Ravelry Caffeine Addicts Swap

From MarthaG (ravelry nickname) of Flora, Fauna, Fur and Fiber came the most beautiful bountiful delicious full of aromas and tastes package. Yesterday I woke up at 5 o’clock because one of my cats decided to play football with a soda can. Then I couldn’t fall asleep again. Left home for work and went by my po box at the post office at 7:30 in a grumpy state of mind. And left with the same grumpy mood cursing at universal postal services that don’t adopt teleportation as a postal service. Late afternoon I went to deliver some business packages at the local post office branch and the lady that knows me said that I had a box there waiting for me. And then came the smell of coffee and I knew immediately what it was. My ravelry swap budy MarthaG!!! Made my day.

When I opened I became happier cause Martha’s package was the best treat I could ever receive, I feel so spoiled and pampered. She really did a good job reading my blog and ravelry personal info cause she included everything i like. Here’s my loot:

(more photos at my flickr swap set)

3 skeins of Araucania Pima Cotton Pomaire, 1 ball of peaches and cream in burnt orange and another one in Mar-Di-Gras, two packages of ground coffee from stumptown coffee roasters that smell divine. I already tried the Nicaragua one first thing this morning and it was a revelation to me. Sometimes when I like something I forget to search for new things. That has happened with my previous coffee choice. But now I have a new favorite coffee and a reason to keep searching for more I also got earl grey with bergamot, my all time favorite with an mesh ball to go with it. Then I got the best mug ever, big with cats on it from a shop she told me is called “the cat’s meow” (now there’s a pin added to my to-visit places). I also got chocolate covered bluberries that my boyfriend and I keep stealing from the kitchen with innocent looks, chocolate squares (yummy), a handmade soap from River County Soapworks “Citrus Splash” that has a perfect smell and I’ll try when my current soap finishes and some cocoa orange bath truffles. And if you think I wasn’t spoiled enough there is more inside!!! Nice practical stitch markers (can you believe that I’ve been crocheting all this time without them?) a small cute mini bamboo crochet hook and the big surprise. 3 Japanese crochet books from Kinokuniya Bookstores. I was speachless when I saw these beauties. We don’t have any japanese bookstores in Greece (cause let’s face it there are no japanese people around here) and all my japanese crochet and sewing books were ordered online. It was an amazing add-on to my collection. MarthaG I can’t thank you enough.

 

Crocheting my favourite colors

This variegated cotton/viscose yarn had my favourite colours. All three of them!!! orange, pink and grey!.  So I started crocheting with it immediately. This is my first big crochet wearable project and I’m not even halfway there… can’t say it’s moving desperately slow though.

Seafoam Vest
by Chloe Nightingale
from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007

 

Adventures of the recycled sari silk yarn in the chemistry class

Recycled Sari Silk Yarn and a small ph lesson

I’ve been lurking around ebay auctions with recycled sari silk yarn waiting for something different to pop up. Once in a while unique color combination skeins may appear and you know it’s time to bid. These auctions always go higher than the usual purple/red skeins but not too much. Don’t get me wrong I like the purple/red/blue/green when looked upon close enough but from a distance it seems like dirty to me. It looks nice on some projects I’ve seen but not at all of them. Not to mention the fact that the colors bleed a bit after washing the thingy and you know what happens when all these colors bleed together: mud.

First thing was to wash the whole thing cause it has this particular musty smell. With what was the big question. After my green-living crusade has started I avoid buying chemicals and detergents, so I’ve searched in (what I call for now) my “green-living bible”, Annie Berthold-Bond’s book, “Better Basics For The Home“. And there I found lots of information about silk and wool that I didn’t know. First of all, wool and silk, being animal derived fibers are acidic, which means they have a ph lower than 7 (neutral). On the other hand, cotton, linen and other plant derived fibers are alkaline (ph higher than 7). Chemistry blah, you’d say but I’ll get to the point. Detergents and most commercial soaps are alkaline, which means that by washing silk and wool with them will cause a reaction and the silk/wool will harden and gradually loose its texture. That’s the big secret behind commercial detergents for wool and silk, an acidic solution.
The green-living alternative is to use a neutral castille soap (superfatted or else not lye-heavy). The extra oil in the soap and the glycerin will supposedly help the silk keeps its soft texture. Remember commercial soaps have glycerin removed from them, so prefer homemade or natural ones. If you are not sure about the alkalinity of your soap you can add to the water a tablespoon of lemon juice or white distilled vinegar. Both are acidic and will do good to the water that will clean your wool or silk.

What I did, was to use my homemade cold process castille bar of soap. You could use liquid soap too. I rubbed the bar in tepid water until it was soapy enough and then added a tablespoon of lemon. Smelled kind of funny but the smell was gone after washing the yarn. Put the silk skeins in the water and squeeze, so that the water can enter inside the yarn. When the skeins sink in the water leave them and go check your emails for a while. 15 to 20 minutes should be fine. Empty the water and rinse with cold water 2 or 3 times. Gently open the skeins and squeeze the water out, arrange them nicely so that they don’t end up like a mesh and let them dry, away from the sun. My homemade soap was perfumed with cedar and lavender essential oils and it made the yarn smell lovely. Now I can focus in crochet and take my mind off the terrible odor it had.

(here it is, clean perfumed and ready to become…oh I haven’t decided yet. Any help?)