A Perfect Sunday

Sunday was soap-making day at my friend Louise’s.  I’ve been looking forward to this for so long!  I love making things.

This is the view driving up Lou’s driveway.  Isn’t it pretty?  I love her house.  They are completely off the grid, which I think is very cool.  The grounds are very vaste and picturesque.  It’s like a little haven.

Lou has a little studio in the basement where she makes all her soap and where she now has a large loom (that I find intimidating-looking).  It’s a happy space.

So, this is the soap-making process, part one.

We prepped the space, got together all the supplies and materials.

We got the lye ready.  That’s the dangerous stuff that scares me a bit.

Got the oils ready.

Mixed the lye with the water.  Carefully!

Then we heated up the oil on her woodstove.

Then we prepped the molds that her husband hand-made for her.

Then, when the oil/water mix and the oils reached approx. 37 degrees, we mixed the two together and stirred until it reached the right consistency.  Then we poured it into the molds.

Covered with wax paper and put the cover on.

The we wrapped each mold up with a wool blanket.  Something about warming up the soap.

There they will sit until tomorrow night when I will go back to remove the soap from the mold and cut it into bars.  That’ll be part two.

When we were finished the with the soap-making, I finished up Lou’s french press cozy.  This project was part of a round-robin we did with some of the girls from our spinning guild (I bring roving and hand it to the person next to me for spinning.  That person spins my roving and passes it along to the person next to her for knitting/crocheting/weaving.  Then it comes back to me as an item.)  I was the knitter for Lou’s “item”.  It really didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.  Next round-robin will be better.

I got to hang a bit and have a coffee with Lou in front of her grand fireplace.  I love this fireplace.  All her furniture is old/antique looking.  It’s just such a lovely space.

When I got home, I made a batch of Paleo cream of cauliflower & bacon soup.  Because it’s Paleo, there is no cream in my cream soup though.  🙂

Here’s the recipe:

3 cartons of chicken broth
1 head of cauliflower
1 white onion, cut smallish
3-6 cloves of carlic (depending how much garlic you like)
1 egg
1 lb of bacon
a little spittle of Sriracha (hot sauce)
salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, add chicken broth and cauliflower.  Cook on high so that the cauliflower gets soft.  Fry up the onion and the garlic until soft.  Add to broth mix.  Let cook until contents are soft.  In the meantime, wisk the egg in a small metal dish, holding the dish over the steam of the soup in order to thicken the egg.  Then cut up the bacon and fry it up until crispy.  Set both aside.  When the contents of the soup are soft, using a blender or a hand blender, puré the mixture.  At this point, add the egg, blending at the same time.  This will make the soup “creamy”.  Add half the bacon to the soup mix and blend, and set aside the other half for garnish.

It’s very tasty!

I also managed to finish up my felted clogs.  I think they might need one more tour in the washing machine though.  But, man are they comfy!  The double-soul makes then so cushy.  I love the color.

Just as my day was wrapping up, I started some new clogs for Steve.  This time, they are not pink.  I found some black and grey Briggs & Little Regal in my yarn closet when I was cleaning.  PERFECT!  I’m making then a lot smaller too.  These should work.

I’m not finished the shawl.  It bores me.  I must be pretty close to being finished.  In a few days, the slippers will be done and I’ll likely work on the shawl – hopefully finish it.  Then I can make Tina’s socks with that lovely BMFA Med Pink Granite – that’s what she wanted.  But because socks are small and portable, I will likely start a bigger “home” project.  I can’t wait to start making a dent in my Ravelry queue.  I’m at 318 right now.  Yikes!

Hope everyone is having a great week!