Soap!

We decided to make soap for some holiday gifts. I have The Soapmaker's Companion but we needed to change it to work with the 196g of sodium hydroxide E had and the oils we had on hand -- olive oil, coconut oil, and palm and sunflower oils that we bought for the occasion. It took some math, so here's how it turned out.

196g sodium hydroxide
1 lb 3 oz water
22.4 oz sunflower oil
8.7 oz olive oil
5.1 oz. coconut oil
14.8 oz. palm oil

This recipe kept the something-or-other level at 218, which was the same as the original recipe and still called for the same amount of lye. This included a 12.5% discount.

After the whole process, we added rosemary and lemon essential oil to one batch and cardamom and vanilla to the other.

Slippers for mom

I decided to make some slippers for my mom for xmas this year, along with some homemade soap. I found a pattern I liked (http://kaitysfreepatterns.wordpress.com/2006/01/02/homespun-slippers/), but it came out too low on the sides and back, and I used different yarn than recommended. I edited the pattern like so:

CO28
Knit in stockinette for 31 rows
Transfer to equal size double-points
Knit 12 rows, and decrease roughly as recommended in the original pattern
I'm about to do the crocheted edge, and I think I'll do an extra row or two of it.