Legacy Studio

Spinning for Joy

2012-01-27T12:11:00.000-08:00

I enjoy hand-spun yarn. I appreciate the creativity that goes into making it. I like the "hand" part of hand-spun -- the thought that hands have made it, not a machine in a factory somewhere far away. Some part of the maker is in the yarn. There was planning and anticipation and a little spark of creativity. Below is a photo of my latest spinning. I don't know if the colors will show up -- there is green and a bit of orange in the yarn. I've plyed one strand of Gold Mine mixed Corriedale with a strand of Patina Merino. Love the color.

Olive Oil Soap

2011-12-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

I'm learning to make soap. Olive oil soap is supposed to be the best for felting, so I thought I'd try making it. Yes, it has been a learning experience! The first batch took soooo long. I started one evening and finished it the next day. Once I got a stick blender, things went a lot better. Making soap was faster and easier.

I made more soap yesterday. This time I used different oils. Olive oil soap is good for felting because it is slippery and low sudsing. That's great for felt, but I wanted a more luxurious soap this time to just use as a hand soap. I used olive oil, palm oil, and coconut oil. Here it is as I am mixing it with the stick blender. I am so careful with the lye. It is nasty stuff, but the resulting soap is wonderful.

I never time this, so I can't really tell you how long it takes -- maybe 30 min. until it begins to "trace". This means it starts to leave a pattern in the pan. Here's a photo where it's starting to trace.

This is a good sign. It's doing some sort of chemical change and becoming soap. It gets thicker and you add the scent. I like Lemon Grass -- the actual plant essence. It has a nice, fresh smell. Sorry for the blur. I can't go back and do it over. You should be able to see the yellow oil as it mixes in.

I am learning as I go along. This time I let it get a little too thick. Here's another photo:

I didn't know it was too thick until I looked underneath the mold and saw it didn't flow into all parts of the mold well. It's still good soap and will work!

It's in the mold. I level it like icing on a cake. It will stay in the mold for 48 hours, then I cut it into bars and put it on a rack to dry. It should dry for about 3 weeks, so make it a long time before you need to have it.

Hand-spinning

2010-08-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

I enjoy hand-spinning. It is very peaceful to me. My days can be very busy, but in the evening the colorful strands of a soft fibre slip between my fingers. I love the whole concept of taking fibre from an animal who grazes in a field nearby and turning it into a strand of creativity and beautiful colors. There is promise in a beautiful yarn.

I've been spinning a multi-colored Corriedale recently. It is called Alberta Sunset. It has shades of blue and purple with a spark of fuchsia as a surprise. It wanted to spin up quite finely. I'll try to remember to put a penny in the photo next time to show the size.