more soap....

i know, i know... but i have nothing else to post and the photos turned out pretty good:



maybe i'll have to have a contest of some kind for bars of soap :) of course, i'll make the contest bars myself with supplies i've bought, i won't "steal" from the kids ;) anyone interested?

slowly, but surely...

the Harmony shawl is coming along... i do a row or two every day. it's a little harder to concentrate while high on Percocet, but if i go slow i can manage without too many dropped stitches:



Juliet's been busy! the purple hearts are our new Honeyed Apricot scent. it is DELISH!! it's a candy sweet (not sickeningly sweet) mix of refreshing apricot, sweet sugar, a dab of sweet grapes and a touch of honey. love it!


the orange triangles are Vanilla Bean:

not much else to show you...

so i'll post some soap the kids made yesterday. for hours my house had the alluring, yet rather strange, scent of a mixture of Honeydew Melon, Nag Champa, Patchouli and a pinch of Strawberry.

Jojoland Harmony...

beautiful colours! very soft!




... very thin...


that's a size US1 dpn in there to give you some idea of how fine this yarn is.

i could use it double stranded, but i'd be really anal about getting the colours to match and that would take the fun out of knitting it up.

i bought an Addi Turbo circular in size US2 for use with this yarn. i'm going to give it a try, but i have a feeling i'm going to have to go back to Camilla Valley Farm and get a much smaller size. not that i mind. not one bit! LOL.

(here's the link to Jojoland's eBay store)

of course there has been soaping going on too. a lot of it this morning. Friday was a bad day for creating soap/body butter, because John was home with a migraine. no scents allowed. they really agitate his migraines. so we refrained. Saturday and Sunday were my turn. headache city. so today the kids made up for it. especially with scents i, personally, don't really like... like Jasmine. Jake has decided it's a delish scent.

and Patchouli (i have to be in the mood for it, when i am i LOVE it, when i'm not... blech)... the dude says it reminds him of the beach. unfortunately his Patchouli soap isn't quite up to selling standards. but the Jasmine soaps turned out great :) he really likes the massage bar molds:


we've got a new scent too... a small bar is going in the shower for testing. Apricot and Honey. so far we're all loving it.

alrighty. the kids are outside enjoying the weather, i've got a few things i've got to get done and then i'm trying out the Jojoland on the US2's.

Supah Stah!

they're freakin' adorable and available here :)

knitting?

no.

but i'm now covered when it comes to moisturizing:

lip balm, body butter and new scents... oh my!!

we made lip balm. strawberry. mmm. from SCRATCH! so freakin' fun! but it has no preservatives in it, so the 7 tubes we made are gonna have to be used within the next few months.

yes, they will be for sale in the Etsy shop shortly. just want to make sure there are no mistakes in the balm that haven't shown up yet. give it a week or so perhaps and if none of the tubes turn green or grow things or stop tasting like strawberry i'll get them up on Etsy.

AND i've got some body butter for our soapy venture. lovely thick and creamy body butter.

and new scents. Honeydew Melon (so fresh and sweet), Banana, Strawberry, Oatmeal Milk and Honey, Kiwi, Blackberry and the one that's gotten the most attention... Monkey Farts.

there's some goooood stuff coming to Victoria's Suds n Scents in the near future!!

wooohooo!

SnB here tonight!

i'm really looking forward to it. gals, can you please pass it on for me... i'm not sure i'm going to have time to email everyone myself!

i wish i had some lovely finished sock photos to show you all. even some lovely not-quite-finished sock photos. but alas, i have nothing. again.

i had to spend more time than i care to admit fixing our shipping quotes in Etsy. why? because Canada Post sucks. and sucks ass. dirty stinky ass.

example: we go to the post office to mail ONE soap to Guelph (a city that's 30 minutes from us). it costs us almost $8!! but to send a HEAVIER package to Louisiana? $6. WTF?! so the kids made absolutely no profit on the soap they sold to Guelph.

so i go through Etsy and raise the shipping prices to reflect what Canada Post charges. i have to do this one. listing. at. a. time. ugh. pain in the ASS.

and then sales stop. cold. nothing.

of course, if i were shopping and i saw that it would cost me $4 to ship a friggin $4 bar of soap, i wouldn't buy it either.

so i go through them all AGAIN this morning to play some $ mind games. i up the prices of the soap by $1 each and lower the shipping cost by $1. it all evens out in the end, but looks better to see the lower shipping cost. or so i hope.

i have to say it again. Canada Post SUCKS. i get packages from the USA all the time that are approximately the same size as the packages we're shipping... and the cost for them? generally less than $2. why does Canada Post charge so much for basically the same service?! and why is it MORE expensive to send packages within our own country?! that it cost more to send something to friggin Guelph than it did to send something to LOUISIANA makes no gawdamn sense whatsoever.

ugh.

and now i'm going to shower, go to the (evil) post office and clean up around here for tonight.

i'm still alive!

just busy. seriously. this soap thing has picked up and it's taking over my knitting time!

the kids have made a few sales over at Etsy (yaaaay!), so there's been quite a few trips over to the post office (both to pick up and send packages). i've spent more time than i care to admit photographing soap. out of ten photos i find one that's decent. there's been a LOT of freakin' soap photos. thank the gods for digital cameras!! i've spent time measuring and weighing soaps. and too much time listing them on Etsy. (these kids better love me) ;)

and then there's the actual soap making.

i just want to spend some time knitting now.

i got a few rounds on my RubySapphire sock done this weekend while visiting my parents. but that's all the knitting i've managed to get in.

so since i have no knitting progress i'll have to leave you with another soap photo. yeah. i'm sick of them too. this is Jake's "Study in Contrasts" soap. the scent does not match the appearance at all... he wanted it to be a surprise. so he popped in Brown Sugar scent (omg... the brown sugar scent is absolutely delicious! our friend Maureen said it smells almost like fudge. it's seriously yummy).

Soapy O's and Apple Juice soaps!

while the kids are flaked out on the sofa i managed to get some photos of their newest soaps. i just love love love the Soapy O's. LOL. they're adorable!

the Soapy O's are up on Etsy... the Apple Juices are going up in a little while. both sets are available for custom orders in other scents.

one RubySapphire sock

and isn't she pretty...




here's one with the flash to sort of show you the sheen of the yarn... it's really pretty:

and... dudes... the kids have been making soap. loads and loads of soap. here's the latest (from yesterday... today we're going to work on "soapy-o's"! wait til you see these... they are adorable LifeSavers-looking little soaps! i say "we" because Jake needs help with his soaps, Juliet has her creations entirely under her control. my advice/help is no longer welcome, she knows what she's doing already!)

i know this is technically a knitting blog, but you have to understand two things: 1) i'm really proud of them. 2) their business loan was my stash money and i kinda want it back ;)

here's Juliet at work packaging some soaps the other day in her "studio" (our tiny kitchen/dining room table):

still alive! just a few quick things...

SnB at my house tonight if no other plans have been made. i haven't heard from anyone, and have been pretty busy and haven't been able to email anyone to find out what's going on.

so, weather permitting and all, come on by! :D

ACTUALLY - never mind... i'm cancelling... the weather is CRAP. just stay home and be safe gals!!

Jennie... i can't comment on your blog :( the comment window won't fully load. i want to say "you LUCKY chica!!" omg... i wish i had scored that STR!! i haven't ordered any because the shipping is outrageous... $10 US for ONE skein to Canada. insane and a total rip off if you ask me.

i'm almost done the first RubySapphire sock. woot!

there's more soaps in the kids' Etsy shop.

we've gone Etsy...

i'll probably add a couple more listings once i can properly edit my photos again!

COME SEE :D

i can't edit my photos!

i took some of the RubySapphire sock-in-progress (i'm really enjoying knitting with the yarn!), but for some dumb reason the program i'm very used to using to edit my photos will not work. guess i'm going to have to pester John to fix it when he gets home from work tomorrow.

i'm going to rip back the Yorkminster sock. while it fits, it's snug on me, but just a bit too snug on Juliet. i'm considering redoing the pattern, but going up a needle size.

and because this has become the house of one sock wonders, i've started yet another one... for Jake this time. in some funky variegated Regia. i have a photo of that too, but...

and i got a little tired of using scraps of yarn as stitch markers, so i pulled apart a bracelet i had and made 4 cute beaded ones, with small rings, specifically for my sock knitting.

so... the soap thing is going well. she's sold quite a few considering. we've discussed putting some up on Etsy.com along with making 100%, entirely, absolutely handmade soaps. i guess that should read that *i* would be making the 100% handmade soaps because there is no way i'm letting her mess around with lye. tomorrow we're going to check out some local stores for the ingredients needed IF the weather permits. (i have no objections to 100% homemade soaps... i really prefer them over store-bought soaps! :D )

alrighty... since i have no pictures i'm going to end this. abruptly. ;)

the soaps (for now)

picture heavy post ahead.

here are the basic shapes Juliet has available for sale right now (pardon the wrapping, she's planning on buying better wrapping as soon as she makes a little more money):

the cube:



the rectangle:



the circle:



the hexagon:



little heart shaped guest soaps with rose carvings:


and she also has some fun things to embed in her soap:





the regular sized bars are all between 80-100 grams (approx. 3.5 oz)... same size as your every day shower bar.

the little guest soaps are just that... little. only really suitable for sink-side use.

aren't they cute? the batch she did today she's calling her "Party Soaps"... they're drying now. they remind me of tie-dye. i can't wait to see the finished products.

her pricing is pretty straight forward...
- the regular sized bars are $4 each (Canadian funds) OR three for $10.
- the guest sized bars are $2 OR three for $5

there are some bars that didn't quite make the "regular" bar cut... they're still beautiful, just a little smaller than the regular bars... all approximately 3/4 the size of the regular bars. she's selling these for $3.

shipping of these items is a flat rate of $5 (Canada Post is a bitch) no matter how much you order.

she welcomes custom orders. here are the specs:

AVAILABLE SCENTS: pearberry (i love this one... a crisp pear with an undertone of tart berry), vanilla, lavender, honey almond, rose, unscented.

AVAILABLE COLOURS: red, green, blue, purple, yellow, orange, clear. colours can be solid, light or dark, swirled or blocked.

AVAILABLE BASE SOAPS: clear glycerin. honey, cocoa butter and goat's milk coming soon!

INSERTS (for bigger bars only):
- Easter themed mini shapes (egg, bunny, duck)
- mini baby ducks (see above)
- large lizards in either yellow, orange, blue or green (see above)
- fabric hearts in pastel colours (see above)
- plastic gems in pastel colours.
- soap chunks in colours of your choice (see above).
WARNING: some inserts may be a choking hazard for smaller children!!

if anyone is interested they can email me at artsyz AT sympatico DOT ca.

and now i think i can sneak in a little sock knitting ;)

Juliet's new "business"

my little girl isn't so little anymore. she's been talking about getting a job (like delivering the newspaper) for a while, but was rather hesitant to actually do it. she said she wants to have a job like her dad... work for herself, be the boss, have her very own business!

she finally came up with something and she is gung-ho about it. she's started her own little soap company. she's planning on selling soaps to begin with and then add lip balms and bath bombs to her line... and then maybe even more. she's made a commitment to at least keep going until she pays back her business loan (ie... my yarn money).

she's calling her little business Victoria's Suds n Soaps (Victoria is her middle name). i know she's my kid and i'm biased and all... but i think so far her soaps are turning out great! she's ordered new ingredients online and plans to make Cocoa Butter, Honey and Goat's Milk soap available in the near future, until then she's got some lovely clear glycerin soaps on hand in a small variety of scents.

of course we're counting this as a homeschooling project on top of everything else. she's keeping her own inventory/money in/money out. but i'm helping her find "clients" (her friends don't have that much extra money to spend, so she's hoping i can help her find some adults with more expendable income LOL).

i'm so proud of her though. even if she decides it's not for her after she pays back her loan, i'm proud she's taken the initiative to give it a go.

so watch this space for some of Victoria's Suds n Soaps in the very near future!