AIDELEK

I've been making crochet hats for about 4 years now. I've mostly done children's hats, which I photograph using a painted styrofoam ball. Lately I've been doing more adult sizes. I didn't really have a good way to photograph them, aside from a live model. I finally decided to get a mannequin head!


I got mine from Michael's. It cost $5.99 but with a coupon, came out to be about $3.60. Not too bad and great pricing if you want more than one for a craft fair display. I've seen people take photos with foam heads where they just left them plain white, just how they bought them. I wanted mine to look different than everyone else's plus this foam can easily be damaged. I don't have a designated craft room so my supplies live in rubbermaid bins. Besides regular wear and tear, I have three kids here, who can resist playing with a head! I was afraid all the moving around would nick and dent my head. I decided to cover my it in fabric. Besides looking nice, the fabric gives the head some texture so the hats don't slip around.


I didn't take pictures of the process, but it's fairly self explanatory. I cut fabric into strips about 1-1½ inches wide and long enough to go from crown of head to the bottom of the base. I put some Mod Podge into a disposable container and added a little water to thin it out. I dunked a strip of fabric into the Mod Podge, squeezed out excess and then stuck it on the head. To get around the nose, I cut a smaller strip the sized of the nose. Place it over the nose and cut slits in the sides to form fabric around nostril area. Each strip of fabric overlaps the one before. As I was working with the fabric, it did begin to fray a little. Just keep scissors handy to trim the threads.

This did take longer than I expected to dry. There are a couple areas where the fabric "bubbled up" as the glue dried. If I made this again, I think I might try using cheese cloth or a thinner cotton fabric.

Puerto Rico

Odor neutralizing hand soap, perfect for the kitchen!

I've been meaning to do this soap forever. The ingredients have been sitting here looking at me for months! So coffee is known to neutralize odors, which makes it perfect for use in the kitchen. It seems like even after you wash, that garlic or onion smell still lingers on your hands. I thought I'd give this a try as hand soap but you could definitely use it in the shower to wake you up in the morning. It would also be great as garden soap since the texture from the coffee works great to scrub your skin clean.

If this post seem a little wordy, it's because I've made melt & pour soap before and have gotten lots of questions. I just want to make sure I try to answer them all here first. See my Honey Almond Chamomile Soap Recipe!

• I chose a goat's milk soap base, but you can use whatever you like or have available. I purchased my soap base from Michael's craft store.
• I used orange scented soap fragrance, Art Minds brand. You can choose to substitute essentials oils for the fragrance, but keep in mind that the measurements may change. Whichever scent or brand you choose, follow recommendations for yours. The Art Minds brand says to use 5 drops per 1 oz of soap, Since melted soap base starts to cool pretty quickly, I measured the drops out ahead of time into a disposable cup. The tsp measurement is an estimate of the drops I counted out.
• I live in a very dry climate plus it's winter, dry hands are a huge problem for me. Adding a little olive oil couldn't hurt right? According to some of my research, it's recommended to not add more than 1 tsp of oil per pound of soap or you risk your soap not hardening properly.
• My coffee is freshly ground, not brewed. I ground this on the espresso setting because I wanted it fine and not too gritty feeling. There is still a slight exfoliating texture.
• I originally wanted to mix in ground cloves but I didn't have any and I didn't feel like going to the store. I used 1 tsp allspice but you can't really smell it. If I make this again, I would definitely add more.  If you don't have allspice, you could just forget it or substitute with cloves or cinnamon. 
• Get your mold(s) ready before you start. Because I like the look, I pour mine all in one large mold and then cut into bars, you can also purchase individual molds. I prefer to use a box lined with wax paper as my mold because it has 90 degree angles. When I cut my soap its uniformly shaped.

I would recommend using bowls and utensils that you do not plan to use for food again. Begin by cutting up the soap base. The kind I purchased comes in a block, scored into cubes. You should cut smaller than the cubes for better melting. Since this is a large batch, you can microwave for 1 minute, stir and repeat. When you see that it's getting more melted reduce microwave time to 30 second intervals, stirring in between until soap is completely melted. Quickly add your ingredients and stir well. The soap begins to cool quickly so you can't take your time. As soon as it's combined pour into mold. 

The soaps sets fairly quickly, I usually wait a couple hours before I cut it. After I cut into bars, I like to wait a few days before wrapping in plastic. I've heard people say their soap has gotten moldy in plastic wrap. I always make sure it's had time to set and dry out and have never had a mold problem even after months.

I might not post it online right away, but believe me, I always have something on my hook! Here are a few things that I've been working on. They will be posted in my Etsy shop. If you don't find them, sorry, you're too slow! Better luck next time. I like to try new things and I rarely do the same crochet project more than once.

I have so many patterns saved that I want to get to this year. Check out my free crochet patterns board on Pinterest. Another goal is to make as many projects as I can without buying more yarn. I'm running out of storage! Do you have any crafting goals this year?

1. Autumn Chill Mod Scarf, Pattern by Left In Knots
I finally broke down a couple months ago and tried the Caron Cakes. While I love the feel of this yarn, I think the abrupt color change makes finding a pattern to work with a challenge. Patterns with lots of texture are the key!

A video posted by 🍎Laura Diaz (@overtheappletree) on Dec 11, 2016 at 12:05pm PST

4. Starlet Yoga Socks, Pattern by Lisa Soutendijk
There's a picture of toeless socks floating around Facebook that everyone is loving. Since I've never done anything like this before, I wanted to give them a try. I think I lost little of my vision working on these, this yarn is so thin! I've done doilies before so I don't know why it bothered me so much. Maybe because it was late and I didn't have great lighting? I plan to try some different styles of socks soon!