I’ve been trying to do a better job of washing my face every night. (Flossing my teeth too!) But my problem always is that I can’t get my eye makeup off. See? It takes a lot of mascara to get those babies looking even this long.

I used to use a makeup remover made by Beauti Control, but I never wanted to track down a rep to reorder it. I’ve saved my bottle from the last time I had ordered, so I decided to utilize that great container and make my own. I can’t for the life of me find where I got this recipe, but it’s wonderful! I’ve customized it to my preference for baby shampoo and oil:

2 Tbs Burts Bees Baby Wash
1/4tsp sweet almond oil
1 cup distilled water

Mix together and store in an airtight container. Saturate a cotton pad, let rest on your eye for a few seconds and the makeup swishes right off.

Environmentally friendly and cheap too!

Tonight I whipped up a batch of bath bombs. I’ve wanted to make bath bombs for a long time but have always been intimidated by the process. Turns out they’re the simplest thing in the world to make. For mine I used a muffin tin to for the molds, but I’m thinking about all kinds of ideas for different shapes. I’m especially excited about finding a butterfly mini cake mold.

The recipe was simple and I had everything on hand. The citric acid was leftover from my dishwasher detergent attempts. I had picked it up at our local beer/wine brewing shop (right across the street from Tangle!). I had a bottle of sweet almond oil in the fridge from my lip balm making days. The rest was in my pantry. The only change I made to the recipe was to cut way back on the essential oils – I figured 2+ tsp’s of peppermint oil would be a little much – adding more sweet almond oil to make up the difference.

I took pictures, but rather than waiting to load them onto my computer, I think I’ll test out the bombs in the bath!

edit: mediocre pictures!

::recipe::

I whipped this up last week as a model for Tangle. We ordered this yarn without any patterns in mind (the yarn is just so dern cool!), so I wrote a simple bag pattern for it.

Stats:
-pattern: cambio summer bag free at Tangle
-yarn: Lana Grossa Cambio – cotton core wrapped with polyamide, 2 skeins
needles: Size 6 and 10.5

See? I definitely have to paint my new chairs rather than stain them. I’m convinced.

(I suppose posting a photo of the newly finished table and my new kick ass chandelier I got to go over it would help with the visual…It’s on my list for tonight!)

Stats:
-Pattern: Knitscene Spring 08
-Yarn: single strand of Blue Sky Dyed Cotton (3 skeins each color)
-Toggles: Quadriliteral toggles distributed by Rowan
-Needles: addi’s size 9
-Size: 41″ with some mods
-Mods: Even though I was on gauge, the sweater was HUGE after removing the sleeves. So I ripped back at least two inches of the raglan increases and then divided. I think that it fits perfect now! Also, used a single strand of BSA cotton rather than a double strand of Lily Chin yarn doubled on 6’s (I still can’t figure out how her model didn’t feel like cardboard knit that tight!)

I’m really happy with this one. Fer Sher.

I finished up this tunic a couple weeks ago. I knit it with Eden in mind, but it’s more likely that she will wear it next year.

Stats
Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple #232
Yarn: GGH Samoa in Barbie Pink and Lemongrass
Mods: none, just forgot to add in the button hole and the gauge wasn’t quite on.

I’m now about a quarter of the way done with this:

And next I want to knit this from the same issue of Knitscene:

And then these two from the brand new issue of Rowan (43) – sigh, I’m so happy we carry Rowan at Tangle now!!

Finally this from the new Interweave (that’s not even here yet, but still…)

mmmm, silk.

How long do you think it all will take me?

I spent Friday adding new patterns to Tangle’s website. There’s a few that I just moved over from this site and a few new ones.

This shawl is one that I knit last month. For as simple as it is to knit, it makes a big impact.

(my mom modeling)

And a basic rolled brim hat pattern.

All of Tangle’s original patterns are here, most of which are free!

So, I’ve managed to take photos of some of the things I’ve been working on lately. And here they are!

The cozy v-neck pullover from Fitted Knits. If it weren’t for the yarn, it’d be much cozier. That llama in the Pastaza, it just pokes through all the layers! But I do love the sweater and I’m thinking I’d like to knit it out of the Blue Sky Alpaca’s worsted handdyes. It would be $$$ but wow, would it be nice.

Fingerless mittens for the kids. I didn’t use a pattern, but just figured my own based on the gauge. Honor’s are made out of some leftover louet gems worsted that I had (but we want to carry it at Tangle next fall) and Eden’s are made out of our new PJ’s yarn. It’s a poly fleece ribbon that is SUPER soft!

Pics of the playroom turned office. It’s usually not quite as cluttered, but Jim had all his music equip and snowboard out from recent use. The floor is painted the same color as the dining room because we had A LOT of extra paint. (And I love the color.)

A baby hat and sweater that I made for our new nephew. I need to get it to him as I hear he’s packing on the pounds! Sweater is the Knitting Pure and simple baby pullover pattern #214 and the hat is a free pattern that you can download from tangle’s website.

Curtains that I sewed for the dining room. If you happen to see similar fabric at Urban Outfitters in the bedspread dept, just don’t go making the connection…

And my new neckwarmer. This is handdyed yarn similar to Colinette Point 5. I knitted a lining (Christina’s idea) out of a super soft acrylic yarn – GGH esprit. I LOVE this neckwarmer.

I’m so behind on posting and taking pictures of what I’ve knit it’s ridiculous. It seems like my knitting and the camera are never in the same place at the same time. But I do have a small offering for you.

The Matilda hat: I knit this one out of Eco Wool. Can I just say how great that yarn is? It just seems like the skein is never ending. This hat was knit from the leftovers from my fitted knits cardi.

With this hat I also demonstrated the power of blocking. The brim was all floppy and mooshy and after an agressive steam, it turned out perfect! Christina shared with me her German way of blocking. She lays a damp towel directly on the knitting and then lays the iron directly on the towel and steams away. It’s nice because it drys in no time.

Overall, I love the hat. I just wish I would have made it a tad smaller.

So I decided to add more buttons to my short sleeved cardigan from Fitted Knits and it turned out great.

It’s really comfy and now I’m just waiting for this warm spell to end so I can wear it! (not that I’m complaining, I lurve this weather!)

I used 2 skeins of Eco wool, added in 5 more button holes and knit this in about a week and a half. All it needs is a little blocking! I will say that I wish I wouldn’t have gone down on needles for the ribbing and knit one size smaller because the fit on top is a tad loose.

Here’s the sweater in action with Tucky puppy. (note: Friday I got my hair chopped. I don’t think it’s been this short since the terrible haircut of ’03. But this time I quite like it.)

(all photos by Eden)