To Da Beach!

In just a few short weeks, I'll be heading down to the Outer Banks to attend my first ever knitting retreat!  I'm very excited. Not only will I have a fun filled, knitting weekend, but I'm also going to be spending time with my sister AND my Aunt Linda AND Debbie (from our MLK weekends).

Oh yeah, and I'm going to be teaching a class and a demo!!  I'm going to be teaching a needle felting class, where we'll all create a beautiful felted scene, and then I'm going to be teaching a demo on how to create a felted bar of soap. That's where you wet felt wool around a bar of soap...it's like a wash cloth and soap all in one!

I'll be vending Purl & June soaps, lip balms, and lotion bars there as well.  My aunt had the great idea to create a custom soap for the retreat.  She suggested something beachy, since we're going to be on the beach.  I thought that was a fabulous idea, so I started doing some planning.

I came up with something really special, and I cannot wait to bring it down there to show everyone!

I did some experimenting with colors and tried to create a beach sunset scene! I think it came out pretty well, especially for my first try!  It's a Beach scent, which smells like warm sand, surf, and a hit of sunscreen. It really makes me want sunny days!

And today, since I was home (snow day, yay!) I spent some time making up needle felting kits for the class.  I'll also have some for sale in the Etsy shop fairly soon.

I color coded the different needle sizes, since you can't tell just by looking at the needle which size it is.

Now the kits are just about finished. 

Oh, and I recently did another needle felted scene.  I was inspired by a picture someone posted on a fiber arts forum on Facebook.  She dyed some yarn, using the picture for inspiration.  Here's the picture she used:

And here is my needle felted version:

I guess I've been in beach mode since thinking about this retreat!  

Purl & June and Small Business Saturday!

Did you know today is Small Business Saturday?  It's a great reminder to support small businesses for your holiday shopping.  Purl & June is ready for Small Business Saturday.  I've been working to stock up on soap and other crafts, not only for SBS, but also for a craft show next weekend.  

There are some new items in the shop now, and new things will be added every now and then for the next week or so.  

Here's what I've been busy doing lately.

Each coffee cozy I sell in the shop is knitted, then felted individually. Then after the felted cozy is dry, I needle felt the details (like sheep, or whatever the design is) onto it. 

I've got several cozies drying on the windowsill at the moment. 

Lots of soap is curing, waiting to be sold.  This is just a small part of it all.

The holiday soap sets are back in the shop, along with the needle felted Christmas lights. 

So if you're doing some holiday shopping this weekend, please consider supporting a small business, whether it's local to you or online.  There are lots of other artisans out there working hard to provide quality products, and they all need our support. 

New Holiday Items in the Shop!

I just added several new holiday items to the Purl & June Etsy shop, so check them out!  There are limited quantities of the holiday soaps, so if you want them order now!  

Here's the new Hot Cocoa soap! This soap smells so good you'll want to eat it!

  

And my personal favorite, the Fresh Cut Fir.

Cranberry...

And Gingerbread

And I also have soap gift sets available too.  Each one comes with a hand knit, organic cotton washcloth, a wood soap tray, and a bar of Cranberry, Fresh Cut Fir, and Gingerbread soaps.  If you want different scents, I can do custom sets as well.  These would make great gifts for teachers, babysitters, aunts, cousins, sisters, moms, you name it.

And last but not least, I just listed a new needle felted wool scene. 

Remember to shop hand made this holiday season!

Election Day! And Other Updates

 It's Election Day! That means it's our opportunity to decide what we want for the future of our country.  I hope each and every one of you goes out and votes today!  It only takes a few minutes and every vote counts!  Kylee helped me vote this morning.  

I never did update after Hurricane Sandy, but we made it through the storm with no damage.  I wish others were as lucky.  The poor people from Staten Island, NY are having a really rough time.   Here's an updated picture of the soaps I made that day.  The one on the left is Gingerbread, the middle is evergreen (still thinking of a name), and the one on the right is Hot Cocoa. 

And here's a new soap I made a few days ago, Cranberry. 
















And here are three little knitting sheep I made recently.  The two brown ones are made from Barley's wool.   They're in the shop!

Happy Birthday Becky and Hurricane Sandy

Happy Birthday to my sister, Becky!   She's doing a great Birthday Project, so check her blog for a post about it coming soon. 


Seems we're getting a hurricane around here.....  We're on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, so we're going to get hit fairly hard.  I kept trying to will Sandy away, but she wouldn't listen.  So far we're getting some wind and a good bit of rain.  We found a new leak in our house....seems as soon as we repair one another one shows up...

But we're prepared here.  We've filled jugs and jars of water, since we're likely to lose power.  

And I got out lots of candles, lanterns/flashlights, and an oil lamp so I won't have to bumble around in the dark.

We also got the generator ready, the chainsaw is on standby, and we've got 2 coolers full of ice waiting in the mudroom.  Oh yeah, and we filled both bathtubs with water so we can flush the toilets.  We don't lose power very often, even during last year's hurricane (only lost power for 1 hour), or the crazy back to back blizzards we got in 2010 (more pics here), but we want to be ready just in case. 

Most of the animals are in the barn.  The goats...

The sheep (minus the 2 ram lambs, who are weathering the storm in the main pasture)...

Two of the rabbits (the two does are in a large hutch and have shelter from the storm)...

And Tucker the outdoor cat was in there somewhere.  The chickens are in their coop, and really mad at me for it.

The dogs are roughing it...

And our indoor cat is sleeping in front of the pellet stove right now.  They've got a tough life. 


I decided to be productive this morning and make some soap.  I'm so excited to cut into these batches tomorrow, because I tried some new oxide powdered colors, and I can't wait to see how they turn out.  The brown one at the top of the picture is Gingerbread. The middle one is Hot Cocoa, and the bottom one is an evergreen soap...I haven't picked a name for it yet. 

I'll try to update if anything interesting happens.  The worst is supposed to hit us this evening/tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.  If you're on the east coast, stay safe!

New Listings

I am recovering from a fun filled week (our "staycation), but I wanted to blog about a few new shop updates! 

The Goat Milk and Honey soap has a new look!  It's listed again, after a brief hiatus.

And I've made a few hand-knit and felted bowls.  They're a great way to keep your little things contained!
There are three sizes, and the bowls nest together when empty.   I can't wait to make bowls in new colors!

Here's the small:

The medium:

And the large:

Purl & June Happenings

This is an order of soap going out to a local produce market, Mason's Heritage.  Stop by and see what other local produce and goods they have!

And here's the new business card!  They're should be at my door this afternoon, hot off the press!

And if you're local (or want to travel), Purl & June will be at the Art of the Deals craft show in Centreville, MD this Saturday June 16th from 9-1pm.   Come one out and see us, and support other local artists!

Soap Winner!

Thanks to random.org, the winner of the soap giveaway is Susan, from Squash Blossom Farm! Thanks to everyone who entered!



Susan, just let me know for sure which scent you would like, and I'll mail it out!

The Big Reveal

Almost all of the soaps are labeled and ready to go for this weekend's craft show. It's their big debut and I'm excited and nervous! What if they don't sell? What if I don't have enough? Only time will tell! I think they look cute on that little shelf. I scored that shelf for $2 at an auction, but I'll do another post for it because it didn't look like this when I bought it!

Whatever soap doesn't sell on Saturday will be listed in my Etsy shop, hopefully by Sunday!

Soap Labels!

Check out my new soap labels! My friend Jen from Home Sweet made them for me, because I can't work am not familiar with Photoshop. This week I'll be labeling the soap and hope to have it in the Etsy shop by the weekend!

Soaping

Two weeks ago I went to visit my dad and go to the county fair (post on that coming soon). While I was there, I asked Dad if he could help me with a project. Dad is good at building stuff (like the goat stand) so I thought he'd be the perfect one to help me make a couple soap molds.

These soap molds run anywhere from $30-$45ish dollars online, and I knew we could build them for a fraction of that cost.


In no time at all we had 2 soap molds made! We used wood he already had in his garage, and only had to buy the bolts and wingnuts. Each mold cost about $6.00.


These are 4 pound molds, which means they hold 4 pounds of soap. There's a "track" on one side so the soap can be cut into even 1" bars. The end pieces of wood come off so the soap can be easily removed.


I've used these molds a few times already, and I love them! They need to be lined with wax paper first, so the soap doesn't stick. Then the soap gets poured in and the whole thing goes in the fridge for 24 hours so it can set.


After 24 hours the soap gets taken out of the mold, the wax paper gets removed, and the soap goes back into the mold for slicing.

I just now realized I need to keep the end on the mold while I'm slicing so I get more even bars. Doh!

And here are the bars after they've been sliced. They've still got to cure for at least 4 weeks before they can be used.

I've got some soap ready for sale, but they were made with a different mold so they're not quite as pretty as these bars. I'm debating adding them to my Etsy shop now, or waiting until my craft show in December to sell any. I'm not quite sure yet!