Monthly Archives: July 2016

Path To The Harbor…

Posted on July 19, 2016 by | Comments Off on Path To The Harbor…

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Edgartown harbor  ~  Martha’s Vineyard


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Shampoo Bar 101

Posted on July 19, 2016 by | Comments Off on Shampoo Bar 101
french vanilla soap topped with chamomile
french vanilla soap topped with chamomile

While I was developing my soap recipe, it was important to me to create a bar that was so luxurious you couldn’t wait to shower, but also one that could multi-task as a shampoo bar.

You guys, shampoo bars are what originally got me hooked on handmade soaps.

I have naturally curly hair. Sometimes it’s fantastic and defined and curvaceous, and other times it’s big and bushy. It’s thick and dry always.

My hair has little consistency, and literally does whatever the hell it wants depending on the weather. Bonus cell phone selfie! Here’s what it looks like today, on a hot and humid summer day: somewhere between curvaceous and bushy.

case in point: second day hair after straightening my bangs. The bulk of my hair is a little flatter than normal, but my bangs, which started the day straight curled up to match.
case in point: second day hair after straightening my bangs. The bulk of my hair is a little flatter and frizzier than normal, but my bangs, which started the day straight curled up to match.

I gave up trying to control my hair a long time ago. I’ve never been a fan of moose or hairspray or gel. It all just feels gunky and like it weighs my hair down. I gave up on conventional shampoos ages ago too. With liquid shampoos, my hair was either brittle, oily, or so dandruffy I looked like I didn’t wash at all. Gross, right?

Enter the almighty shampoo bar!

Bar soap has literally saved me and my hair from constant flux. While I can’t control how my hair reacts to humidity, I can keep it clean and healthy and my scalp relatively itch free. In my book that’s a huge win.

Here’s the thing though–I had to find the right shampoo bar. And believe me, I tried a lot of them along my quest to greatness.

You need to look for two things in a good shampoo bar:

  1. A high percentage of castor oil. Castor oil is a thick, moisturizing oil that boosts the amount of lather so your hair is easier to wash. Because castor oil is so thick and soft, it isn’t often used above 10% in any bar of soap. Any more than that and the bar can become sticky and soft, but between 5-7% is perfect for a shampoo bar. This will still puts it low on the ingredients list, but if it’s there, it’ll be good for your hair.
  2. Hard cleansing oils like coconut oil or lard, balanced with a moisturizing oil like olive oil. Balancing the hard cleansing oils with the moisturizing oils creates a balanced bar that gets your strands squeaky clean without drying out the natural oils in you hair.

Sounds good, right? But I know what you’re thinking. How’s the transition period? Will I look like I haven’t showered in weeks? The answer is no, of course not. There is a transition, but it’s nothing like going no-poo if that’s what you’re worried about.

What to Expect from Switch to a Shampoo Bar

  • A shampoo bar will clean your hair so well that all the silicon and other gook commercial hair products have left behind will start to wash out.
  • Transitioning from coated to clean hair can make your freshly denuded strands feel extra thirsty and dry for a few days or more
  • Your hair might be a little frizzier or even hold a little more static since it doesn’t have that commercial gook weighing it down
If you have dry hair like me, finishing your shampoo with an apple cider vinegar rinse (ACV). ACV acts like a conditioner and adds moisture and balance back to your hair and scalp. Remember, soap is alkaline, so a little acid goes a long way. An ACV rinse should also help with any dryness, frizziness, or static-cling.

I use about 3 oz ACV and fill the rest of a 24 oz condiment squirt bottle and apply directly to strands and ends after shampooing. I let the rinse set while I finish my shower and then rinse with water before I get out.

I wash my hair about every 2-3  days depending on weather and activity level. I’ll wash it more often if I want my curls to be super defined for a special occasion, but most days, it looks like the selfie above, and I’m cool with that.

Have you ever used a shampoo bar? What were the results?

All of Tiny Dino Soapworks soaps can be used as shampoo bars. All you have to do is choose your favorite scent!

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Resources and Tools: Stitch Dictionaries

Posted on July 18, 2016 by | Comments Off on Resources and Tools: Stitch Dictionaries

Stitch DictionariesArguably the most important resource for designing are stitch dictionaries. Ask any designer their favorite, though, and you’re sure to get a wide variety of answers. Shoot, even I don’t have an absolute all the time favorite – it all depends on what sort of design I’m working on.

Here’s an annotated list of what’s in my library. I’ll be adding links (some affiliate, some not) as soon as possible – some of these are out of print and not easy to find. (Note: I’ll do a separate post with stranded stitch dictionaries!)

I’ve tried to keep it to stitch dictionaries as opposed to pattern books that have a secondary small section of stitches, but I’ve included a few of those as well.

All opinions are my own — feel free to agree or disagree in the comments!  If I’ve missed a favorite of yours, please also comment.

And before I start…for help reading charts: Charts Made Simple (J.C. Briar). Highly recommended!

General and/or Specialty Stitch Dictionaries

Barbara Walker 1-4. 1 and 2 are essential, 3 and 4 are nice to have. You get a little bit of everything with these: texture, lace, cables, slip stitch patterns, etc.

Knitting Brioche (Nancy Marchant). This one does include patterns, but it does have a large selection of stitches too.

Lace

Omas Strickgeheimnisse (Erika Eichenseer et al). I hardly refer to this one.

Knitting Lace (Susanna E. Lewis). Ditto.

The Haapsalu Scarf (Siiri Reimann et al). Stitch patterns are shown as parts of complete shawls. Lovely oversized book.

Heirloom Knitting (Sharon Miller). Great for vintage Shetland patterns.

I have other lace books and patterns (Niebling, Kinzel, Estonian lace, etc) that I actually use a lot, but they aren’t strictly stitch dictionaries.

Japanese

I do recommend getting Clear & Simple Crochet Symbols and Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols before tackling the various stitch dictionaries. Also check out my Japanese knitting resource page here.

Japanese stitch patterns in the dictionaries I have range from textured to lace to cables and twisted stitches.  Many of the designs are very feminine and intricate. You can lose yourself in these dictionaries!

Some of the Japanese pattern books are also a good source for stitches.

Knitting Patterns 260. Just got this one, so haven’t used it yet.

Knitting 150 Designs. Again, just got it, so no comments yet, except this has some colorwork and garment and accessory patterns as well.

500 Knitting Pattern World of Chie Kose.  This has some really lovely crochet edging patterns that I’ve used (which was the main reason I bought this one).  It also has a mix of knitting patterns to include colorwork.

Knitting Patterns 300. Variety of stitches.

Knitting Patterns 250. One of my favorites.

Knitting Patterns 100. This one is cables, and some of the swatches are just so pretty — great combinations of stitch patterns to study.

Cables, Aran Lace, and Twisted Stitches

Ooh, fun. Get ready to dig in!

Cables

Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans (Gladys Thompson). What it says. I don’t use this one often.

Aran Knitting (Alice Starmore). Basic selection of cables, but worth studying the patterns – she’s a master.

Aran Sweater Design (Janet Szabo). Not a lot of stitch patterns (though she has a nice discussion of closed ring cables and filler stitches), but she walks you through designing an Aran sweater.  Well worth having.

Cables Vol 1: The Basics (Janet Szabo). Nice selection of basic cables, and includes discussions of the components of the stitch patterns and what’s actually happening with the fabric etc. Unfortunately there’s not a Volume 2.

Annie Maloney

Annie’s awesome. So awesome she gets her own section. Honestly, these are my go-to dictionaries when I want cables. I’ve started a spreadsheet noting which patterns I’ve used and in what designs.  I often end up adapting these stitch patterns (inspired by Annie’s creativity!), swapping out filler stitches, changing regular cables to lace cables, etc.

I buy these as soon as they are published.  Annie used to sell hard copies, but the latter six are PDFs. I can’t even say what’s my favorite or most used, because I dig through them all. Buy them all – you won’t regret it!

Aran Lace. With Annie’s blessing, I developed a class around the topic of Aran Lace which I taught at Madrona and Taos, and turned into my Aran Lace Knitting DVD from Interweave.

Stitch Definition. Aran lace, but also cables and lace separately.

Lovely Stitches Vol 1: 29 Cables

Lovely Stitches Vol 2: 35 Lace Cables

Lovely Stitches Vol 3: 37 Cables

Cable Inventions Vol 1: 33 Composite Designs

Cable Inventions Vol 2: 35 Unique Designs

Cable Inventions Vol 1: 33 Textural Designs. These are cables and lace cables with additional bits of texture.

Twisted Stitches

Note that these charts are NOT read the same way as any other charts I’ve seen (including Japanese, Estonian, etc.)

Uberlieferte Strickmuster  Teils 1, 2 and 3 (Maria Erlbacher). I purchased these volumes via the Schloss Trautenfels site. Luckily, you can now get….

Twisted Stitch Knitting (Maria Erlbacher) from School House Press. Includes all three volumes in one book, with a nice intro (in English!) on how to read the charts etc.  I do use the smaller volumes more, just for being able to flip through and compare stitch patterns, but if I didn’t already have the individual volumes first I’d be more than happy with the School House Press edition.

Bauerliches Stricken 1, 2, and 3 (Lisl Fanderl). Not just twisted stitches; includes a bit of lace and texture as well. I don’t use this one as much.

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Weekly Challenge: Details…

Posted on July 16, 2016 by | Comments Off on Weekly Challenge: Details…

For this week’s challenge, try to look past the big picture and take a more intimate approach. Zoom in on details in unexpected places — it can be something from the natural world, or it can be human-made.

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My daughter Deb is a knitter and one of the things she enjoys knitting are shawls.  The patterns are so intricate and detailed, I am always in awe of how beautiful they are, and how talented she is:)

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Waiting For A Table…

Posted on July 12, 2016 by | Comments Off on Waiting For A Table…

 

All lined up on a restaurant counter waiting for their tables …

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Hopes and Dreams: Almost A Business

Posted on July 12, 2016 by | Comments Off on Hopes and Dreams: Almost A Business

Have you ever had so much on your mind–so much that you are enthusiastic about that you’re having trouble figuring out where to start first?

 

Finished cleaning up my studio this afternoon. Such a pleasant place to work now! #declutter #amwriting

A photo posted by Marla Dawn Holt (@tinydinostudios) on


 

That is me lately. I have been

    • Working on my soap company. All I need are labels and photos and I can open for business!
      • I am taking pre-orders, especially for my pumpkin spice soap.
      • I have so many ideas for this soapy business, and I can’t wait to implement them.
    • Slowly but surely drafting a new novel.
    • Working with a beta reader to improve last year’s novel so I can send it to an agent.
    • Crafting a new website, because I am finally giving that freelance writing thing another go.
      • Seriously, if you need anything written, give me a holler. I’m for hire.
    • Thinking a lot about the intersection of health and fitness and feminism, and especially what that means for me as a plus-sized woman who has always wanted to run far, ride my bike anywhere, and just generally kick ass.
    • Considering doing health coach training so I can write about the above with more authority.
    • Trying to figure out where I would write about all of that. Probably not here or on the other blog. I was thinking maybe on medium.com?
    • Preparing myself to have another baby.
    • Reading really stupid romance novels, and entertaining the idea of writing humorous/feminist reviews of them somewhere, because damn, so many are overtly sexist, homophobic, racist, and full of insecure women with zero self-awareness that these books are definitely not sexy.
      • But then I think if I want to publish romances with confident women, who don’t take shit from overly-muscular men who are constantly growling, “You’re mine!” maybe I shouldn’t make fun of the ones who do?
        • But really, can we please stop pretending these things are sexy? It’s terrifying.

I am well aware that this is far too much for any one person to accomplish in any reasonable amount of time. And yet I’m not convinced it’s not doable, even with a newborn in my future, because I’m not giving myself a time limit. I’m doing the things that bring me joy with the hopes that I can eventually finagle myself a career out of the mix. Because I am sick of being afraid that I really can’t do it.

The fear that I’m not clever or quick enough to accomplish any of this has lingered since I was finishing up my degree. I wasn’t writing as quickly or confidently as some of my classmates, and I was frustrated with the quality of my work. I was however working 40+ hours a week and barely scraping by, getting very little sleep, not eating very well. Taking a nap was my version of taking time for myself, but it was more like crashing and burning.

No wonder I was having trouble.

I’ve learned to give myself more of a break since then (that’s where the trashy romances come in). I’ve also figured out that the fastest way to shut down my writing mojo is to think that I can’t. If I ask myself instead, “How can I write about this?” the ideas come-a-flowin.

My only trouble now is working out when to do all of the actual writing.

Minor detail. I’ll work it out.

What do you wish you had more time for? Talk to me about it in the comments.

 

 

 

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Enjoying Summer

Posted on July 11, 2016 by | Comments Off on Enjoying Summer

It seems I took a longer break from this space than I intended!

We spent a week in town for the kids to attend theater camp with Missoula Children’s Theater – they performed Alice in Wonderland this year – and then they brought home terrible colds for us all to share. In other words, for the past two weeks we’ve been either rushing around like mad or spending our days feeling like grim death. Not a single marshmallow was roasted, nor a single swim taken.

But today! We are all on the mend, and the weather promises sun and warmth. Today we begin our summer vacation in earnest (well, you know, aside from the farm chores that never end).

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The garden is producing plenty of summer squash and cucumbers. Today I’ll be working on pickling the cukes.

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There are dozens upon dozens of pumpkins in various shapes and sizes in the pumpkin patch. I couldn’t resist grabbing a few of these little guys.

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Only about 10 corn stalks made it, but they are taller than me now.

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I’m crazy happy with the army of sunflowers I have growing out there among the winter squash.

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Churchill

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Charlie

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Darby

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Perivale

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Lyra

There’s plenty of work to be done – the dogs need a good brushing again, and there’s a crazy amount of weeding that seems to never make a difference – but I’m also finally finding time to relax with some reading or my knitting. I’m hoping in the next few days to find my way back to the sewing machine as well!

At the very least, there are marshmallows with Oona’s name on them, and she’ll make sure they get taken care of this evening.


Tagged: Farm, food, Garden, Pets

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Summers On The Vineyard, Part 1…

Posted on July 8, 2016 by | Comments Off on Summers On The Vineyard, Part 1…

After arriving on the Vineyard each summer of my childhood one of the first orders of business was going to the Flying Horse the oldest carousel in the United States, they came to the Island in 1884 from Coney Island.DSC_0037

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The Flying Horses are not a carousel, or a merry-go-round, they don’t go up and down just round and round. They are flying horses, like Pegasus, and fly to wherever you can imagine . They don’t actually have wings, but as you make the first circuit you feel like you’re about to fly out the open windows.

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I flew on these beautiful horses every day when I was a little girl. The ticket taker was a young man who would never take my tickets ! We tried everything to get him to take them… we brought him candy and cookies and tried slipping the tickets in with them… nothing work. At the end of the summer I said I wanted to buy him a gift, so off my mom and I went to purchase what I thought was a novel idea .. a tie. I was 5 years old, what did I know about buying gifts for men… he, by the way was about 13 but in my eyes he was a grown up. We put the tie in the box with all of summer’s uncollected tickets. As he came around to NOT collect my ticket I handed him the box. He smiled. Ah ha, success… or so I thought. As we were leaving the Flying Horses he came over and thanked us for the tie and as we turned to leave he handed us the tickets. I won’t say who he is, just that he turned out to be an official in Oak Bluffs in later years… and someone I’ve never forgotten.

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The picture below was taken during the autumn when the Flying Horses had closed for the season but but it didn’t mean I didn’t get a picture of them though. I positioned my camera close to the window and clicked…I got the horses… I also got the reflection of the camera and the reflection of the building across the street. I think it’s pretty neat.

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 The last time I flew on the Flying Horses my granddaughter Tiffany was with me.  I thought it might be my last time ever to ride them (I think that every time anyway)… and as my horse came around to the arm shooting the rings out I could see that the next one, the one waiting for me was the GOLD ring.  What a fantastic way to possibly end my Flying Horses ride.

 But I missed it … my fingers slipped and I couldn’t grab it.  But… right behind me was my granddaughter and she got it :)  She offered me the free ride but it meant more to me that she should have it.  Perfect ending, if indeed it was.

 

Rings of gold are good luck I’m told…

as for riding the Flying Horses you’re never too old:)

 

 

 

 

 


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Weekly Challenge: Look Up…

Posted on July 8, 2016 by | Comments Off on Weekly Challenge: Look Up…

For this week’s challenge, take a moment to look up. Whether it’s the fan above your head at work, your bedroom ceiling, or the night sky, what do you see? Is it familiar? Or does it show you a new perspective on your surroundings?

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I love the architecture of New York City and even though I have many photos looking up at the tops of buildings I think this one of the Chrysler Building might be one of my favorites.  I happen to look at just the right time as the sun was hitting the windows near the top of this beautiful art deco building.

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Tie Dyeing for the New Baby

Posted on July 7, 2016 by | Comments Off on Tie Dyeing for the New Baby

I haven’t made too many things exclusively for this new baby. I still have so much leftover from Felix, that we’re not lacking for much. Still, this new little one will be a person all their own, so a few thing just for him or her seems appropriate.

This past weekend was chilly and drizzly, which is strange for Kansas in July, and I got a Tulip tie dye kit on sale at Michael’s, so I enlisted my 10 year-old’s help in tie dyeing a few things for the new baby. Not only did we get to spend some quality time together, it helped get him invested a little bit in the prep for the new baby. He’s not exactly enthused about having another new sibling at the moment, but this was fun for both of us.

Tie Dyed Osnaburg for the Ring Sling
Tie Dyed Osnaburg for the Ring Sling

We started with three yards of osnaburg done in the classic spiral technique. It came out perfect! I’ll be making another ring sling out of this as soon as my rings come in.

When I was going through our baby clothes a couple of weeks ago, I found more than 10 plain white onesies. While I’m all for the practicality of a neutral onesie, I’m not typically known for dressing my babies practically or along gender lines, so we had a lot of fun tie dyeing some onesies in all colors.

Athrun dyed this one. It might be my favorite.
Athrun dyed this one. It might be my favorite.

This guy was created by rolling from top to bottom and using two rubber bands to divide it into three sections. Then Athrun absolutely saturated it in dye. I love it!

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This one reminds me of turtles

We dyed everything dry, and this guy was the only one that kind of repelled the dye. It’s a Disney brand organic cotton onesie, and I don’t think Felix ever wore it, so there’s the chance that it had never been washed. I’m not entirely sure, but I love how the dye came out anyway. This was accordian folded then sectioned into four, dyed alternately with lime and kelly greens.

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I love the color bleeds on this one.

As a contrast the the Disney onsie, this Gerber one was dyed using the same technique (just a different orientation) and really soaked up the dye!

It's a sunburst! Complete with sunspots!
It’s a sunburst! Complete with sunspots!

We used the bullseyes technique on this one, and the colors are so much fun.

The clean up onesie
The clean up onesie

Included in the kit was a sheet of plastic to protect your work surface, which worked great, but we were left a bunch of dye drips all over the plastic when we were done. (The instructions say to cover the plastic with paper towels to soak up drips, but we don’t use paper towels, so we improvised.) I used one last onesie to soak up the dye. Way better than paper towels. Baby will look like they helped dye their own wardrobe.

 

And just for fun, when I went to edit photos for this post, I had a large amount that accidentally looked like this:

wrap fabric plus belly and feet
I can only see my feet because the baby has started to drop

At 35 weeks, the belly is getting in the way of everything.

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