One More Thing

Here's a pic of a shawl I made for myself. I make stuff for everyone else, so I decided that I had some lovely leftovers and made this shawl.

I finished this a couple of months ago, but I never posted it. It is all acrylic yarns from leftover afghan projects this past Christmas.

Bars of Soap

Here are the bars I cut from the soap log. After I took this picture, I cut them in half again because they were pretty big. But this will give you a good idea what the log looks like when it's cut.

Bars of Soap

Another high-tech soaping tool. It's a drywall mud knife that I bought just for this use. It cuts the soap like a hot knife through butter! If I sold this soap, I'd probably buy a few nice molds for aesthetic value. But it's just for me and hubby so we don't need to be fancy. I also have a mitre box to put the loaf in to make even cuts. I use it when the log fits and I'm giving the soap away as gifts.

Here are some reasons I like homemade soap.
 - It smells clean when you pick it up.
 - It smells good when you use it.
 - It has all of the glycerine in it, which is very moisturizing.
 - It has no funky detergents or added ingredients.
 - If I use it for shampoo every day, I don't need a hair conditioner.
 - When I color my hair, which is never anymore unless I get highlights, I still don't need a conditioner.
 - It's great to use in the winter because your skin doesn't dry out as much with it.
 - It's very gentle even though it's made with lye. Lye reacts with the oils and the danger of it goes away.
 - Best of all, it's fun to make!

Finally Soap

Here is my soap the day after. It hardened enough to turn it out and cut it.

Soap Log

You have to line the mold with plastic wrap or the soap will stick to the waxy film on the carton. I used olive oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, corn oil and castor oil. The castor oil gives it a really really great lather. You use only a little bit, like an ounce or two, and you can't even smell it in there. Thank goodness for that!

Soaping (continued)

Here is what the soap looks like when it starts to 'volcano'. That's soap lingo for fluffing up and trying to crawl out of the pot.

Soap Volcano

I've already stirred this down once. I let it go again until it gets oily looking. Then I'll do the 'zap' test. That is when you touch your finger to the lye and just touch it to the end of your tongue. If you get 'zapped', then it's not done cooking. I got zapped right here. That's why I let it go again. The second time I didn't get zapped and it was oily looking like I wanted it.

Soap Log

I didn't add fragrance to this batch. I like it best without fragrance because it smells fresh like outside air when there is no fragrance to it. I made a chocolate swirl last time and it smells good. The only bad thing is that you use real cocoa for the coloring and it can look like potty stuff on a towel if you don't remember to rinse your hands after handling it.

Note my high-tech soap mold. It was an organic milk carton I rigged. It works well.

Soaping

I am almost out of soap. I use homemade soap to wash my hair and the rest of me. I love the lather I get from homemade soap. If you've never tried any, you ought to invest in a bar. I guarantee you'll become a 'soap snob' like me. That's what the hard-core soapmakers call those who won't use anything but gentle, homemade soaps.

Soaping Supplies

I like to make my soap because I love the chemistry of it. I enjoy figuring out which oils to use and how much lye to use. It's really cool to do, but very dangerous to do. If you look, you'll see my goggles and dust mask to protect me from the airborne lye particles. Lye can kill you if you inhale it. The lye is in the brown paper bag to the left of the gallon jug. By the way, the gallon jug is vinegar in case I get lye on my skin and need to neutralize it quickly.

The stick blender is for blending the oils and lye together until it reaches 'trace'. That's soap lingo for getting thick like pudding.

This picture shows me in the process of letting the lye mixture cook. I get to sit back a while and let it do its thing. I won't have to do anything for about 1/2 hour.

More Strawberries

Here I go with the sugars, again. I can't help it. I love strawberry season. Uh, huh.

Homemade strawberry shortcake with a dollop of canned whipped cream and milk. Yum!

I said I love strawberry season!

Now that they are coming on quickly, I'll be making my strawberry jam for the year. I'll probably post about that later.

Strawberries Now

Here are the strawberries now.

Late Night Snack

Oh, yeah! Late night snack the other night. It sure is great to eat homegrown foods. They always taste so much better than storebought. I say they 'taste like sunshine'. ; )

I've been using rice milk and almond milk in place of cow's milk in order to keep down the cholesterol. I just read that sugars and carbs contribute a lot to the placque buildup in the arteries. Rice milk and almond milk are high in sugars. Ok. I'm not getting fats or animal protein, which is supposed to contribute to building placque. And sugars are also a culprit. I'm a sugar junkie like most everyone else. Does that mean I'll have to give up my cereal? I hope not. I love grains and fruits and milk. Maybe I'll try to modify my cereal snack a bit.