A satisfying project - soy candles, essential oils and thrifted ceramics

Some more thread resurrection

I started with this thrifted sweater,

unraveled it...

and over-dyed it in greens, black, purple and red.

 Unfortunately, this particular sweater was kind of a bastard--everything stuck together tighter than I would have liked--so I probably ended up with a lot less yarn than I might have, and these skeins have more knots than usual. So! This batch of hand-dyed will be for personal use, not for sale.

But, on the plus side: the texture of this wool is really interesting, with lots of little nubbly bits that will look great knit up, especially newly colorized. The sweater was 100% wool, Eddie Bauer, from the Goodwill by the pound. I'd estimate that I ended up with around 600 yards.

I'm gonna let this batch hibernate for a bit, since I'm pretty deep into other projects at this precise moment. But I'm thinking this would make a really nice edging for a solid colored sweater. Perhaps. Or, maybe, thick and squishy boot socks? Time will tell.

Electric Bread!

Lookit what I made. 

I have a longstanding fondness for bread machines--I feel like maybe I'm a holdout here, like they had their moment, and it is now past. At least, I base this assessment on how very readily one can find a new/near new machine at thrift stores across this great land of ours. 

A fine 5$ bread machine; An excellent set of recipes (both easily thriftable)

Foolishness. A bread machine is a great cheater's way to have fresh baked goods, which means: to save money, to have your house smell awesome, and to feel more proud of yourself than you have a right to. Also, homemade pizza. 

I think I've made my point.

Oh! But the main trick is, don't actually bake the bread in the machine, if you can help it. It comes out much better from the oven (nicer crust, no weird hole in the bottom of the loaf from where the mixing paddle sticks up).