Filed under: Health Stuff, Hippy Shit, How-To, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Things I Make | Tags: DIY, exfoliate, health and beauty, homemade, How-To, natural products, Recipes
With all the warning coming out about this chemical or that chemical, I thought I’d share a ‘recipe’ for a simple exfoliating scrub that you can make with ingredients found in your kitchen. This product is super-effective and so safe you could eat it — quite literally!
Filed under: How-To, In The Kitchen, Make Lists of Things, Random Geekery, Recipes, Review Things, The Urban Jungle, Things I Do | Tags: urban jungle, urban foraging, home canning, urban homesteading, urban hippy, video tutorials
I’ve finally stopped joking about it and started freely admitting that, yes, I am an “urban hippy” in most ways. My acceptance of Hippydom came, I believe, last summer when using the sledgehammer to smash up donated, “found”, and recycled concrete patio stones to make a rather organic-looking seating area in my back garden. (I will be creating something similar in the side yard this year, for those who are curious.)
DH, being home, unemployed, and generally driving me nutty now, has fully embraced his own inner hippy and has been busy as a beaver setting up a website where we can play online. My blog isn’t going anywhere, but I will have a few things that are cross-posted to the new site (product reviews, etc). Pretty much everything I’d post to the recipe site will be also found on urbanhippy.ca.
Filed under: Fibre Crafts, How-To, Make Lists of Things, Needlecraft, Random Geekery, Review Things, Teeth | Tags: crafts, crochet, DIY, knit kit, knitting
I got a tweet this morning about a new product called “The Knit Kit“. It contains a small pair of scissors, stitch markers, point protectors, stitch counter, thread cutter, crochet hook and a measuring tape and retails for a mere $20 US.
I cry “Highway Robbery!” as I made my own “knit kit” for far less than that more than a year ago, and by pure accident rather than whim!
My fun project this past week was turning a white skein of Briggs & Little ‘Regal’ yarn into 
a veritable kaleidoscope of colours. It was a lot easier and much less messy than I expected, and I’m already planning to pick up a few more skeins to try the same techniques with the other dyes I have on hand.
Things You’ll Need
- 1 skein of Briggs & Little ‘Regal’, white
- 1 large bowl
- white vinegar
- 3 small refillable squirt bottles, such as those sold at drugstores for travelling
- 2 or 3 Easter egg dye tablets
- plastic wrap
- stovetop steamer and pot
We really don’t do the Easter “thing” here with the bunnies and chocolates and eggs and stuff. I may change my mind, if the kids tell me they want to do that, but I’m certainly not introducing it to them. As a child, it always seemed strangely incongruous to celebrate the death of Jesus–an important man with a great and peaceful message, who was nailed to a cross and tortured until he died–with fluffy bunnies delivering candy and toys to children everywhere. I liked the candy, sure, but it seemed really weird and full of mixed messages.
What I *did* do this Easter was talk about the significance of the holiday with my oldest son, took pictures of a few Peeps in a pan, and then waited for the after-Easter sales on egg decorating kits.
Why, you might ask?
Why so I could do this, of course!
This lovely 1/2oz braid of Corriedale roving is dyed with green Easter Egg dye–those tiny little pellets from the egg kits that seem to be so popular around this time of year. By waiting until after Easter, I was able to scoop up 6 kits (with 6 or more pellets per kit) for about $0.50 each. They make lovely stable, bright colors and are kid-safe–unlike some of the more “professional” dyes I could use.
I did a second one in a lovely vibrant hot purple, and currently have a third in progress (only 56 grams)–it’s a bright electric blue. For kicks, I also dyed a fourth portion (1/2oz) with Ice Blue Raspberry KoolAid–it’s a pretty light aqua that will blend nicely with the more vivacious blue for a felted project I have in mind. I’ll take pictures of those once they are dry and braided.
