Rose Soap

I've made some shampoo bars recently. Because I'm impatient I'm already using it. My hair looks great, and has adjusted nicely. It tangles a little more overnight and as a result takes a bit longer to brush, but we're talking seconds here, and it's well and truly worth it. It stays in place better now, so that's a fair trade off.

Today I made rose scented soap (fragrance, not essential oil). I used my basic rice bran / tallow / coconut oil base. I added red oxides for colouring - half a teaspoon, and 10 ml of rose scent. I'm not too happy with the colour, but most bizarre of all - it started gelling before I'd finished putting it into the mould. I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I keep checking it every 10 minutes or so to see what's happening.

It's the weirdest thing though - the soap isn't insulated. Only thing I can think is I didn't wait until the oil returned to room temperature - and didn't cool the lye off. I'll just have to wait til tomorrow to unmould it and see how it went.

In other news, I've joined the Hexapuff craze that's taken over Ravelry. I'm not stuffing them, so I guess I'm making Hexaflats?

Victorian Prude Cat

RIP Victorian Prude Cat.

Back in May we were woken in the middle of the night by one of our three cats pulling herself up onto the bed - her hind quarters were paralysed. We took her to the vet, she was given a pain killer, put on cage rest and we took her back in the morning. She walked out of the cage, it seemed like a miracle.

Then on Thursday, 28 July 2011, Mr. Iddy called me at work - the same thing had happened. He took her to the vet, got her pain killers. Friday morning, she seemed to be on the mend. She was walking around, she didn't seem to be in much pain, and she was enjoying rare sunbeams.

On Saturday she was upside down on the spare bed and seemed to be raising her front paws with each breath. She then flipped over and seemed fine. Yesterday I was walking out to meet Mr. Iddy for a meeting, and checked on her as I stepped out the front door (she was laying in a sunbeam). I called Mr. Iddy, and he came home and checked her - we'd forgotten to give her pain killers at breakfast, so we gave her some, and went to the movie.

We got home and she still had laboured breathing, so we took her to the vet. Unfortunately it was heart failure, and she didn't come home with us. We miss you Victorian Prude Cat, and will always love you.

On the soap front, I made another batch - 650 grams this time, pre melted the oils - it went better this time. I recommend pre melting them and then letting them cool. It's really worth the extra effort. Meanwhile, I'm having mould issues - I can't seem to pour into the mould evenly, I'm wondering if I'm letting trace go on for too long. Maybe I'll just overfill the damn things and cut the tops off when I unmould. This batch I didn't bother gelling.

I've finished a new jumper for Mr. Iddy (first one I've finished for him), and have cast on a Citron shawl. It's a fun little knit, and just what I needed to get my mojo back!