Basic salve

I thought I would share my basic "how to" for salve making. Today I made a "bug bite" salve. With the insane mosquitoes this year, I know we'll need it.

To begin, I started this more than a month ago. Five and a half weeks, to be exact (er. close to exact, anyway). I filled a pint canning jar halfway with my dried herbs (full if you're using fresh - but then there's a moisture issue and I prefer not to mess with that) and then cover (to fill the jar) with the oil(s) of your choice. I used an herb mix that I bought from The Bulk Herb Store. It has rosemary, olive leaf, plantain, echinacea, comfrey, and lavender. Normally I'd have added calendula at the very least, but I wanted to give the mix a try before I adjust it. I used grapeseed oil and olive oil. Both organic. I only mixed them because I ran out of grapeseed.

Here's my infused oil. Some people heat the oil to infuse it - this takes less time. Some people leave it in the sun. There are a lot of methods. Generally I combine the herbs and oil and leave it in a dark place for six weeks. I do my best to remember to shake it every day.

Strain the oil from your jar. It helps to use cheesecloth or muslin to get the extra gunk out. Since this is just for us, I tend not to be too picky.

In a pot of water, place a jar with your beeswax. Slowly heat to melt the wax. I'm sure there's a formula for how much wax to oil you should use. But I much prefer to wing it.

Lovely melted wax. Mmmm.

In another container I poured some of my infused oil and set it in the hot water to warm. Pour in some wax and stir to combine. If you're adding extras, now is the time to do it. I usually add a tiny bit of vitamin E oil. Sometimes I add shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, etc. I didn't this time. Again, I wanted to give the herbal mix a try before I tinkered.

To test the consistency of your salve, put a few drops on a tin (or spoon) and stick it in the freezer for less than a minute. I generally stick it in the freezer, put away some of my mess and then check it. If it smooshes (this is a technical term, I promise) the way you like, great! If it's too soft, add wax. Too hard, add more oil (even not infused oil will do). Remember, though, *gently* heat the oils. You aren't cooking them.

Once you're happy with the consistency, pour it into a container. New tins, clean old tins, glass jars. I've used all three.

Leave it totally undisturbed until it has cooled (mine isn't quite cooled in the middle in this picture, but you get the idea). Praise yourself and enjoy your lovely new salve!

Dyeing!

I'm having a hard time controlling myself. It's a good thing I only have the one pot available for use at the moment. Things could get messy!

Here are some rovings I dyed yesterday:

And here's the dye pot right now!

So much fun! Later today there will be toothpaste and salve making and some alpaca washing. And quite probably some spinning. Oh! And peg doll making! Okay. Realistically not all of that is going to happen. There's always tomorrow!

Carding, plying, and dye failure.

Yesterday I went to visit some friends and use their drum carder. Since then, I'll have you know, I've ordered my own drum carder. A Brother drum carder. Excitement! Here are the batts I made yesterday.

The left is the heritage wool I'd been washing. It ended up being about an ounce and a quarter. The right is the alpaca/llama hybrid at three ounces.

Remember the brown and the ecru yarns I spun over the last few days? Well, I plied them. It looks nice enough, but wasn't what I was going for. The variations in the brown are all but lost. Oh well.

Another failure is the cabbage dye. Natural dyes and I aren't getting along these days. The truth is that I need to just buy some alum and get over myself. Of course, once I do this and still get sub par results I'll probably cry. Again, oh well. The light lavender/grey is just plain cabbage. The extremely faded-almost-teal-grey was with the addition of baking powder (because I didn't double check what I'd read - it should have been baking soda). It's stiff despite all of my rinsing. Right now it's soaking in extremely hot water. After this I'm likely to just give up.

And in case you think I never leave my world of wool. I've been working on a potential custom order of peg dolls. For the life of me, I can't draw a hairbrush.

Woolgathering.

First, my Yarn Along entry:

Scrappy longies. All manner of blues and greens. There are currently six balls of yarn hanging off of this project. Reading The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist. It's the sequel to The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Supposedly there will be a third book out this year. And yes, a sleeping Beast foot.

I spun this to be plied with the brown from yesterday.

This is the wool I ordered recently from Mohair and More.

These are my Aang colors: three ounces each of copper and yellow and two of blue.

Three ounces of two different browns and a full pound of undyed.

Three ounces each of two greens and lavender.

One ounce of firestar in Tropical (because I just want to play around with it even though it isn't a natural fiber) and four ounces of goldenrod. I did just realize that I'm missing three ounces of another brown. Hmm. Guess I'll be emailing the company.

This is heritage wool given to me by a friend. The clump on the left has been washed in near boiling water more than ten times. It's still not as clean as it could be.

I hand carded it regardless. I just can't waste any more water on it. I'll get around to the other half eventually.

Crafting On!

Less words, more pictures!

My fiber order arrived (pictures later). I hackled two browns together.

And then spun it.

This is handspun merino soaking in red cabbage water. Tasty, no?

I'm still cleaning this same fleece. Every time I get more grit in the bottom of the bowl. Will I ever be done with this?

Linking up with Nicole.

Giveaway winner!

Remember this giveaway? Well, I remembered to pick a winner last night after my helpers had already gone to bed. So this morning, bright and early, we dove in.

All sixteen entries.

The Imp picks a name.

The Beast wants to pick one, too. Guess it's a good thing I have another hank to give away!

The winners are Crunchy Mama and Julie! I will email you both by the end of the day (but feel free to email me first if you'd like).

Thank you to everyone who entered!

*blink*

You knew it was coming.

A second light saber.

Thank you everyone for your comments on my last light saber. Without the awesome pattern I followed, it would have been a mess. Details here.

Appa is coming along. I still have a lot of sewing to do for his feet, but at least he has a head. His head/back arrow will be added last.

Ah, yarn! More of the black/white/red stuff - a single and a two-ply. The pastel yarn is my first attempt at intentional (and consistent) thick-and-thin. It was more difficult than I like to admit. The final fuzzy yarn is the alpaca/llama hybrid that I spent a week washing. I couldn't managed to card, hackle, or otherwise wrangle it into behaving. So I spun it in clumps. I think it worked out really well. I'd like to ply it with something - with luck I'll have enough for an upcoming sheep doll. Yes, a sheep knit from a llama.

And as I'm sure you're all tired of hearing: Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win some of my handspun yarn!

Yes, it's true.

I must be masochistic. Here's what I spent my morning making:

No, not the kids. Not the robe (that was made by my mother-in-law for the Elf many years ago). Yes. The light saber. A crochet and foam monstrosity. They've been fighting over it all day. Of course I will be making two more. Whether I want to or not. Details here.

Also, the giveaway is still open!

Yarn Along

Joining up with Ginny for the Yarn Along.

Still reading The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist. I read this when it first came out and wanted to see if I still loved it. I do. I really do. Also I have another book by him that I think is related, so it doesn't hurt to refresh my memory. Crocheting Appa still. Well, actually I'm not crocheting. I'm sewing. Sewing lots of teeny crocheted bits together. Why do I do this to myself?

I knit this hat last night and finished it this morning. I used some of the wool/mohair I've been spinning. I'm relieved to see that it knits up fairly normally. I mean, it's bumpy, but not so unbalanced as to create weird looking stitches. The Imp loves it. We call it his Deadpool hat because it's the same colors as the Marvel character.

It fits the Beast, too.

And me. Somehow I managed to hold the camera in such a way as to make the flash mount appear to be weird fangs. Yep. This is why I stay behind the camera.


Don't forget to enter my handspun yarn giveaway here.

Yarn giveaway

Spin, spin, spin. This is my life.

A two ply and a single. I'm hoping my single proves to be spun well enough not to pull apart. To be honest, that's why I ply so often - I'm not confident about my singles.

And here's my giveaway.

Details: Wool/mohair blend. Approximately 61 grams (2.1 ounces) and 31.5 yards. It's a pretty thick (and not consistent) yarn.

Leave a comment and you're in. Feel free to check out my Etsy shop as I have a few handspun hanks for sale (this is totally not required, just a shameless plug). I'll pick a winner on Sunday night.
The giveaway has ended! Thanks for your comments!

Week/ending.

I have been very absent. The heat, the fleece, the boys. Yes. Absent from this space, perhaps.

Here's what I've been up to:

These are the plied version of the two singles I had spun the last time I posted. Everyone says they look like cotton candy - which is really not where I meant to go with it.

I'm going to have a giveaway for this hank of handspun. There isn't a great deal of it, but it might make a nice trim or.. cozy for something. I don't know. I'll weigh it and measure it tonight and post it tomorrow.

A pig! He's only got the one arm. Today I'll start his leg (before I run out of yarn). Poor pig, but he's already been quite loved by my youngest.

This is how I spent all weekend. B and I watched Downton Abbey while I endlessly crocheted bits of Appa. It's hard to see but there's his head (which I cannot finish until I buy larger eyes), 18 toe pads, six foot pads, six *under foot pad* pads, 18 toes, two ears, two horns. Ugh. I think that's it so far.

Boys + Legos = Bliss. Well, and a mess. But that's obvious, right?

This is my latest love/hate relationship. A friend lent me a hackle. I'm learning. Slowly. After impaling my finger (okay, cutting it enough to necessitate a bandage), I think I may have figured it out.

Crafty crafting

Okay. Honestly I just couldn't come up with a subject to say "wool!" that I hadn't already used. So.. yeah. Here's what I've been up to.

Princess girl not only has a new hair style (that being one that my boys can't easily pull out), she also has clothes! I assure you that the pattern looks much better than my representation of it.

This is the roving from yesterday all spun. I finally figured out why I thought I hate spinning merino. I forgot to split the roving. Drafting is seriously fifty times easier if you aren't trying to pull from a huge chunk of roving.

This is the roving from.. Friday? Whatever. It's been plied with the above single. But it started raining so my lighting is terrible. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow with the yarn along (heads up: there may even be a giveaway!).

Look! More washed and dried fleece! It never ends!

Linking up with Nicole today.