Beginner Sewing and Knitting: Taking back the skillz

Here is my first apron that I just finished about a week ago.

In part of my journey towards a sustainable lifestyle, I am determined to learn some of the skills that have been on my bucket list for years!  I have always enjoyed crafting..As a child/youth, I made many a latch hooking, as a teen and college student, I got into oil painting, but I always wanted to know how to knit and sew.  In 6th grade I took a home ec class and briefly learned to use a sewing machine, but didn't pursue it, because I thought it was not the "college track"--Even though, I enjoyed it, I did not think it was a class "worthy" of the track towards "success" and "being college educated".  (what a snob I was)--and I really wasn't a snob.. especially in junior high..I was kind of shy and nerdy and not in the hip group..but I was a popular wanna-be-for sure!  I did not always have the backbone or confidence to stand by and trust what I felt was right either-back then... I'd like an earring and someone would tell me it was ugly and then I'd think I was wrong in liking it-- (that is a whole other story of adolescent insecurities) In any case, I feel very differently about the "value" of this skill..  And really want to "take back the skills" that have been devalued during at least the last couple of generations..  For example: with this skill, I can make pajamas for my kids that are not filled with toxic flame retardant--take control of my own buying power so that I do not have to be limited by what is on the shelves or be "forced" into buying fume filled sleep ware.

And here I am, going back to it, because I really did want to learn how..and have always thought "the thought of knitting and sewing during the wintertime" a very warm and fuzzy thought--just as appealing as sitting in a cafe sipping a great latte..


 **I am learning how to use a sewing machine and sew from patterns from classes at Portland Sewing--taking the complete 12 week course: Learning to Sew. 12 classes @ 3 hours/class.  The first 4 week block, you make an apron, the second-a robe, and the third pajamas.


Portland Sewing: "We offer sewing classes for the beginner to the advanced stitcher wanting to learn something new, from sewing basics to pattern making, draping, tailoring and couture. No matter the class, our job is to make sure you gain skills, create a project you like, build your confidence — and have a good time doing it!" (My review is that I really like the instructors and the school.  You can begin knowing nothing about sewing and feel after each 3 hour class, you have learned a great deal)  I am not afraid to ask questions..and find it much easier to learn the skills and "tricks" than I would have trying to learn on my own..  The classes continue from the very beginner all the way to people who wish to do apparel design professionally!  You begin with Learn to Sew (if you are a complete beginner)--Then you can continue to Beginning Sewing, then Intermediate, and so on..  I also believe that the prices are very reasonable considering each class is 3 hours long and you really get the help and the level of learning that matches where you are at in your skill level. 


2111 NE 43rd Ave. Portland, OR
(503) 927-5457
Sharon Blair
http://www.portlandsewing.com/



I am learning how to knit from the book: Stitch and Bitch. (which breaks down each knitting skill into manageable bites) with simple projects for the beginner to intermediate..and interesting historical commentary on knitting.

 Here is the Janome sewing machine I am making payments on on top of a sewing table I bought on Craigslist.  (I really like that it has metal parts (built to last) and can lock in place the slooooowww speed)--because I am such a beginner!  (-; 

And here is the first 1/3 of the scarf I am working on. Knit Knit. Pearl Pearl..  (-; 


And this is truly truly fun for me.  I love create and get to see the "art" of what comes out of it; and I love to learn..and it is sooo useful.  I am hoping to next learn how to knit a hat, and I also have high hopes of making Halloween costumes, curtains, learn to quilt, and hem up some pants.  (if I can find enough "free time")  Fall/winter is a good time to attempt this, I think as my garden slows down..

And I want to be a part of advocating for a wonderful (not quite lost art)--that is not just an art, but a very very useful skill.

SOAPMAKING: Making Tallow, Coconut oil, Olive oil soap

Not long ago, we took the plunge and made soap!

Rendering Suet into Tallow
1. The first thing we did was to render the tallow, which means taking a chunk of suet, chop it up into small pieces, immerse it in water in a stock pot and boil it until it melts and looks like this. We had 3 big blocks of beef and lamb suet in our freezer, and we made about 14 pounds of soap.

2. Then we strained out the chunks of meat and gristle using a very fine collander.  taking it one measuring cup at a time, and let cool, then placed in refrigerator overnight until the fat rose to the top of the water and could be removed, cut.

3. Then I froze the tallow until ready to use to make the soap.

Making Basic Soap:

Basic soap Recipe:
40 oz tallow
20 oz olive oil
20 oz coconut oil
11.3 oz sodium hydroxide (lye) (5% superfatted) lye calculator
30 oz distilled water

Precautions:

1. Always add lye gradually to water, not the other way, because it could react too fast.
2. Use gloves, goggles (you never want to touch the lye or get any in your eyes)
3. Have vinegar on hand to neutralize the lye. You can make a solution of soap, water, vinegar to neutralize it immediately if it gets on your skin or counter, etc.
4. Never use alluminum w/lye. Use stainless steel, wood, or strong plastic.
5. open a window near where you will be working. There is some offgassing from the chemical reaction.

Essential tools: (basic soap)
Brambleberry Soap supplies

1. stainless steel pots
2. wood or silicone stirrers.  (wood will wear -out faster)
3. Immersion blender w/stainless stell blade. (this is not absolutely necessary, but it will help the process take much less time)
4. large plastic tupperware container  or wooden mold.
5. Large cutting knife, or soap cutter.
6. 2 candy thermometers
7. 2 dishpans for cold water baths
8. 1 pitcher (2L) (strong plastic or stainless) with spout (for water that will be mixed with lye
9. 1 pyrex 2cup measuring cup.  (for dry lye) with spout.
10. goggles
11. gloves
12. mask
13. dishpans to put lye covered dirty dishes in to rest for 24 hours before washing.
14. (optional) newspaper to cover areas you don't want lye to touch
15. 1 kitchen scale
16. plastic canvas/needlework canvas for curing soap

Tools for Milling

1. soap molds
2. colors
3. distilled water
4. fragrances
5. herbs, wheat germ, oatmeal, etc..(whatever additives the recipe calls for)
6. food processor makes grating basic soap easy
7. double boiler or insert to make 2 pans turn into double boilerdouble boiler maker
8. olive oil spray

Process

1. measure out your fats, add them to a pan, and melt.  (add candy thermometer 1).  Turn off stove when it is all melted.
2. measure your water and lye, then add your lye to your water and mix until it is dissolved. (add candy thermometer 2)
3. You want the 2 mixtures: fat and lye water to register the same temp about 100-105 degrees F. You can lower temp by putting container in cool water bath. It helps to have 2 people to do this. 
4. When they are the same temp, very slowly add the lye water to the fat..like a very thin string-like stream and mix with spoon.
5. After it is mixed in, take the immersion blender(ALWAYS keep blender blade UNDER the liquid-you don't want any lye spraying out at you!!) and blend for about 10 minutes or until it reaches "trace" (when it slightly thickens and will hesitate to drip off the blender/spoon) or leave a mark on the top that stays only for a moment when stirring with spoon)
6. After trace, you can either add your addtives oils, etc.. (recipe) or simply pour into mold.  I recommend milling rather than putting additives in at this point. The recipe is still reacting and may compromise the oils, or freeze up and you risk spoiling the batch. Milling is more work, but more guarenteed to accomplish the kind of soap you may want.
7. Cover the mold, then wrap 2 towels around it to keep it warm for about 48 hours while it finishes reacting and sets.
8. After it sets, unmold it onto a cutting board. Still wear gloves, because there could potentially be lye pockets in the soap.  cut up the soap into bars.
9. At this stage, you can either cure the basic soap. (it needs to dry for 3-4 weeks) or you can mill it into more specialized soaps.  If you cure it at this step, lay it out onto plastic canvases, flip every once in a while and let dry.

Milling soap

I recommend the recipes in this book:

just watch out in some versions, there is a mistake in it where it says to add water to the lye..those books were recalled, but I ended up with one of those, so they are in circulation. 

1. 
   
   Essentially, you take a pound of your soap, you grate it (a food processor makes this much easier).
2. 
   
   You measure about 9 oz of water. 
3. 
   
   You slowly melt your soap into the water (adding water gradually to melting soap (using double boiler). Sometimes this can take up to an hour.  Depending on your type of soap.  With my recipe, it did take about an hour. 
4. 
   
   After it is melted, you can mix in your addtives.
5. 
   
    spray your molds(very lightly) with olive oil spray, then put soap into molds,
6. 
   
   put molds into the freezer for 1-2 hours,
7. 
   
   then unmold onto the canvases to cure for 3-4 weeks. They will shrink. 
8. 
   
   Then shave off edges
9. 
   
   package.  I used sheer pourous fabric to wrap in then I tied them and included a tag(with ingredients) that was attached to the string.

For Kids

• There is a VERY easy way to make soap with children.  You buy a base melt and pour soap, you melt it in a double boiler and add color/fragrance and pour into molds. let sit until it hardens, then unmold and it can be used immediately.  

Fat Phobia

Fat cooking

I find in life, there are often "themes" and these themes make an interesting topic to write about..

Last night I started the first stage in making soap. I took out all the suet--(beef and lamb fat from the freezer..about 13 pounds of it! I thawed it out, chopped it up, added it to two stockpots of water with tons of salt (1TB salt per pound) and cooked it for a long time until it mostly metlted off of the chunky meat and gristle.  I then strained out the waste, and let the liquid mixture cool. 

This morning it looked like this:

It is a messy smelly job and I have to be very careful about not letting the stuff go down the drain. I ended up dumping my dishwater outside as far away from the house as I could.  While I was working, my daughter plugged her nose complaining that it smelled.  (-; 

But when I went to bed, I had visions of fat..the smell of it in my mind. (I probably smelled of it!)

All in all, it didn't really "gross me out"...much..  It was a very interesting process..watching something change into something else...and it will still yet change as I mix the fat with other fats and lye and water.  I still have one more step with the tallow...to skim/cut it out of the pan..after it has fully separated from the water.

(Later today:  Here is how it turned out!!  )

I did something else yesterday..(It was a productive day)  I joined a gym.  I have long neglected exercise..  I should not neglect it considering that my mother passed away at 55 from a heart attack. Her parents also died from heart disease in their 70's..  It runs in my family.  And my own cholesterol levels are "not normal" 

I have put a lot of energy into food, but I haven't seriously explored exercise...I haven't been quite as excited about that part...but it is just as important.. 

I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds, either...which brings me to my second thought on fats..  I wish to lose fat..fat on my body, fat in my arteries/veins..  tone my muscles, strenghten my heart. 

Interesting...how useful fat is...in the case of making soap..Amazing what fat can do---how "good" it is in so many ways, and also how harmful... How it is can clog the pipes in a house...or the pipes in a body. 

The general consensus is that fat is bad (I think)   Americans are too fat.....eat too much..  cholesterol is bad.  eat, cook chicken w/out the skin..  buy the low fat burgers.  buy the low fat/skim milk.  Saturated fat is bad...

Not all of that is the way to go...  In the case of burgers, the fat cooks off, and if you leave the fat in, you have a much tastier burger.  Many of what I just mentioned are actually not as beneficial as you might think. Whole milk is better than skim or low fat..  Because---the skim/low fat milk is the most processed...to the point of being "slime" and a gross color.  They actually add powdered milk back into it to make it look drinkable.  At least whole milk is closer to the real thing..  (We get raw whole milk from a farm)..the best kind.. (this is a whole other topic I could blog about) But this is one example where it is better to have the fat in the milk..than not.. 

Saturated fat is not as bad as you might think. For one, it is more stable for cooking.  Don't ever cook with canola oil..it is highly unstable and becomes carcinogenic when heated.  That is much worse for you than ingesting "saturated fat"

I tell my kids that there are good fats, medium fats, and bad fats. 

Good fats are in olive oil, medium fats are in meats, but bad fats are in chips and processed foods...those are the kind that have rancid/spoiled oils that are truly the culprit of high cholesterol.  Saturated fats can actually sooth your arteries/veins, but those rancid oils that have been chemically obliterated through processing--are so altered that they are not even recognizable by our bodies..they "inflame"  and "irritate" our bodies..and cause "plaque" 

Eating fat does not necessarily equal becoming fat..or harming our bodies..It is the "bad oils" that cause inflammation..  The latest research is that heart disease is cause by inflammation...  (get the picture) 

I wish I had the time to truly show my references, but a good place to start is Sally Fallon's -Nourishing Traditions. 

Fat is not our enemy...We don't need to be afraid of it.  It is an amazingly useful thing.  You can make soap or candles with it, it makes our food taste sooo good.  (Julia Child used tons of butter in her cooking)  And she lived to be quite old (80's or 90's??)  And from what I've heard, her food was fabulous.  Butter and Lard are WAY better than Crisco..or cooking food in oils that are unstable.  It doesn't matter if those chips are high end organic chips made from vegetables...If they were processed with canola oil...or heated at high temps when being processed, etc, they are not good for you...  Don't be fooled.

Fat is a wonderful thing..  It helps the brain.  Babies need saturated fat..for their brain development.  They need whole milk, etc..  Fat keeps their bodies warm. 

But we are out of balance in this country.. 

Here is my other thought on fat.  about some of the not so good aspects of excess.

Fat is also metaphorically hording.  Storing. Not letting go.  Taking too much. Not knowing a feeling of "enough". Not having enough discipline or integrity..  Not knowing when to stop.  Addicition.  Our homes can be full of "fat"---too much clutter that we don't use...just collect, hold onto..feel emotional about..

Our bodies can store "too much" fat..when we are out of balance.  Our bodies are out of balance. Some bodies don't regulate..and it is not blameworthy...and some minds/hearts are soo sad, lonely...behavior patterns..hard to get out of...there are so many unhealthy aspects to our culture..a culture of consumption...of rugged individualism..  And an unhealthy model of beauty..an unrealistic vision of how thin girls should be to be "beautiful" ....  and it hasn't gotten better..We truly are out of "whack"..  I don't write this in judgement of anyone.  I also "struggle with this everyday"...  With my body, with my "stuff"---trying to find that feeling of "enough" trying to figure out the line...what is a need and what is a want..  am I trying to fill a "hole" on a hard day.. etc..(I do not write this from the perspective of someone who has transcended this struggle)

But, my point is that fat is not our enemy..or something to "fear" or even to avoid.  But excess is what we have to find a way to regulate..and find that feeling of "Enough"  And also realizing that who we are should not be limited to what we look like..and that we come in all shapes and sizes.  Our souls are not a shape or size (that I know of)  It is good to try to be healthy..eat well, exercise, but that is one aspect of who we are..  human beings are much much more than that..Our "fat" or lack of it should not be our defining characteristic.

Soapmaking

http://www.brambleberry.com/Default.aspx

(this is a very good source of soap supplies!)

I have all this extra beef fat (tallow, suet) from ordering beef from a farmer.  (Grassfed beef is delicious, and much healthier btw.. ) Someone told me awhile back that I could make soap from it and it has sat in my mind as something I'd like to try.  Well, now, I am about to try to do it.  I will keep you posted on the process. I am really excited to try this new "adventure"  I have done quite a bit of research on it the past couple of weeks and I thought I'd share some of the resources I've found.  Also, I attended an informal class on making castille soap.  Basically, all you need for ingredients is olive oil, lye, and water.(for the basic castille soap)  I'm a little nervous about using lye, but it seems it isn't so dangerous if you follow the "precautions" and wear gloves, goggles, an apron.  and don't make any of it in aluminum. 

The first thing I have to do is the "render" the tallow.  Basically that involved cooking the fat until it is liquid and straining the pieces of meat out of it, so that I have a usuable fat for my soap. This step, I will be attempting possibly as soon as tomorrow.

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingoils/ss/rendertallow.htm

Here are some books/sites I have found useful

http://www.millersoap.com/soapanimal.html#TallowSoap

http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Soapmaking-Traditional-Luxurious-Handcrafted/dp/0938497421/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263760591&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Soap-Making-Skills-Started/dp/0811735737/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263760635&sr=1-21

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Soapmaker-Techniques-Luxurious-Handmade/dp/0806962216/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263760855&sr=8-1