New stuff-- sort of

New holiday projects- Cowls?

More monkey

Here is the finished sock monkey with the hat.

Sock monkey is done!

The sock monkey for nephew Owen (wolfie) is DONE! yea!!!

All on circular needles. The face was a total B**** to put on. Yikes!

Still have the hat to make. That's not stiched on though. Pattern was from Crafty planet in NE. Mnpls. I love that store. They have a ton of cool stuff there.

sock monkey progress

New house!

This past weekend we were told the house we were interested in buying; that our offer was accepted by the seller. We are supper excited to get our first home!  Now we just need to figure out how to use the space. It will be good to have work areas for art, crafts, soap making, and storing all our yarn.

Sock monkey for Wolfie!

We will be uncles soon, in a couple of weeks. Matt is really busy with making a baby blanket and sock monkey.

Baby blanket

The blanket is pretty much done, but the money is only a torso and arm right now.

New design & playing catch-up!

Some time ago my partner made me a logo for the soaps that I make. We're calling them, "Klean Soap".
About a year has gone by since then. A lot of soap has been made using the homemade molds my dad made for me. I've also done a ton of knitting. So I guess I'll have to adjust the title of this blog soon!  In the mean time, my partner is going to help me update the blog with some of the stuff I've been working on during the past year.

To Lard or Not to Lard

Alright already. I use Lard!! I can say it. A lot of people don't like it for personal or religous reasons. Not me. I really like to use if during the winter since it is so damn cold and dry in Minnesota. I also believe that we should use everything when we kill for food.
I find that lard soap is very moisturizing. With all the talk about palm oil and where it comes from and the disastrous farming processes that are involved, the least that I can do is use something that is local and leftover. Some of my best stuff contains lard. For those that don't like the idea of using lard, I make other soaps that don't contain it.
Well, with that said, I must go. Hopefully I will get some new pics up for the soaps that I made post Christmas.
I have also taken up knitting and will try to get some pics of my first projects up within the next couple of days.

Boteh Scarf

I made this scarf for either my mother or aunt. Not sure who will get it. Depends on the next on that I make. It works up really fast and took about 3 days to complete in between work and life. I just finished it today...only had to do the edge to finish.

I decided that most gifts this holiday will be handmade instead of bought. I am tired of getting people gift cards. I don't know what they buy or even if they use them. I would rather get the gratification of seeing them opening something that I have spent the time and energy making then something that I just bought because they it was the only thing they wanted.

The soap guillotine

I decided to make a cutting tool with my father to make it easier to cut the soap straight. My father came up with the "soap guillotine". It works really well for making the straight cuts that I haven't been able to do. We made it out of oak and set the dimensions for the cutter to fit snug so that it can't twist or fall out. The structure of it really works well and I have set measurements so that I can cut 1", 1 1/2" and 2" slices. It is wide enough to accommodate any of my blocks of soap.
By the way, the black soap is my first attempt at using active charcoal in my soap. It is a very deep black color and is supposed to help remove oils from your skin. We will see.