Indie Knit & Spin February 25th

2017 Indie Knit & Spin is quickly approaching!  

Here is the low down of what I'll be bringing with me

See you there!

Spicy Salt Bar

Geode Soap

Clean Your Face

Full Moon

Sunshine

Rose Geranium

Winter is Here

Latte Bubbles

Sweet Dreams

Lemon Honey Oatmeal

Lavender Oatmeal

Ultimate Shave Soap

Moroccan Spring
Green Tea Lemon Balm 

++  soap sampler sets - 10oz of soap - very limited quantities!

Bath bombs - Lavender Orange + Peppermint scented

Drawstring project bags for your WIPS

Shawl sticks + pins

plus maybe some felted soaps

Find Dusty Tree Soap 

at Indie Knit & Spin

Wilkins School Community Center

10-4pm 2/25/17 Pittsburgh, PA

www.dustytree.com

Website!

I have a website!  

You can see what stock is available 

and place an order with me.

www.dustytree.com/

Please welcome.....

Today at 5:42 pm I finally got out of it's mold a new soap.  It took literally ALL day.  I tried many, many things to get it to even budge a bit, but I can now say I'm a proud new parent to a brand new soap for Dusty Tree Soap.  I feel like I was in labor all day over this thing - I swear delivering my second child was easier!  Seriously!  I pushed him out in like 10 minutes.....this soap took forever!  

I've been meaning to make a shaving soap for ages and had a few requests in the past and always thought yeah, I'll get to that someday then I had a gentleman speak so kindly of my other soaps to me and asked a few times if I would ever consider making a shave soap.  I figured it was about time to get cracking on it.  I decided to use a new mold - a PVC pipe so the soap would be circular in shape instead of the regular rectangle shape.  I studied articles online and books about different oils and other ingredients I knew I wanted to incorporate.  I developed a perfect recipe and jumped right in to get started.  I was so excited to have a go at this new soap that I completely forgot to prep or line the PVC pipe with freezer paper so it could release.  I just poured it in - even trying to be so precise with swirls, put a lid on it and then it hit me - I forgot to prep the pipe!  I turned to google to see if others had any recommendations on what to do.  My husband told me to quickly scrape it out and slap it into a regular mold, but I didn't want to risk loosing my swirls or half of the soap being all gooey in the mold.  I'm happy to know I'm not the first person to do this either. I tried so many thing to get it to budge ....putting it in the freezer for a bit and then running it under really hot water for some condensation.  I used a mason jar lid and a wooden dowel to try and push it out.  I hit the end of it repeatedly on the driveway hoping it would budge.  I got so frustrated that I actually tossed it a few times on the ground to see if the shock would break the seal.  I can tell you that this sucker sure does bounce...it went flying into my perennial garden bed.  I put it in our vice clamp and pounded it with a rubber mallet.  I was about to give up and didn't know what to do so I just put it back into the freezer and forgot about it for a few hours.  Once I took it out I threw it on our basement floor and pounded the end again - and it moved...slightly.  I was thrilled!  

I continued to push on the pipe to get it to move ever so slowly.  My hubby came down and saw what I was doing and with his manly upper body strength it finally came out.  I know I will never forget to line that mold again!  I'd cut the soap, but I have to wait until it thaws - it is frozen solid!

But here is it -   //  Dusty Tree's newest SHAVING SOAP /// 

Natural Dye - Marigolds

I absolutely adore Marigolds!  Lovely flowers that bloom all Summer long + they are excellent at natural dye.

I'm a knitter but not really a sock knitter - preferring other wearable accessories and sweater knitting over socks, but I've always wanted a pair.  I purchased this sock yarn way back in 2008 when I was pregnant with my first child with the hopes of it becoming socks, but never got around to it.  The poor skein has been shoved around in my yarn stash box for years now, since I'm not that impressed with the color it lay neglected.  It is way to blue and I've often wondered why I even bought it in the first place.  It is Lana Grossa Meilenweit - colorway 8007 (blue, tan with a bit of yellow - maybe some grey)

Before!!

I found a bag of Marigolds taking up freezer space and decided to finally use them.  

Frozen since 2013! 

 over 12 oz of flowers for my 4 oz skein is a bit much 

so I raided my closet for something to add to the dye pot.  

I found a 100% cotton summer tank 

that is just a boring white.  

Tossed both in for an alum mordant

Here is the after yarn dyed with Marigolds and a quick half skein dunk in an Iron post mordant

I divided the skein into two equal mini skeins for easy sock knitting.  

Love the green, yellow earthy tones! 

 I cannot wait to cast on

I plan on knitting the Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson 

since the pattern is full of tips and tricks for the not so

sock knitter - kind of knitter, like myself!

So many new stuff & things.....

DTS

Raggz Fiber Affair and Wool Market - April 23rd