soap test photos.

for me, the hardest part of making anything for sale is the photography part. i love taking pictures, but what i find aesthetically pleasing is not everyone else's cup of tea, and i'm always worried that i pick the weirdest shots of my stuff. i love the above shot, though. it reminds me of some kind of abstract modern art.

i always insist upon taking my photos in direct sunlight even though the universe seemed to agree at some point that it is ill-advised. i just love the bright whites and the deep shadows, and in the case of these "clear" soaps, the beautiful stained glass effect! (foreground to background: strawberry with strawberry seeds, watermelon, blood orange.)

while i was taking my photos, old lady came in to assist. she had been sleeping all day in my bed, which is in the back of the house, away from the sun. to wake herself up, she looked at me hatefully, then stretched her old tabby boots. she needs a little work before she'll be as great of an assistant as nick was, but she seems to enjoy the job.

back to my roots: a short history of my soaping adventures.

i started making soap again. i used to make and sell melt and pour a long time ago, and it was super fun and easy, but i stopped for whatever reason and never really picked it up again until very recently. it may not look like it, but i have the WORST skin!! so for the past 5-7 years probably, i've been going to this small soap shop about an hour or so from my house that sells really nice cold process soap in tons of different scents. their soap was great for me - nice, gentle, and creamy - but it was kind of annoying to have to drive down there to the shop all the time and spend a lot of money on something i was sure i could make for myself if i tried. so ... i did.

i toyed around with hot and cold process soapmaking this time last year and found a really great recipe for a nice, moisturizing bar full of cocoa and shea butter. a super moisturizing bar like that made in the cold process tends to be soft (melts quickly in the shower), so you have to wait forever for it to harden up suitably. life started happening to me then, so i put aside my soaping stuff to deal with it, accidentally boxing up and putting away my curing bars with the rest of my supplies. when i came back to soaping THIS year, i found that those forgotten bars were amazing! i swear, after using that soap for only 4 days i felt more of a textural difference in my skin than i had in a lifetime of buying expensive bath products. i knew i had to make more: some for myself, and the rest for my shop. other people really need to try this soap!

but oops ... forgot it takes friggin months for it to cure! shit. i felt totally pumped that the soap came out so nicely, but wanted something to fill my need for immediate gratification. that's when i remembered melt and pour! you make it and it's done and ready to package and use about 8 hours later. i liked that.

i thought since the cold process bars were so creamy and dense, it would be a neat contrast to make the melt and pour bars clear and light. the melt and pour base i chose was a clear one that performs like cold process. originally, i wanted to use the ultra clear base so that the bars would have glasslike quality, but i ended up choosing the one that performs like cold process for several reasons: one, the bars should last longer, two, reviews stated that this soap is creamier, softer, and more moisturizing than the ultra clear base, and three (most important of all, in my opinion), the ingredients in this base are simple and few. if a customer asked me what exactly the ingredients in the ultra clear base were, i didn't feel confident that i could explain what they were or if/why/how they would benefit their skin.

my cold process soaps are all bakery scented, so when i was choosing my fragrances for the melt and pour soaps, i picked scents that were more ... bright and refreshing. how did i choose which fragrances exactly i wanted to use? well, i love color. and then of course, the soap had to smell delicious! so i picked a rainbow of the freshest, brightest smelling fruit fragrances (for the most part) and clear soap dyes and got to work.

soap fragrances, by row:

strawberry, watermelon, blood orange

meyer lemon, pineapple cilantro, spring mix (smells like lettuce!)

bamboo teak, raspberry lemonade, grape soda

mid summer's night, coconut, dirt

about two weeks later, after everything is done, cured, and wrapped, here are my final melt and pour bars! most of them are already wrapped up and boxed, waiting for labels. these are just the ones i kept out to be cut into samples, for personal use, and for etsy photos. i'm pretty excited about them! some of the bars aren't fruit scents because when i ordered, i received some free fragrance samples that i ended up loving so much i just included them in the lineup. 

yay! now i'm off to design my wrappers and maybe spin some yarn. 

what's going on in my yarn life ...

IMG_1151
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic

i dyed a ton of fiber on sunday, then finished up the last batches last night. i like to do two of each, because if i dye something i love, i have a hard time putting it up for sale. this way, i know that there's at least one left for me :-)

i wish i had more time. i really want to spin, but i have so much school stuff to worry about that i'm having a hard time scheduling it in. i DO have a 3 day weekend this week, though, so i guess i'll take advantage of it.

anyway, those ridiculous pink/purple/orange batts are made from some of that fiber that holly sent me a while ago. 75% wool and 25% alpaca. i love love love the way it spins. so hairy and wonderful, like romney. the hard-to-see lime/purple/teal batts underneath those are 50/50 wool/alpaca. i'm excited to work on those!

i need a longer dayyyyyyyy. oh, and more money. because i don't have ANY.

aha!

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

on a lighter note, here's the yarn that came from my dyed batts. there was absolutely no problem spinning them except for a few spots that weren't carded as smoothly as i'd liked, but other than that, this yarn came out fabulous. nice and super thin, and i haven't yet measured the yardage yet, but i know that it's at least 500 yards - probably a good 550.

the color isn't quite what i had expected, even though i still like it a lot. i expected it to be a lot lighter, but it was so thin that it darkened up quite a bit. also, since i was spinning from a batt, i tended to start spinning from the fold because it's quicker and easier and requires less concentration, but that made really weird color blends that weren't so great.

the third thing for next time is to make smaller skeins. this took forever from start to finish, just like pink elephant did. next time i'll either spin two smaller skeins or just sell one set of the batts, or something. i was literally in pain after finishing plying this beast. NEVER AGAIN!

the other photos are on flickr but there's no info yet. i'll do that later. sometime i'll post a little process post, because i know some people are interested in/curious about the whole batt dyeing thing.

17,000 asses.

aw, shit. kurt vonnegut died.

my favorite quote ever, from Timequake, on the topic of evolution: "No matter what is doing the creating, I have to say that the giraffe and the rhinoceros are ridiculous."

found on LJ

1. Go to google.com.

2. Click on Maps.

3. Click on Get Directions.

4. From: New York, New York.

5. To: Paris, France.

6. Then, read line #23.

7. Laugh.

8. Repost.

i thought i posted this!

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

my neighbors just had a really scary screaming fight, then someone slammed the door, and like LEAPT in the car and SCREECHED away. wtf?

anyway, now for the project. i'm glad that it's like 60 degrees outside again, so there's hardly any use for them, but i made these (the other one is not pictured because it was on my hand) for jessica because she wouldn't stop hinting that she wanted fingerless gloves. i think fingerless gloves are stupid and pointless, but i CAN see the use of a convertible mitten. therefore, that's what she got.

the yarn was noro shinano, the needles were size 6 DPNs, and i used JUST over one ball of the noro on both mittens! like seriously, one ball and 1.5 yards. if i'd saved the tail from the cast on of the first mitten, i would have had enough.

i borrowed from a few patterns to make these, but really had to do a lot of math to get them to work with the yarn. i used a few lines from the peekaboo mittens in the newest magknits to do the opening for the fingers, and the "afterthought" thumb from knitty's fetching because i didn't feel like placing all those markers for a gussetted thumb. i hate a really baggy mitten, which is what the peekaboo mitten sorta looked like. i need to be able to reach and grab and do things. so i popped a little loop on the top of this one, sewed a button on the back so it wouldn't go getting snagged on anything, and there ya go. the loop is simply a knotted circle of yarn that comes out the top of the mitten, so if it rips or something from over use, it's easy to replace. and ... yeah.

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

these were a REALLY quick knit - i got them done in a night, AFTER i finished all of my research. as you may or may not know, i don't really knit a whole lot, so i was sorta lost when it came to a lot of the techniques. but i mean, it's not really rocket science, and you'll never know unless you try. now i can make a set of these babies without a pattern. they're that easy.

if you're interested in making them, i can post the pattern i came up with. they're surprisingly self-explanatory!

sometimes i outdo myself.

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

this thing took me forever. it's just shy of 600 yards of merino, merino/silk, mohair top, and angelina. it was brutal and exhausting, but it might beat the bed of roses yarn as my favorite yarn ever. would you like to go on a yarn adventure? please join me.

i began with the aforementioned fibers. i carded them together to produce these 6 batts. they were a LOT more dense than they appear.



so then i went ahead and split them in half and proceeded to spin them onto two bobbins. this is bobbin #1, all finished.



i thought it looked like a lot more on one bobbin than when i usually ply, so i decided to go ahead and fire up the bulky bobbin for this job. and as it turns out, i needed it like whoa.

  

i've only ever filled this thing up when i was working with super fluffy coiled yarns. i knew the yardage was going to blow my pants off. here it is in all its finished glory, taking over my little table on the porch.

playing hard to get:

a dime for scale:



this thing took me about 10-12 hours from carding to finished hank. i still don't know if i'm going to sell it because of the price i will be forced to charge. i was considering splitting it into two separate skeins of 300ish yards each, but i'm not sure yet. what i do know is that i'm going to swatch it because i can't live without knowing how it will look knitted up.

and now it's time to do stuff.

makes your eyes go OOOH!

here's something nice to look at for once instead of a bunch of school blather!

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

this is a fabulous package i received from auto last week. i sent her some brown stuff i didn't want a while back, and she sends me this in return! i feel like i've been over-gifted. a ton of soft merino handdyed in pinks, burgundy, and wine, and then some batts from the "ugly" pile that i think are pretty awesome. (if you look at the larger sizes in my flickr you can really see the sparkles.) as usual i have no idea what i'm going to do with this. i'm torn between sock weight and coily, bubbly sparkles. hmmm. thanks again, ma'am! :-)

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

and THIS is another, completely unexpected package from my swap partner from the craftster handspun swap. she felt bad after the swap that i had sent humongous yardage, but it's how much i normally spin because my bobbins hold a lot! she wouldn't have any of that though, so she spun me up another matching skein to go with the original green one she sent me. she also included that ridiculous lollipop with hillbilly teeth, and some glostix. whee!

so happy life! it makes me happy. you know, if you ever want to do a fiber or yarn swap with me, let me know! or don't! it's even more fun when it's a surprise. i will certainly reciprocate.

in other news, i think i've finally got my sleeping schedule figured out. i was having some serious issues, especially last week and the week before. but this week i've been feeling alright, and i'm not exhausted right now, so rock n roll. i had another review today. everything is going positively well! life is good. ♥

it's hard leading a double life.

100_1734
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

it's hard having teaching things to post about and crafty stuff to post about. i would make a whole other journal but if i end up going to grad school after i'm done with this i'm only going to need it for 3 months and that's wasteful. so as i've said before, if you're not logged in viewing LJ posts, you're missing the ones about student teaching. i'll post about that after this one.

so anyway. when i was at NJ sheep and fiber i bought this huge ball of ashland bay brand fiber. i think it's merino and mohair, because it's too coarse and fuzzy to be silk. i really haven't had time to dye, since i've had to go home every weekend for this or that, so i thought it would be nice to have something that would provide instant gratification. what you see above is a wonderful fingering-sport weight yarn which will become winter socks for my tootsies. i kinda like knitting socks a lot. i thought i'd never want to do it, but it's really satisfying to shape them and watch them come together. plus, knitting makes me sleepy, so i do it before bed and sleep happy.

before student teaching started i was thinking to myself, "wow, it would suck to get sick while i'm doing this." and of course, my third week in, i'm sick. the kids are so filthy! they're just sneezing all over the place, not covering their mouths or anything like 5 year olds. gross. so like 50% of the teachers are sick and we've just been passing it around. however, i picked up some airborne because the ladies have been RAVING about it, and sho nuff, it's working. this, decongestants, and theraflu have helped me kick this thing pretty quickly. the grapefruit flavor tastes like straight up ass, but what do you want?

in gaming news, i picked up harvest moon ds the other day, and it's alright. it's exactly like the other versions. it's fun though, and addictive, but it really just made me want to play a wonderful life again. i'm in the 3rd year of that one, i think, and started a new game because i'm doing so well in my original one that i don't want to get really into it until i have adequate time. is anyone else into virtual farming or is it just me?

finally, boon and i went to ihop last weekend. i got this:



oh man. that should be illegal. let's not beat around the bush here. that thing is a donut. it is not french toast. it is a donut stuffed with sweet cream cheese, topped off with strawberries, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. i ate my heart attack and enjoyed every bite. luckily there are only 2 ihops that i know of, and they're both pretty far away.

a guy just pulled up in the parking lot, and when he opened his car door you could hear that he was BLASTING hootie and the blowfish. i think he knew how lame it was because he turned the radio down immediately.

that's all! what's up with YOU?

hmmm

teaching has been interesting. i can't really go into it further. there are so many things to worry about and consider, so many things that make it so hard to do simple things. it's weird how poor a district can be and you don't even realize it.

i spun up this sock yarn last night and it's already dry and so nice, and i want to cast on now but i don't want to have this many UFOs floating around. i have ... 4 or 5 i think? and i know that's not many for a seasoned knitter, but it's too many for me.

  

before and after.

that's all i got! my bedtime's 10:00, you know. i'm late.

ah, good afternoon.

090506f
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

i woke up first thing this morning and finished plying this yarn. it is the most incredible thing i have ever made with these two hands. it might not look like anything special, but it was a labor of love. dyeing merino/silk mill ends (which are a MESS to work with), carding them and recarding them, spinning the singles painfully thin, then finally plying them.

i have no idea the yardage on this thing, but after it was washed, it went from being about fingering weight to sport, but that's totally okay. i am going to list it for a lot. it would make incredibly soft/gorgeous socks, and if no one wants to buy it i will gladly keep it.

i have some more yarn work to do today, then HOPEFULLY i can get out to the yarn store tomorrow. this is a new one, and i'm really excited about going because if the stock is as good as they advertise, i will have a lot of fun knitting ahead of me. ooh! as i was looking for their address i found that there's another one relatively close by. decisions, decisions! it really all depends on what i get done here today, because both getting my personal update finished and running some more errands are a lot more important than browsing yarn.

i had so much to write about last night, then i decided to wait until i finished this yarn so i could post the picture and now i can't remember anything i was going to say. well. it's been raining since i woke up this morning - note i did say "morning," as my waking hours are slowly changing - and it's so cool outside that it's almost cold. i needed a sweatshirt when i went to the post office earlier. perfect for some tea and comfort. OH MY GOODNESS. i almsot forgot. comfort!? looksie:



that is the definition of yum. it is a betty crocker hot fudge cake. the best part is that you only have to add water! good for me, because i don't like to eat or use eggs really. there's a chocolate drizzle for the top, then when you cut into it, fudge drips out of the middle. my only regret is that i had no ice cream to put on it, but that might have ruined the pure chocolate sensation.

dinner's going into the oven. seeya! ♥

HAHAHAHAHA WTF

oh MAN! i CAN'T believe i lost this auction!!!

HAHAIHSIFHQOIRUP(@U#O*@)*%$)*!~!@!@SLKFDSFK

please look.
oh man.

what have i done!?

looks like a nice, unassuming sock, right? look closer.



this sock could be a board game. i'd call it "holes and ladders." for some reason my gauge completely changed after the heel. i started knitting it SUPER loosely, i don't know why. i was just being a jackass for some reason. so this one looks like crap! i saw how it was turning out and thought, you know? i'm not even going to bother ripping it because it's for me and i don't even care.

it's a handpainted sock yarn i bought from etsy seller ruby297, and it's fabulously soft and pretty. i should have used smaller needles, but i used 3s. like i said, it was a perfect choice until after the heel. whatev.

i have some yarn that was a custom for me, so when i get ready to start on that one i'm actually going to be very serious about it. till next time, socks.

it is freezing in this house! i'm so happy that it's actually cold. in the summer. it's cold enough here in the basement for me to want to turn on the stove. mmmmmm. can't wait till winter. mittens and scarves and love.

just some things!

082206a
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

imagine my very pleasant surprise when i found my swap yarns waiting on my doorstep! i signed up for the handspun swap on craftster and was partnered with my perfect match. i posted peeks of the yarns i made for her a few posts ago (before the teeth happened), and she really loved them. i love mine too! especially the green one. it's really awesome. the mohair one on the right is much softer than i thought it would be. i'm a very happy swap partner!

jessica and i shopped really hard for school clothes (teacher clothes, actually) today, and my mom took me shopping yesterday and i bought a ton of stuff, so now i feel totally prepared. all i have left to get is a bunch of socks and a pair of brown flats. i hate looking "professional."

i'm heading down to VA thursday night to see my dad before the summer is over. i don't know when i'll get down there again with the school schedule this semester, and ben working weird hours, so this is the best time, i guess.

why put freddy vs. jason on USA at this time of day? all of the heads getting chopped off, gratuitous boobies, and nonsensical swearing are all edited out. why bother?

anyhoo, see all y'all after the weekend is over!

ps - it's like 4 hours later, but i just finished eating dinner, and i'm going to die from a salad overdose. you wouldn't think that you could eat TOO MUCH salad, but i just crossed the line. i don't know when the funeral will be, but i'm sure it'll be closed casket, because i will have exploded.

oh hallo

okay so i finished the sock after putting it down for a while. i just needed some personal time away from it. and i was sorta getting carpal tunnel.

i'll just copy what i said on flickr: finally finished! it fits me like a humongous bootie, but that's because it's for my brother or dad.

the toe grafting was easy peasy once i watched the kitchener video on this site: www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php, about 1/2way down the page.

now it's time to cast on for the second one!

exactly. my needles came today, so yay to that. and i bought this with some extra paypal cash from seller ruby297 on etsy:

successfully completing a knitting project gives me unmeasurable joy, especially because i knit so infrequently.
that's all for tonight!

long time!

060406a
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

it's been so long since i've posted to this blog. sometimes i just forget about it because i get so involved other places. i graduated finally, and that was absolutely incredible! but what was almost as incredible was our time at the art star craft bazaar this weekend.

so yesterday and today art star happened. and it sucked a little bit because of the weather. there were supposed to be two other semi-large festival type events happening in the neighborhood and they were cancelled because it was raining fairly hard yesterday morning into the afternoon. but they kept art star on, and i think that's why there was hardly any traffic. people must have thought that it was cancelled. the weather was really awful yesterday though. people's tents were blowing over and away, displays were falling over, and it was COLD! so needless to say, it wasn't great. today was much, much better! but still slowish. they're going to have it on the raindate now, too, so if you couldn't make it out this time, come next time! it's june 24-25.

so even with the terrible weather, it was super fun to be there and see everyone, meet new faces, and do a lot of networking. we've received a number of invites to upcoming fairs and events, and met a ton of super cool people. mypapercrane, knittydirtygirl, artschooldropout, cherriebomb, and mr. pickles were there, to name a few. it was neat seeing them and/or fondling their things in person!

i was extra happy to meet rachel-marie (knittydirtygirl) because i've known her through forums and stuff for a while now. she's so cute and nice! she has a good picture of all of us together (cherriebomb, jessica, me, and her) taken at the end of the day today, so i'll link to it once she posts it.

so i feel good. happy. not rolling in the dollars, but happy! a girl came around handing out a thing for those of us in the area saying that they're thinking of having something similar to art star but every weekend. that would be awesome! so hopefully we'll be doing those too.

well i'm trying to get someone to drive up to brooklyn with me (DANIELLLEEEEE!!!) for renegade, so if you're going to be there, i hope to see you. if you saw me today, thanks for stopping by :-)

woooooooooo.

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Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

i am sooo happy that i just wrote an insanely long post and it all got deleted! one of my browsers was not responding so i closed it but before i did, i took care to copy my entire post in progress so it wouldn't be lost too. lo and behold, there it goes. it was never copied even though i ctrl+c AND right-click copied. my favorite! i was in such a good posting mood, too. now, not so much.

051806c
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

i don't even remember all that i had to talk about. dye extravaganza today. i'm tired and extremely smelly from it. & something about this yarn being my second handcarded adventure. it's quite sparkly but you can't really see it in my pictures because it was getting dark. (i included a picture of the batts for a before and after.) i have a lot of other yarns in my office that i haven't photographed yet, but i don't want to because i don't want to sell them. maybe just for you.

ohh, i also said that i made a yarn called "tron" based on that ridiculous movie. it's dyed black merino carded with a little bit of dyed black firestar. it's SO cool. i spun that with a little bit of chartreuse and bright turquoise. it looks like circuitry. i don't even want to take this one to art star but i must. hopefully it will go to a good home.

then i went on to non-spinning news. did anyone see the movie high tension? it was surprisingly awesome, yet also surprisingly grisly (that never bothers me though). i was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing. i mean, the ending is a little cheese, but i didn't expect it at all! and the soundtrack was AWESOME. and of course, there were some inconsistencies in the plot but whatever! what movie DOESN'T have any these days? see it. it was 5000 times better than craptastic flightplan.

oh, i brought that movie stuff up because i signed up for netflix the other day. best decision i've made in a while - occupies the time during those LOOONG spinning days. i don't have to go out and worry about BS late fees or DRIVING there, and i can order really weird embarassing movies without anyone seeing me. awesome!

top chef peeps, WTF? wtf was the decision last night!? and extra WTF to the top three in general! i'm hating. agree/disagree? discuss.

then finally, just before my browser closed and destroyed my life, i was saying that these new mint creme cookies by keebler are THE BEST EVER. they're grasshoppers (you know, like thin mints but by keebler) with a layer of mint creme, then the whole thing is enrobed in chocolate. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. my favorite dessert ever is choco pudding with crushed cookies, all mixed to a moussy fluff with cool-whip.

yep, that's about it. i think i remembered everything. i am going to go prepare some pudding now, i think. i have no cool-whip but it'll still be like 75% as yum.

goodnite!

hello!

bordelloa
Originally uploaded by kittenlogic.

huge yarn update! this one is called "bordello of blood" because it's vampire-y. i love it.

i can't wait till school is out and i can focus on improving my spinning, getting organized, and being happy.

time for a sleeping pill! but go check out my flickr album, the spinning set, for more yarn photos. if that's what you're into. love!

nj zine fest!

well the fest happened and it didn't. i mean like, it happened and we went and set up our table and all, but the turnout was terrible! and the people shopping there were obviously there for zines and not purses or yarn really, so the sales that we made on actual items were few and far between. both jessica and i made only about $60. it was funny because i got home and saw that i'd made two sales on etsy and i was like wow, i made more money by not being here than going to that fest.

but it was more valuable for the cool people i met, for real. i found out about it from this girl christine on getcrafty and i met her and she was just awesome!! it was so neat to meet her in person. we're making secret plans to get a NJ craft show rockin. oh and this other girl runs an art shop with some  guy and they're both interested in carrying jessica's and my work. awesome!

jessica's zine was hilarious and not very many people were interested:


and then here's a picture of our table (jessica's taking it):

so you know, it was worth it. was there anything else i had to tell you? i don't think so. i'm $200 into the drum carder fund after this weekend, so hopefully in another few weeks or so i will be ordering it and it will be here in my hot little hands. now it's time to have a nosh and watch much ado about nothing, which i'm wholly uninterested in but there will be much discussion about on wednesday. ahhh shakespeare at 8am.

oh there was something else to tell you. i almost broke all of my furniture today because i was trying to make an animated gif and it took like 5 hours. i was just downloading things and none of them would save, or they would save with a watermark, or they were virus programs, and it was really just amazing and fun. so yeah! yup. goodnite.