the armhole shaping on the fronts. I’m still doing both of them at the same time which makes for slow going. I will most likely do the sleeves the same way. I really don’t want to cast on for something else until I get something off the needles. Even though it is the same project, I need to have the feeling of accomplishment when I bind off something.

*I have to admit that I was impatient and didn’t wait an hour for the mixture to cool and added lukewarm water to cool it off enough to bottle it.

Resolutions

Okay - I think it is a fair assumption to say that I am not a serious blogger. I think about blogging much more frequently than I actually sit down and compose a post. Daily, I compose a bit of something in my head, but then 8 pm rolls around and either the thought has flitted away or I am stuck scrubbing some baked on gunk off the stove.

I have been knitting, but the Ribbi Cardy is in time out because of ripping back both of the fronts. It depresses me to look at it. Honestly? I'm sick of the beautiful cranberry color. Which gives me a thought... Maybe I should cast on for the sleeves so I can get sick of the grey. Hmm, this might just work.

While stumbling through Ravelry the other day I found this pattern for a garerlac dishcloth. Entralac has NEVER appealed to me. All that turning and knitting back. Besides, what do you do with it? Wearing a garment composed of teeny tiny squares would look odd on me. I like a lot of shaping in my sweaters and entrelac doesn't seem to have the flexibility to modify things on a whim.

Yes, this means that I am apt to just dive in and make changes, the consequences be damned.

Yes, this typically means a lot of frogging and profanity.

But, it also results in some stuff that fits me pretty darn well and a lot of, ahem, learning experiences. Let's not mention the alpaca and merino blend that sags atrociously.

Anyway, back to my point. I found this pattern and decided that a garter stitch washcloth was the perfect project to try out this new technique. It is much more fun that I thought it would be. I like the modularity of it. I can knit a small square and set it down having a feeling of accomplishment. I can easily see how people get hooked on it.

Now that I have done a few repeats of the pattern, it is somewhat intuitive. At least the squares. Not so much the triangles.

I've done a lot of thinking about Resolutions for 2008. I could be like some and try to knit a pair of socks a month, or more than one sweater. But, keeping up with my business and maintaining some semblance of sanity will not allow such lofty goals. So, I decided that what I will do instead is try a few techniques. I am always looking for a challenge and I think that this will keep me on my toes, without compromising my mental health. I've added a list of my goals to the sidebar. Here's hoping that I can do it.

Recovering from the holidaze

I'm so glad that Christmas is over this year. I always enjoy the holiday, but for some reason this year, I just wasn't in the spirit. I felt like we didn't put enough effort into most of the gifts that we gave because there just wasn't time to find the "perfect" gift.


It didn't help that on Christmas Eve, while driving back from my parents, we came across a terrible accident on the freeway. Eric felt obligated to stop and help. There was one fatality, the other adult had life-threatening injuries and the 3 yo was hurt, but okay because she was in a car seat. The accident just deflated us.



While visiting with my parents, I was able to finish the back of my Ribbi Cardi. It turns out that 8" of fresh snow that fell made a perfect backdrop for photographing the cranberry color. While the background is dim, the color is pretty accurate in the photograph. (On the first try no less!)



I started the armhole shaping on the fronts only to realize that I had knit the 2nd smallest size for the back and the smallest size for the front. Combine that with the fact that I wasn't happy with a couple of other niggling details on the fronts and ribbit. Currently, I am on row 18 of 32 of the ribbing, blech. Here's hoping that I can make up for lost time this weekend.

Imagine this picture, only shorter and slightly wider and you

will envision what I currently have on the needles.

Merry Christmas

I received this today from a friend at work. It made me smile!

I am a knitter, honest!

I keep starting every post with an apology and a promise to start posting more after I finished the craft show.


The craft fair went really well. I sold out of the adult sized felted hats by mid-day on Saturday. They were so popular. I will be working really hard to get more of those done for next year. I will also be including a few accessories for them as well to make them more appealing. (I took one and pinned a broach on it so it looked like a cloche from the 20's. It was very cute!)


I received a couple of custom orders as well, so I've been scurrying to finish those up. The first hat I finished up already and when I called the person who ordered it, she canceled. I hate it when people are flaky like that. I put a lot of effort into getting it done quickly and then I get nothing for it. (Well, not nothing, since I can put into inventory for next year. But, still, it is pretty rude if you ask me.)

#####

I have an announcement.


Brace yourselves.


I have finished a pair of socks.

Not just any socks.

The socks that sucked the soul from me.

I have finished the Pomatomus socks.







I started these last summer. But I had a few problems with the yarn. It was knotted in at least 4 places and when I went to return it to the store, the hours on the card that I picked up when I purchased the yarn that week were wrong. Then the clerk was rude to me and said that I couldn't possibly have gotten the card there recently. She didn't even have the class to apologize when proven wrong either. (It was the last time I shopped there.)

Then, Eric got so sick and life fell apart. I knit on these while he was in the hospital and ever since they have left a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.


Then, when I decided that it was not fair to the yarn to let it languish in my WIP basket forever, I found this. I finally screwed up the courage to try and fix them this weekend. I decided to reknit the 2 rows that were damaged and just run a strand through all of the remaining loose stitches. I think it came out pretty well, all things considered.


Honestly, it is as if I was not supposed to knit these socks.

Yarn, anyone?

Looking forward to the end of the craft fair season, I am proposing another contest. Let's think of it as an on-line scavenger hunt.

There are craft fairs out there that are great with lots of beautiful hand-made items of high quality. However, we all know of the other type of crap craft fair. This is the type that interests me.

Ways to enter:

1. Find a link to the fugliest handmade item you can find online. (Nothing from Go Fug Yourself or The 4th Knitter of the Apocalypse - these need to be items you find.) They do not have to be knitted. Leave a comment with the link on this post - one link entry per person. Be kind however - do not trash the item in your comments - someone tried (we hope) to make something.

2. Post the contest on your blog and earn another entry. Leave a link to the post in the comments as well.

3. If you find this contest listed on someone else's blog, let me know where you found it and that person will earn another entry to the contest.

4. This one will run for a while. Entries will be accepted until midnight on Sunday November 18th, the last day of the fair. Once I recover, I will use a random number generator to determine a winner.

Fini

So, the big craft fair starts on Friday. I'm working it on Saturday and Sunday and am really looking forward to it. For me, a huge perk will be seeing my friend, Nicole, who recently moved back from Germany. But, I am hoping to get some solid information on what styles of hats and bags sell well. This will really help me determine what types of materials to purchase for the coming year.

I've started the application process for fairs in the spring and summer and a lot of them require photographs of booth displays. This will also give me the opportunity to snap some pictures of my stuff all set up. When I sold bags at the Granary in October, the owner took a birch branch and wound white Christmas lights through the twigs. She is kindly letting me use the same display for the show and I am hoping that she might let me keep the branch. If not, I will try to go for a hike at my parents and get another.

I have just a few more items to finish up. One hat still needs felting. Over the weekend, I did a felted bag that I need to attach the handles and line. If this sells, I am thinking of adding it to my website. They are not cheap because of all of the time that goes into it, but using the knitting machine makes it much easier.

Once the show is over, I am planning a complete revamp of the website. Hopefully, there will be enough sales at the show to pay back all of my personal money that has been invested as well as purchasing a new digital camera.


I have been working on Ribbi Cardy, which has been a welcome relief. The back is done up to the beginning of the arm hole shaping. I have both fronts on the same circ and they are about half way to the beginning of the shaping. I fully intend to have it done before Christmas.

I will try to snap a few pictures and post my progress on the cardi.