Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Soaper Knitter

I've been knitting too much, my wrists hurt and my knuckles swell, but I don't plan to stop knitting even for just one day. If it's the price I must pay for making some nice, cozy and pretty shawl like this Mara of mine, I can afford it gladly with the help of some Advil pills.

Mara

Mara

I knitted up Mara with Madeline Tosh 80/10/10 Sport on Cottage Door, a lovely shade of gray. In the following close-up, I hope to show the pale mossy green streaks here and there in the subtle varigation of this yarn...

Mara

Rows and rows of garter stitches, then tons of rib knitting didn't bore me a bit. I love the comforting rhythm of needle clicking and the wonderful soft touch of yarn while watching my favorite movies or listening to my loved audio books. I've learned to de-stress productively!

Talking about productivity, I've spent some time and money on my new hobby recently, making soaps. I've started stocking essential oils: lavender, tea tree, sweet orange...and carrier oil: argan, evening primrose, rosehip, borage...and all the fun additives: calendula petals, all kinds of clay. In the beginning, I made some fun to look at and fabulous smell soaps. The more I learn about soap the more I want to make natural facial soaps that can be used on my extra sensitive skin. I promise myself I will try making cold process soap to craft homemade soap from scratch one day when I get over my fear of working with lye.

This is my Vitamin Soap. Does it look just like mango pudding? So yummy!

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In this soap, there are shea butter, carrot oil, wheat germ oil, sea buckthorn oil, willow bark extract, vitamin C, and just a few drops of these essential oils for fragrance: rosemary, lavender and peppermint. And there is no extra colorant.

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Should I call myself a soaper knitter.

10 comments:

  1. That soap is just delicious and your Mara is gorgeous!! You are a super soaper knitter!!!

    P.S: Take care of your hands and wrists xx

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  2. I think you should! Oh, and I'm drooling over your soaps. Perhaps you'll consider opening an Etsy shop?

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  3. Oh no, dang wrist pain =( Been there, done that (a couple of times). I hope the pain and swelling will go away soon! Cooling my whole forearms with icy cold water always helps me a great deal with the inflammation and pain.

    Your knitting looks very lovely, great job! And the soap looks good enough to eat, I bet it smells wonderful =)

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  4. Thank you Natalie for your approval. I love to buy stuff from etsy.com, but to sell ...hmm...I'm not sure if my stuff is good enough to be paid for.

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  5. Thank you, Maike. And many thanks for sharing your...pain, too. I think about wearing wrist bands while knitting, just like when you're playing tennis, so I can knit more.

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  6. that shawl is stunning!! Love it. and that soap sounds like it's full of great things- I bet it's amazing.

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  7. Be careful with your wrists... I ignored the pain in mine and developed really bad carpal tunnel syndrome. I couldn't knit for a year and still have trouble with it. I wish I would have listened to my body.
    Love your projects and photography!

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  8. Thank you, Julie. I've been washing my hands a lot lately while testing these soap, I think I might develop a new disorder.

    Thank you, Sonja. I must take good care of my wrists and the hands that love to knit.

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