Category Archives: homemade

The Tree Is Up

December 18, 2015Christmas, crochet, homemaderuthsoaper

Just one week before Christmas and our Christmas Tree is finally up. It’s not because I’ve been too busy, lazy or procrastinating that it’s taken so long. It’s because I love the tradition that we have for putting up the tree. I’m not sure when it started, but it was sometime over the last fifteen years. My four daughters and I put up the Christmas Tree together.

With the girls all living on their own now, and having to schedule around their work and college commitments, it has become more difficult to find a time when they can all get together. We have been trying to coordinate a time for this since Thanksgiving and I had even entertained the thought that I might have to put the tree up by myself or maybe just not put the tree up at all. Finally the time was set for noon yesterday that they would all arrive for the task. As it turned out only three of them made it because Hanna was not feeling well (some things you just can’t plan for).

While there were all ready a lot of specifics to our tradition of putting up the tree, I decided to add to our fun. My sister had sent me a crochet pattern for a Santa hat. It was a cute hat but I really didn’t think I had any reason to make it so I had just filed it away, but for some reason on Tuesday I decided I would make elf hats for the girls. Since I didn’t have yarn in traditional Christmas red and green, I decided to use what I had. I started crocheting and completed the first one Tuesday night and finished up three more before bedtime on Wednesday. Then I realized that the girls would probably say “Mom, where is your hat?” So yesterday morning I dug out some more yarn and stitched up one more elf hat. I was still finishing it up when Tina (elf # 1) arrived but had it finished before (Kara elf # 3) and Lindell (elf # 4) arrived shortly after noon.

When I made the hats I had an idea of which hat would go to which daughter (elf) but I decided to let them pick their own. I decided to let them choose in the order that they arrived, so Tina picked first as she arrived before noon and waited quite awhile with me before the others got there.

Tina, who is a fashion designer, and loves colorful patterns, chose the purple hat. I was happy because I had her in mind when I made this hat. Lindell arrived next. I was disappointed to see that she was alone because she was supposed to pick up Hanna (# 3 elf) and bring her along. Lindell got next pick and she took the red and black one. This is actually the hat I had in mind for Hanna, when I was making them but it looked really nice on Lindell. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind which hat Kara would pick. I made it specifically in Wayne State colors with Kara in mind, and even though she didn’t get first pick, her sisters knew it was her hat and would not claim it for themselves. I then asked one of the girls which of the remaining two I should have and she said the blue one, probably because I was dressed in all blue.

Lindell, Elf # 3 has an angle looking over her shoulder

By the time Kara arrived 20 or 30 minutes after noon, we had already begun the tree assembly but there were still plenty of branches that needed to be unfolded and “fluffed” as they called it, and then installed on the trunk. The girls have become very particular about the way the branches are fluffed and placed on the tree. After the tree was put together it was time to put the lights on. This is where we really missed Hanna. It is her job to help me with this. After we plug in each strand to make sure that it works, she stands on one side of the tree, and I stand on the opposite side. We start at the bottom of the tree and I hand the strand to her, then she hands it back to me as we wrap it around the tree moving upward as we go. Kara and Lindell both took turns filling in this position, although they are not nearly as proficient as Hanna, the lights were successfully put one the tree.

After the lights go on the tree comes a very special part of our tradition. Many years ago I purchased a collection of Snow Angels Christmas ornaments. I don’t have a complete collection and I’m not sure how many there are total in this series or even if the still make them. I do have about 30 of them and each one has a tag that says Blessing of ___. Some examples are Blessing of Hope, Blessing of Love, Blessing of Jubilee, Blessing of Patience and Blessing of Coyness. These are the ornaments that get placed on the tree before any others. While I unpack these “blessings” I will read the tag and select one of the girls to place it on the tree. Sometimes I give it to the girl I think has that blessing or a quality and sometimes I think it is a blessing that the girls needs. The blessing of Slumber for example has mostly gone to Tina or Lindell who both love to sleep the day away, but this year it went Kara who has pulled two all-nighters in the past week due to exams and projects that are due before the semester ends.

Once the Snow Angels adorn the tree, the girls hang the rest of the ornaments that we have collected over the years, many of then have their names on them or were acquired in groups of three or four like the three Christmas Dinosaurs or four Christmas Dogs. Lastly the angel is placed on top of the tree. I usually do this but had some help from Lindell this year.

As I told the girls to put all of the packaging back in the bins, I noticed the tree skirt and said someone needs to put that around the tree. Kara said she would “dress” the tree in it’s skirt but decided to model the tree skirt first.

Once the we were finished and the packaging was put away we all posed for a picture taken by Elf # 4, with her long arms and being trained in digital media. Then we enjoyed some homemade chicken soup that was prepared, with love, by my husband for our tree decorating elves.

As each of the girls left I made sure they were wearing their elf hat. I told them that I hope that they would wear them and embrace their eccentricity or maybe just indulge mine. I don’t know whether the girls will wear them again this year, but maybe they will become part of our Christmas tradition in future years.

As always I think the tree looks beautiful, and this year despite the lack of snow and the unseasonably warm temperatures we have had lately, it is beginning to feel a little like Christmas.

Memorable Entertainment

December 11, 2015homemade, soapruthsoaper

Recently my husband and I have been watching episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies on ME (Memorable Entertainment) TV as we enjoy our breakfast in the morning. I guess you can say we like a “heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality” with our breakfast.

On one episode, earlier this week, Ellie Mae was carrying a tray of Grannies homemade lye soap, as one of them there city fellows arrived to invite her to a party. He looked at the soap and asked if it was homemade. When she replied that it sure was. He asked if he could have a piece, she said “sure” and he took one from the tray. After they finished their conversation, and she walked away, he bit into the soap and with a strange look on his face said, “she sure make terrible fudge”. As you can imagine my husband and I got a big kick out of this. Suffice it to say that this is a scene I will remember.

Soap Testing

November 20, 2015homemade, soapruthsoaper

Last week it was time to test some of the soap I made in September. I was very curious about one of the soaps as it was a new recipe using aloe. I had talked (blogged) about making it in this post on October 1st. https://donteatitsoaps.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/soap-and-sauce/

When I showered with the aloe soap my first impression was that it felt smooth and had a creamy lather, soothing was the word that came to my mind. I liked it a lot, but I wanted to see if it was really the aloe that seemingly was making a difference in the feel of the soap. It was easy to do this, since when I made this soap I split the batch and added chamomile and lavender to one half and aloe to the other half. The next morning when I showered I took a bar of the chamomile/lavender and a bar of aloe and used each on different sides of my body. I discovered there was definitely a difference. The chamomile/lavender was quick to come to a very bubbly lather. It felt great on the skin and rinsed off well. The aloe had a more creamy and thick lather, again I thought it was soothing, and it too rinsed off well.

Although my impression was that they are both great soaps, I realized that my analysis may be tainted because I knew the ingredients of both. They needed to be tested by people who did not know what is in them. A blind non-taste (don’t eat it!) test. So I recruited two of my regular tester, my husband and my sister. I gave them the two bars without telling them what was in them and asked them to use them and give me their impression of each.

For chamomile/lavender my husband said it had great lather, he described it as pleasant, it cleaned and rinsed well. My sister also commented that it lathered well and was a nice soap.

For aloe my sister said it took longer to lather (I tend to agree) and she described it as a creamy lather. My husband loved the lather of this soap and described it as a “shaving soap”.

When he used that term it was obvious to me that the aloe was making a difference, as aloe is an ingredient often used in shaving creams. He, of course, was right because the next day I used the aloe soap as I shaved my legs and it was very smooth and felt great. He has not shaved with it yet but is saving it for when he does shave. A couple days later he told me they were great soaps and that I should continue to make both. I will.

Challenging My Skills

November 18, 2015crochet, homemade, Sisterscrochet slippersruthsoaper

This time of year, when the darkness and cool temperatures dictate that I spend evenings inside, I tend to spend a lot of my time in the evenings crocheting. I usually make simple things like cotton wash clothes (which my husband loves to wash with) and hot pads, scarves, and slippers like my mom use to make.

A few weeks ago my sister showed me a pattern for some boot type slippers she liked. I looked at the pattern and discovered that they were knit. I told her that I would not be able to make them since I do not knit. A few days later she showed me a crochet pattern she found for a similar slipper. It looked a little more complicated than I was use to, but I told her that I would attempt to make them, so she bought the pattern for me.

When I got the pattern, I went to my yarn bins, and I pulled out a couple of skeins of worsted weight yarn. I didn’t have any of the real soft yarn that the pattern suggested to use, but I decided to use what I had on hand for the first attempt at making them.

The pattern was well written and had pictures that were very helpful, but even so I had to go online and watch a video to learn to do a reverse single crochet (a new stitch for me). Other than that stitch, I did not find them to be difficult to make.

I did not have 4 buttons that were exactly alike, so I chose similar buttons all the same size. I thought this might add character to them. Since my sister has smaller feet than I do, I made a size medium for her. They do not fit me, so I am eager to get them to my sister to see if they fit her, because to me they seemed pretty small. I bought some soft yarn today, so I think my next project will be a pair of these in size large.