Felting an Angora Sweater

My mom has a way of gifting me the most challenging things. I mean that in a good way. She finds things that she knows can be re-purposed, and hands them over to me to get my gears turning. A few weeks ago, while we were chatting on the phone, she mentioned she was "done" with a sweater she'd had for years.


"I took the buttons off already. Do you want it to felt?"

"What is it made of?"

"Angora, I think."

"Ohhhhh yes please."

"Okay, I'll mail it to you."

I actually forgot that she was going to mail it here, so when it arrived in the mail, I was super excited and surprised. As I mentioned before, she's had this sweater for years. It's one that I have lots of memories of her wearing. And all those snuggly/scratchy/fluffy angora hugs. The colors are so autumnal as well, which puts the sweater even higher on my "Yay" rankings. 

I popped the thing in the washer alone on the "ultra clean" hothothot setting. The first time through, it didn't felt much. So I put it back in, stuffed in a pillow case. I even put it in the dryer! Crazy. Though it did not felt down as much as I expected it would, I am very pleased with the result.

It has that beautiful halo of fiber so common of angora. I simply love it. I have a few ideas for what I'd like to do with it, but I'm just going to let my thoughts simmer for a little bit before I jump in to a project with it. I mean, it is full of sentimental value and lovely fiber. Don't want to rush in to something.

What have you felted?

New Twitter Account & How To Make: Coffee Soap

Have you ever come across an idea for a project that will not get out of your head? It just gets in your brain, takes root, and keeps itching away until you actually give in and embark on the project. It used to happen to me a lot. Read: daily. But lately, as I have been distracted by a certain little babu, my brain hasn't had too much free space for craft obsessions.

But since thing have settled in to a sweet little rhythm, my brain has been able to latch on to something: soap making. I saw an article on PopSugar about how to make soap using up old coffee grounds.

And I thought, "Well, I like coffee."

It's really super duper easy to make some fast soap. You can do it in an afternoon! To some, the melt-and-pour method of soap making is cheating because it involves using a premade soap base. In my mind, it's the safest method for me to make soap in an apartment. No lye, no fumes. Safe for baby and me! Are you sold on this? Let's get to it!!

Supplies:

Meltable clear glycerin soap (got mine from Michael's)

Old coffee grounds

Vanilla scent (optional)

Microwavable glass bowl

Spoons

Mold (I used candy making molds: $2 at Michael's) 

  

Step 1: Cube your wax

Most clear glycerin comes with pre-scored lines to cut 1 oz sections. For my mold I needed about 5 oz, but I cubed up 6 just to be safe.

Step 2: Melt wax

Follow the directions on your wax package for microwave melting. Mine said to start with 30 seconds, then melt and stir at 10 second intervals. 

Step 3: Add scent and coffee grounds

Just like the title says, yo. Mix in the scent and how ever much of the grounds you want. I did about 2 tbs of grounds, and 5 ish drops of the scent. 

Step 4: Pour into molds

While doing this, stir the glycerin a bit between pours to keep it from solidifying. Just make sure you don't drop your spoon into the mixture. Because it is annoying when that happens. Not that I know from experience or anything.

Once you are all done pouring your soaps, you can let the excess soap harden and save it for another pour. That's the beauty of melt and pour: you can reuse it as many times as you want! I didn't save mine because it was kind of a grounds-y mess. 

 Step 5: Wait for the soap to harden, then pop them out!

It takes about 40ish minutes, depending on the depth of your mold. You can pop them in the freezer to speed the process, but I saw no need to do that. 

Look how beautiful they look!! The pictures doesn't really do the prettiness justice. It's so deep and transparently and yummy. The soap is so great to use. It's got a great lather, and the coffee grounds are delightfully exfoliating. And the smell? Heavennnnnn.

You can spray rubbing alcohol on the bottom of your soap while it's wet to get rid of the ugly bubbles, but I didn't. These were just my practice ones. And plus the bubble side will be down when it's on the soap dish. Nobody is going to be critical. 

I can't wait to make more soap! I have so many plans for fun herb mix-ins. Have you ever tried to make soap? Cold Process? Melt and Pour?

In other news, I made a Twitter account today! Follow me! I'll follow you back. @LastinLineShop