How to make a heddle rod on a rigid heddle loom

My newest video is ready for viewing! It is a tutorial on how to make a heddle rod, which makes weaving with more than one pick up stick on the rigid heddle loom so much easier!

Natural homemade deodorant

I wrote this recipe on my blog years ago as part of another post but it's hard to find and people are constantly asking me for the recipe.

1/4 cup bicarb soda (baking soda)
1/4 cup cornflour
4 tablespoons organic virgin cold pressed coconut oil 
10 drops essential oil (optional)

Mix all ingredients together until creamy. If the oil is solid it can be melted with heat to combine with the dry ingredients more readily. After your daily shower, just rub about a choc dot sized amount of paste onto the armpit area. In hot weather, your deodorant will melt unless kept in a cool spot, I keep mine at the bottom of the cupboard in the ensuite which is a very cool room so mine only melts on really hot days. If it does melt, it won't affect the quality, just give it a stir and pop it in the fridge until solid again.

It's cheap, it's healthy, it's No Bake Date Slice!

I love medjool dates but unfortunately, at around $20 a kilo they're a bit much for our modest budget. I thought I'd start experimenting with the much cheaper (at $2.99kg) dried, packaged, pitted dates.

And I've had success! This is a delicious, healthy and economical treat. I love to have a piece in the middle of the day or in the afternoon with a cup of tea and the children love it too.

Recipe

40 dried and pitted dates

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup rolled oats

1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon tahini

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 - 3 tablespoons date syrup *see method

Place dates in a large bowl and add enough hot water to just cover the dried fruit. Soak for at least an hour, longer is fine.

Strain dates, reserving liquid. *This liquid is your date syrup.

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend thoroughly. 

Press the processed mixture into a tin or container lined with non stick baking paper (I use a bread loaf tin). Let the baking paper fall over the edges of the tin, this makes it easy to pick up later. The back of a spoon is useful for pressing. Sprinkle with extra coconut if desired.

Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set. Take out of tin using the edges of the baking paper to pick it up. Cut into squares and keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Note: Date syrup is also delicious on yoghurt if you have leftovers and can also be used as a sweetener or topping for fruit.

The Simple Life

It's quite a popular topic nowadays, the "simple life" and how to obtain it. Do some people spend so much time pursuing this so called simplicity and their ideal of what that is that they miss the point entirely? 

Is the simple life about living the dream or living the reality? The dream for me is a country property and earning a good income through a  handmade business. The reality is suburbia, traffic, very little time to devote to a business of any kind and a very limited budget. But that's not the point, right? 

The point is, what can I do right now to live the simple life given my circumstances? 

I was pondering the simple life and what simplicity means to me. It occurred to me that one of the most rewarding parts of simple living is that you can take very little and turn it into something 
special.

Home made bread for example. Usually 4 ingredients. Inexpensive, ordinary ingredients. Add time, love, technique and you have something awesome.

Weaving is another example. With threads and a loom I can make the most beautiful variety of things.

Soap making? Once again, very few ingredients. A bit of time and attention and you have a whole batch of creamy, natural soap for your family.

That property in the country may or may not ever happen, in the meantime I will try to be grateful for all I have and all I can do. And if it does happen, I guess I'll be well prepared :)

Finished twill towels

Hooray, the towels are finished!

All on the same warp but each one a little different.

I'm quite taken with twill as a weave structure, I had the idea that it might be a little stiff, but it's beautifully soft and supple.

The range of variations is amazing!

You can read more about the making of the towels in my previous post.

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn along.

Weaving twill towels and a fluffy "assistant"

I've been having a bit of fun with some towels this week. I warped with a natural cotton and threaded for twill. This is just one twill variation.

Once you've threaded in twill, there are a lot of variations to try. This one is extended twill with a black weft.

Straight up twill with a blue weft.

And here we have extended twill with red weft.

This is what I came across this morning. Note the chewed thread in the mouth. I posted this on a weaving group on Facebook and set off a whole series of naughty kitty photos, it was very amusing. It seems that looms are a magnet for cats! Thankfully the cloth was not damaged, I just had to cut the affected thread and start a new one. Could have been a lot worse!

Bite your tongue Mum.

"You are such a naughty child!"

"Sometimes I wonder whether you will ever learn anything!"

"Are you kidding me, you tipped it over again?!"

"What is wrong with you?!"

"You have ruined my day!"

"Why can't you be like your brother/sister?"

"You make me so angry!"

Gosh, aren't they nasty statements? 

Well, I've thought of all of these, quite regularly in fact. The worst part is I've even said some of them to my children. 

It's really hard to not verbalise these thoughts sometimes. But I look upon it like this. I'm storing up treasures. These treasures are especially for my children. Each time I bite my tongue is a little victory. Yes, for me, but so much for them.

They may not know about your interior struggle but they will remember your words. 5, 10, 20, how ever many years down the track, they will remember your words and how you made them feel.
I know this. You know this.

Is it time for you to start storing some treasure too?

Madam Tickleberry's tea party

The little one and I had some special time alone recently - a rare occasion. I decided we needed to do something really fun.

I can't tell you how much she loved this. The letter in the cubby house mailbox, dressing up, the character changes, the secret preparations and then the fun of decorating and eating!

There were no rules, I just gave her the biscuits, different colours of icing and some lollies. No, the biscuits aren't home baked but it was way too hot for baking.

Perfect to enjoy with a milk shake at the end.

We polished off our special time with a very long Enid Blyton reading session with no interruptions from other children, she had all my attention. She loved it.

It's not an easy task, particularly if you have a large family, to allow one on one time, but I feel it's something really worthwhile. You get to spend time with one child, they get your full attention (a real novelty in this house!) and you enjoy each other's company in a way that feels really special, it's like a mini retreat!

Clasped weft table runner

More of a table centre piece, it doesn't quite have the length of a runner. This is the piece I wove for my recent rigid heddle clasped weft video tutorial.

I dyed the cottons specifically for this project. I wanted a good contrast between the variegated rainbow and the blues.

I love the clasped weft technique, the finished product and the process of randomly incorporating lengths of colour.

I hemstitched whilst on the loom so that the piece would sit flat on the table.

If you like this piece as much as I do it is available to purchase in my Etsy shop. And if you want to give the technique a go yourself please take the time to watch my video, it's not as scary as it looks!

Clasped Weft weaving on a rigid heddle loom

My latest video is now available to view, I hope you enjoy it!

Knitted kitty

Isn't it funny how you can put a project aside for a while and it becomes difficult to pick it up again? I started this kitty last year, got the head and body finished and then just didn't feel like picking it up again.

Over Christmas the weather was very warm and I was very tired. The whole family was tired. So we spent quite a bit of time watching movies and documentaries together and keeping things quiet. I get restless hands if I just sit and watch something, so it was the perfect time to pick up a bit of knitting.

It didn't take me long to power through the rest of the pieces, and when she was finished I felt she needed a dress, so got straight onto the sewing machine, no pattern, no fussing around (no excuses!) and whipped up the dress in no time.

She's pretty cute without the dress too :)

She was promptly gifted to my 8 year old because she is the only one who doesn't have a knitted toy from me yet. They now share the same bed and kitty is never far away, yes, she loves her!

Now for the pattern details - Girl Cat by Little Cotton Rabbits. If you are not too confident with knitting, these patterns are really great, step by step, lots of photos, very well written. Most of the patterns come with instructions for knitted clothes and the designer has plenty of other gorgeous little animals to choose from.