More of the same.

Snow and more snow around here. No piccies. But, I do have pics of my latest batch of soap. This is flaxseed/oatmeal/lavender soap that I made especially for rosaecea. DD K. and I both have it and it's really hard to find a soap that we can use without having it eat our face off. My handmade soaps have really been kind to it. I decided to try adding the flaxseed oil and ground flaxseed to see if it would be even better for our skin. I washed my hands with a piece earlier today and it was like washing with silk. I sure hope it keeps that quality after it is fully cured. The lather is very nice, too. The pics are of the soap in the mold and after cutting. It is a pretty earthy looking soap, the pics make it look much nicer than it looks in person. I am still learning how much colorant to put in various amounts of soap and I really wish that I had used just a touch more violet.

The color is much more muted than it appears here. and the uncolored part of the soap is very tan and speckled with the ground flaxseed and the ground oats that I used.

I used about 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats in about 2 cups of distilled water, soaked overnight and then the oat'milk' drained off. To that I added about 1 oz of finely ground flaxseed and soaked that overnight. It needed to be mixed with the stick blender before using in my soap recipe.

I also used 10% flaxseed oil in this recipe, so I'm expecting a really nice healing bar. I can hardly wait to try it out on my face. I will probably try it in the shower tomorrow, first. If it does well as a body soap then we will try some as facial soap. This was scented with lavender essential oil, too.
which I hope will contribute to the skin calming effect that I am hoping for in this soap. Smells great, altho I did go a little light on the lavender to be sure that I didn't use too much of a good thing.

This picture of four of the bars is a more accurate representation of the color, at least on my monitor.

In knitting action: Here is the pair of socks that I am working on for Mittens for Akkol. They will be for a large teen. The kids at the orphanage in Kazakhstan are in need of warm footwear and there is a challenge going on to provide a new pair for each of the 265 children in the home. You can read more about that at:

http://www.mittensforakkol.com/

If you are a knitter and have a little spare wool yarn and the time to put together a pair of socks of any size, please consider this very worth cause. I truly believe the world is changed forever with every kind act that is performed. Won't you consider being a force for good in the world? If you are not a knitter there are other ways to help that are listed on the website above. Thanks for giving it some thought.

these are the b/day socs that I am knitting for DGS N. they are woolease on size 4 needles and in a sort of camo color called 'wood'. Kinda plain vanilla socks on 52 st for a size 9.5 men's shoe size. Hopefully, he won't outgrow them before he gets some good wear out of them. Teen boys feet can grow so fast. As soon as they are finished, I need to cast on for DGS Js b/day socks. that big day of the thirteenth b/day is coming up in March. Gotta go click my needles. Ta, D