Soap

I just got in some new soap making supplies so this weekend I decided to try a couple of new recipes. The soap to the left is a Lavender soap-- the dark flecks are lavender buds. I accidentally didn't make a large enough batch to completely fill the molds, so the bars are a bit funny shaped. But they will still work! I got the recipe here.
The darker soap was supposed to be coconut scented but I don't think I added enough coconut fragrance. Oops! The recipe was one that I created and that I've used for several batches so far.

I think that later this week I'm going to try a couple more batches. I have promised Kelly some Honeysuckled scented soap, and Chris wants some with a Bay Rum fragrance. I'm still pretty new at soap making so each batch I make is a bit nerve wracking-- I never know how it will turn out. And sometimes I end up with bars that look like this. I'm not sure why.

Should I?

I really want to make this dress to wear to the Rehearsal Dinner. What do you think? Is it too weird? I'm not sure how it will actually look in person. And what color would be best? I think it looks great in black, but for my wedding rehearsal I want to look a bit more bridal, I think. Of course if I did this, I'd have to make a slip dress to go under it. And I don't really want to have to do that. But its so pretty. But do I really have time? Probably not. But its so pretty. Can you tell I'm suffering from a bit of indecision?

Knit Picky Wedding Shower

Yesterday the Knit Picky girls threw me the best wedding shower. There were yummy treats like baked brie, lemonade pound cake and Kim's famous chewies (Kim-- I need that recipe). And all my favorite people. And the best part of all was the gorgeous afghan given to me by the group. Each block was knit or crocheted by a different person. The white tags have their names on them. I had no idea that they had something like that planned and was completely overwhelmed by the gift. I will treasure it forever.

Since I'm moving to Chapel Hill this summer to be with Chris I've had to stop working at Knit Picky. I don't know what I'm going to do without these girls in my life. I'll just have to start driving back to Winston on Wednesday nights for Open Knit night!

More photos from the shower can be seen here. If you were at the shower and took pictures, please email them to me at lbullins@bellsouth.net and I will add them to the flickr group. Thanks!

Box Topapalooza

Have you ever seen those little "Box Tops for Education" graphics on the boxes (and bags) of some grocery store products? If you cut them out and turn them in to a school that collects them, they turn into money for the school. Each box top is worth 10 cents. That doesn't sound like much, but it all adds up and free money-- even in small amounts--is still free money. So check your boxes and cut out and save any of the Box Tops that you see. And if helping out schools isn't enough, you can even win a prize. Trek (of Trek Casts On) is running a contest between now and August. If you either send her your collection of Box Tops or send her a photo of the box tops you have collected for your local school, she will enter your name in a drawing for a gift certificate to Amazon.com. I know I could use some extra cash to spend on knitting books, couldn't you?

Wedding Stockings!

My wedding stockings are finished!!! I really enjoyed working on them and am so happy with how they turned out, so please ignore the many little mistakes :) The pattern is "Silk Stockings" from the book Romantic Hand Knits and the yarn is Tinsel Toes. I will be wearing them under my wedding dress come July. Its so exciting to finally have one of my many wedding knitting projects completely finished!

Knitted Gifts

When the mailman came today I wasn't sure I wanted to go out and bring the mail in because it was so cold and wet and icky outside. But then I saw the package sitting on top of the mailbox. I wasn't expecting anything, what could this be? The return address told me it came from my friend Cassie, who moved across the state to California in January. I wasn't expecting anything from her...

I ripped the package open and pulled out a gorgeous pair of socks! I love hand knit socks but, I confess, I don't like using tiny needles. So all my socks are thick, done on size 3 or 5 needles. So a pair of thin, lacey socks is a real treat for me! And you can tell she knows me well; they are in my favorite color--green! I believe the yarn is Panda Wool and the pattern is textured and lacey, quite lovely. She even incorporated her own signature toe-- each sock has a toe the slants the way that toes actually slant. Have you ever looked at your toes and then compared them to socks. Toes don't actually come to a point in the middle the way socks normally do. So its very clever of Cassie to knit them with "anatomically correct" toes. I'm pretty sure this is the first knitted gift I've ever been given.

Once I had the socks securely on my feet, I noticed that there was more in the bag-- a book! I love Stephanie Pearl McPhee's humor and writing and own several of her books already, Casts Off will make a great addition. And its perfect timing-- I am going to a book signing by the Yarn Harlot next week!

Cassie-- I can't thank you enough!

p.s. Cassie is one of the most talented knitters I know. She does exquisite lace, designs her own sweaters. I know I've mentioned her before-- she was the one who gave me the beautiful hand spun yarn in dark red, green and brown.

Feeling crafty

Don't these look fun? They are beaded bracelets that are used for keeping track of rows in knitting. I want to make one for myself, and for each of my knitting friends. In fact, I have a pair of socks that I keep messing up because I lose count of the rows (not because its that hard of a pattern, but because my counting skills are...disappointing). I wonder if Chris would mind spending his birthday weekend at the craft store?