Saturday, September 24, 2011

New Laundry soap recipe

We ran out of laundry detergent. It was the store bought kind. I've been lazy... I admit. But, I didn't want to go back out and buy more. So I'm EXTRA lazy. I had all the ingredients except for a bar of soap. *sigh* I had decided that the "liquid" homemade stuff was too messy so we switched to powder but I didn't pick up a bar of soap. BUT, I ALWAYS have Dr. Bonners liquid concentrate in the house.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Laundry Soda
1/2 cup Dr. Bronners
1/4 cup oxy clean (for good measure)

Mix up and break the clumps from having the liquid stick with the powders. Now you have a sort of lumpy powder (should be like when you cut butter into flour when you are making biscuits). But I swear it's good enough. Voila! Laundry soap. Use about 2 tbs per load and you are good to go. I'm using the scoop from my last box of powder (small scoop) and it seems to work out just fine.

The best part? This is INSANELY cheap. And all the ingredients are awesome housecleaning supplies.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Accomplished!

I CLEANED!!!!!!!! *Happy dance!*

....then I needed to go to the doctor! LOL.

Okay, it wasn't the cleaning that did it, but probably was irritating.

Anyway.

I cleaned and organized much of the downstairs. It feels fabulous. BUT.... I didn't get rid of anything. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as I thought once I put everything where it belonged. Imagine that. There are certainly areas where stuff will be donated, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. Like, I'm not going to end up on TLC's Clean House. (That goodness, that show is terrifying!!!!)

That said... I still probably have more "clutter" than the average person, but when that's "comfy clutter" (throws and blankets, books and yarn...) How can you argue too much? I tried getting rid of a few things but stopped and said, "I USE this..." As in, I used it like, yesterday.

So... I'm enabling myself. BUT, if it's at a point where I haven't used something in say, 6 months... it's gone. :)

-------------------------------

We also worked on our baby registry! I feel like it should have been more fun, perusing the baby aisles, something I've been longing to do for years now... but.... well... It was okay. I was a little dismayed, they really don't have what we are looking for. I don't want plastics and flashing lights and weird noises to "educate" and "stimulate" my children, so that stuff was out. We are cloth diapering so a whole aisle was skipped there.... We chose car seats (Graco My ride convertible... I'm not too big a fan of the removable infant seats) and found some super cute hooded towels (a duck and a monkey) but... I don't know. I've realized that babies don't really need SO much, and I don't want them to start life with a ton of stuff they don't need. Plenty of comforts, yes... but do they need thing that flash and light up and talk and sing? no.

Things I like:

Soft carriers
Amber teething necklaces
Wooden toys
Hand made goodies
cloth diapers

.....I can't think of much else right now.

I'm just being cranky now though, I think. LOL!

BUT! All in all, I feel very accomplished.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Horder

This is a common problem. Hubby and I are both pack rats. It's just a fact of life. We've been in the possition of not having much money, so we had to keep something "just in case" because if we needed it... there would be no replacing it. Not to say we are "well off" now, but it's better than it was. Our junk problem however, has not improved.

How do I get rid of this STUFF?

I go through this at least twice per year. Usually in the spring and the fall (I'm sure if we look back there's something about it in here). But the cleanliness and simplicity never lasts. I fall victim to the rampant consumerism even though I love "going green" and being "frugal." Somehow... I accumulate stuff. I don't do a lot of shopping, but a lot comes from hand-me-downs and thrifting... and my crafts. Oops.

As you know... we're having twins. Their expected arrival is at the end of February, and before that time (actually, before the holidays) I would like to clean out the house so there is a fresh sense of nesting, cleanliness and order before the chaos of two little people join the household.

HOW ON EARTH AM I GOING TO ACCOMPLISH THIS???

I don't know. I'm being introspective about the why and the how of my accumulation, but I can't get passed it. I need a therapist! Everytime I try to get rid of stuff, there is always this sense of loss, or I find some reason why I NEED it (so and so gave it to me, I love it though it has no purpose, I MIGHT need it someday...)

It doesn't make me feel like a goodwife to have all this clutter. It feel messy, and bogged down and, well, NEEDY. Not good. This is not how I want my kids' lives to start either! I love simplicity, warmth and comfort. Now I just need to find a balance between the "stuff" and the desired goals of simplicity. It's going to be hard... But I think I'm going to start. Each day I am going to work on one space (and NOT move things into other rooms that don't belong there. nope... not this time).

Do we think it will work? It has to. Now it's for the babies and not just me, though arguably my mental health is pretty important!

Cheers!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Lanolizing your woolies

To "lanolize" simply means adding lanoline back into the woolies. Lanolin is the grease that is naturally occurring in wool and makes it both soft and water resistant. SO, to make the woolies (wool soakers, longies, bloomers, whatever) "water proof" we add extra lanolin.

Supplies:
PURE lanolin
Dishsoap or baby shampoo
wool wash (optional)
measuring cup
wisk
Sink, bucket or bowl depending on how many pieces you need to do


TO begin... clean your sink, gather your supplies and start filling your sink with tepid/ lukewarm water











Next, turn your woolies inside out, and heat up about a cup of water to boiling.









Add lanolin to the hot water, this is the first lanolizing of these garments so I like a good sized blob, about the size of my finger tip per piece, but in subsequent lanolizings a pea size amount per soaker will generally do the trick, but you'll learn what works best for you.  




Add a squirt of soap to emulsify the lanolin, whisk until whitish and add to the sink. The water in the sink will become cloudy.

Add woolies





Smoosh around, rubbing the lanolin water into the fibers. Let soak, flip over and continue to soak.













Remove from the bath and roll in a towel to remove excess water. Lay flat to dry.






Voila! Lanolized woolies! If it's they're first lanolizing they may not be totally leak proof yet. Sometimes it take two sessions to get the lanolin in the wool well enough, but after that you should need less lanolin and only every three weeks or so.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

A vintage inspired soaker and pattern.

I think I've mentioned it before.... but I LOVE cloth diapers, and wool soakers. Love to the point of obsession really.... AND, of course, I love vintage styles. How could you not?

So... I was bored with my usual knitting pattern.... so looking for inspiration I kept seeing these awesomely simple and cute vintage patterns for "Triangle" soakers. I don't know why, but I didn't like a lot of the patterns, or rather, the way they read so I made up my own. I also didn't want seems in the waistband, and wanted that to be as stretchy as possible. I made it up as I went, but it's super simple so I thought I would share....

To make a vintage inspired soaker in size medium

Materials:
Peace Fleece worsted (80% wool, 20% mohair. Delish)
Size 5 16 inch circular knitting needles for waistband
Size 8 16 inch circular knitting needles for body
darning needle for seeming
Pot of tea and a few good movies (it took me about 5 hours to finish, I think)

Cast on 72 stitches onto the size 5 needles, connect to work in the round. Work 1x1 ribbing (knit one, purl one) around and for 2 inches (or longer if you would like a higher soaker, this is more of a bikini fit)

Switch to size 8 needles, begin to work the round, but do not continue. At the end of the round, turn and knit, you will be working "flat" but you need the circlular needles because of the waistband's shape. You should now have two rows. I added a pattern along the sides, if you would like to do so, begin now. Also note your odd rows should be your right side.

Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, knit to last 4 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K1, turn
Row 4: K1, P1, K1, P1, knit to last 4 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K1, turn
Row 5: Begin decrease: K1, P1, K1, P1, K2tog, knit to last 6 stitches, Sl, K1, PSSO,  P1, K1, P1, K1, turn
Row 6: K1, P1, K1, P1, knit to last 4 stitches, P1, K1, P1, K1, turn

Continue in this manner until you have only the pattern stitches left, try to keep the pattern as much as possible while continuing to decrease every other row until only one stitch remains. This should create a triangle. Break yarn leaving a long tail for seaming, pull tail through last stitch to bind off. Fold triangle up so the point fits in at the waistband where you began your body rows. Stitch corner to waistband and down the opening about half way. Secure, and seam the other side in the same manner. Voila! Easy peasy soaker. AND it's going to be a good "bullet proof" bum cover because of the nice thick fabric created by the garter stitch, and the great booty coverage. Lanolize it and you're ready to go (lanolizing tutorial coming soon).



Leg opening detail of the seed stitch. 
The butt! The garter stitch makes a great, thick, stretchy fabric, great for soakers

Thanks for reading, I hope the "pattern" makes sense, feel free to contact me with any questions! Happy knitting! 


Monday, September 5, 2011

Oh forgive me!

I've been missing... well, from the blogger world! It's be CRAZY. Seriously, utterly crazy.

You know that post awhile back about infertility awareness and all the sh*t we've been going through to have a baby? Well..... all that trying finally paid off!!!! On July 5th, the day after our 4th wedding anniversary we found out we are pregnant! *CRAZY HAPPY DANCE!!!!!* Well, then, about a week later, I panicked, I started bleeding! Before this, my numbers were all nice and high, doubling every 27 hours (doubling every 48 hours is the goal) so we went in for an ultrasound to see if everything was alright and.... SURPRISE!!!!! TWO babies. Not one, two (twin tend to cause more spotting during the pregnancy because of the double everything implantations.) Since then, it's been crazy, and not all easy. Of course I was suffering from morning sickness, and we have had some other complications but the babies are strong and growing fast. As of Wednesday the first trimester is over! *Another major happy dance*

I had to quit my nanny job because of some restrictions to keep babies safe, but I'm working on revamping my cloth diaper "business" which is really fun. And I intend to blog more about the diapers, but I thought I should at least send out an update... More to come from me...

Meanwhile, here's my belly as of yesterday: 12 weeks 4 days.


And the babies at 10 weeks:

Monday, June 13, 2011

Playthings

I love toys. But my idea of "toys" is terribly far from the rows of plastics at Walmart and even Toys "R" Us (Though TRU DOES have some pretty awesome stuff- I used to work there). I like imaginative play things, simple dolls, playsilks, balls, wooden blocks.... Things that can be all sorts of things. I remember one winter, my family got a big screen tv, now, this was way before flat screens, so this thing was enormous. Anyway, our favorite part of this was the box. We played with that HUGE box (and some littler ones and blankets) for MONTHS until it fell to pieces and became painting "canvas." That box was a house, a rocket ship, castle, fort, tunnel, boat and jungle gym. It was the site of play sieges, battles, puppet shows and masquerades, exploration of unknown planets, and a refuge during storms (literally, it was a year of many blizzards, so it kept us busy on many a snow day).

Now... Kids want what's in the box. The TV, the video games, the movies.... I'm not anti television. I love mine, I love my movies and shows (Bones, Firefly, Glee... I'm as guilty as any one). Now the electronics have come to kid's toys in the guise of "education." Really, does a 2 year old need a "laptop" with flashing lights? I'm not so sure. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a mom (yet) and I don't have my degree in education (yet- I'm working on it....) but I wonder if it's necessary? What does it say when the tv breaks and mom has to go out immediately and buy a new one so the toddler doesn't "Freak out" and "have nothing to do". This terrifies me.

There are a few kids that I babysit regularly, and I'll be nannying full time come fall, so I've been doing a lot of research into early childhood learning, toys, and activities. I've been going shopping for things to entertain the little ones in my life, and am consistently dismayed. Is EVERYTHING made of plastic? Don't get me wrong, plastic is pretty impressive stuff, but isn't it great for kids to have things made of natural materials? Things you don't have to worry about containing BPA or other chemicals? Things that will last for a long time, and help your child learn for several years?

Well, etsy has a bunch of options. I accidentally found "waldorf toys" and LOVE what I'm seeing. Simple, open ended toys. I don't know much about the Waldorf school system, so I'm not talking about that, but I love the Waldorf inspired toys, and the prices on etsy are comparable to what you find in the store for the plastic bits. BUT, if you are crafty... there are tons of things you can make yourself. Possibly my favorite "toy" is the play silk- bright colored silk scarves that can be anything- blankets for baby doll, costumes, table cloths for tea parties, walls for a fort, a sling carrier for dolly... All sorts of things! AND these are the easiest to do yourself (instead of paying 10 per scarf!) Here's how I made mine.... (I wish I took more pictures during the process....)

You will need.....

silk scarves, Haboti or "china silk" is just what you are looking for. (I LOVE these from Dharma Trading, http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1741-AA.shtml?lnav=scarves_silk.html I didn't use these this time, but I used the same silk from them (out of my stash) and just serged around the edges. Next time, I'm going to order at least a dozen from them and make some for more of my little friends.)

Dye: I used wiltons food coloring gels from Michaels- they are what I use for cake decorating so I always have an assortment of colors.

White distilled vinegar: to set the dye

glass measuring cup


Glass dishes: for mixing dye colors

Gallon sized plastic baggies


Microwave

Latex gloves: option if you don't mind having colored hands for the day.

Alright...
So. First you should prep your scarves by wetting them down with water. Place each scarf in a plastic bag, I folded mine in quarters then gathered in from the center of the square to play with color effects. If

Next, prepare your dyes, mix 1 part vinegar with 2 parts water with some dye- it takes a bit of playing to get the color saturation right, but just go with it. It all turns out cool.

Now, if you are doing "solid" silks, you can just dump dye in the bag, smoosh it around and nuke it for 30 seconds. If you want multiple colors, "paint" the dye on in certain areas, let it blend and then nuke it. Take care not to use too much dye with this, or your colors will get very muddled.

Remove from the microwave, let cool, then rinse with cold water until it runs clear. I then threw all my scarves in the washing machine on the "hand wash" setting and hung them to dry. Viola! Play silks!

I thought I took more pictures, but I guess I didn't, so I'll have to update this again later. But they came out amazing. I made this felted wool basket to put them in too, plus an assortment of other felted bowls, baskets and even a few balls. Instructions for those to follow....

Felted basket for the scarves


Felted ball

felted containers



I'm really looking forward to setting up the play space upstairs for the little ones!