Ladybug Appliques

Last night I had a lot of fun combining 2 very cute items to create an even cuter finished product: my hand knit wool soakers and Moose Threads' crocheted appliques. Check out the cuteness!

This was a very fun collaboration project, as the creator of Moose Threads is quite easy and fun to work with. She was able to give me all these lovely ladybugs in 100% wool and in colors and sizes to fit my wool soakers. She also included enough extra yarn to allow me to secure each applique and add a generous flight trail to each one. Be sure to check out her shop for more cute appliques as well as hats, sweaters, and luxurious slipper socks. She is very creative and always happy to do custom orders.

Did I mention that these ladybugs are irresistible to toddlers and add a huge incentive for them to keep their diapers on? Yes, they are a pretty big deal around here!

Bread Making 101 Installment 4

For those of you who have have been following the bread making installments, here is a post to help you figure out what may be going wrong when your bread does not turn out just how you want it. We all make mistakes but it is nice to know how to fix them the next time around.

Troubleshooting:
Dough won’t rise:
-Did you forget the yeast or use old inactive yeast? To save the dough, dissolve new yeast into water and work into dough
Sides and bottom of bread are too pale:
-Oven temperature too low or pan did not allow enough heat to penetrate crust.
Remove bread from pan and return to oven upside down for 5-10 minutes.
Crust too soft:
-Not enough steam in oven. Next time try glazing crust and spraying inside of
oven with water. Or place a pan of water at bottom of oven during baking.
Crust too hard:
-May be too much glaze or too much moisture in oven. Soften a loaf by placing
it in a plastic bag overnight.
Crust separates from the bread:
-Either the dough dried-out during rising or oven temperature was too low and
The dough expanded unevenly. Next time ensure that rising dough is covered and
be sure to preheat oven thoroughly.
Soft pale crust:
-Bread may not have cooked long enough or temperature was too low. If it does
not sound hollow, return to oven without pan and finish baking.
Bread is crumbly or dry:
-Bread was baked too long or too much flour was added. Try adding more liquid
Or less flour next time. Also ensure that oven is not too hot and check bread when
crust is golden brown.
Large holes in loaf:
-Dough was not punched down well enough or it was not kneaded enough.
Bread has yeasty flavor:
-Too much yeast was used. Only use 1.5 times quantity of yeast if doubling the
recipe. Do not add extra yeast if rising in a cool room, just allow to rise longer.
Loaf collapses in oven:
-Dough was probably left to rise too long for second rising. Dough should only
double in bulk. Also, substituting alternate types of flours can cause this.
Loaf is dense and flat:
-Too much liquid used resulting in soft dough, or dough was not kneaded enough.
Check liquid quantities and ensure that dough is kneaded at least 10 minutes.

Fall Perennial Maintenance

Fall time is a wonderful time to be in the garden ; the air is cool, the ground is (sometimes) dry, and weeds are not growing quite as fast. I am no longer working outside of the home due to my need to care for 2 ankle-biters, but once upon a time I did work at a botanical garden as a horticulturist. What did I do? I watered, pruned, weeded, answered a thousand visitor questions per day, and paid attention to all the details that make a garden look truly spectacular. Autumn was not a lazy time, but an energizing time to be in the garden. I am going to briefly discuss one aspect of fall garden maintenance that can really result in a cleaner appearance; perennial maintenance.

What is a perennial? A perennial is any plant that lives for more than one year, typically we are referring to those that live for 3 or more years. So a perennial can be a tree, shrub, or even a weed. What I will specifically be discussing here are herbaceous perennials. Herbaceous perennials are those that are non-woody and typically go dormant or die-down for the winter and reappear in the spring. So when you see that your bleeding heart is turning brown, no need to worry, it will be back in the spring.

How do you care for your perennials when they are turning brown? Short answer: cut them to the ground or leave them alone. Technically you don't have to do a thing to them, but reasons of aesthetics and pest/disease management I recommend cleaning them up.To cut them back you simply use a pair of pruners or scissors to cut them all the way to the ground or you may gently pull the leaves away if they come without resistance. Here are a few points to consider when deciding to cut back your perennials:

1)Brown is Better: The more you let the leaves and stems turn the brown, the more nutrients the plant has allocated to the roots. In the winter time, roots continue to grow while the top rests, but the roots need all the nutrients they can get from the top of the plant. When it is completely brown, the food transferring job is already done; go ahead and cut it.

2) Bit by Bit: If you don't like the sight of the dying plant, you can do as I do and cut out sections of the browning plant little by little until the whole thing is gone. Don't be afraid to cut in random patterns, you will not be doing damage to the plant at this point. At some botanical displays it is required to cut the plant back before the plant has died down, but this adds stress to the plant and the following season may not be quite as spectacular in growth and blooms. Doing it in sections is a nice balance for maintaining a good appearance and health.

3) Pest Management: Sanitation is one of the key elements of IPM (Integrated Pest Management). IPM is an all encompassing method of controlling or treating diseases or pests by starting with the most natural methods of prevention and defence and only resorting to chemical treatments when other methods have been exhausted. Sanitation involves clearing dead leaves and debris that accumulate beneath a plant. or cutting out sick or diseased portions of a plant. many pests or spores perpetuate by incubating eggs or pupae in the dead debris that eventually transfer to living plant materials. By removing unnecessary perennial foliage in the fall, you are helping to keep your garden clean, tidy, and disease/pest-free.

4) Exceptions: Some plants you may want to leave when they turn brown because there is some artistic value in the winter months. For example, grasses are typically enjoyed until January because of the soft look they have in the bare winter landscape. Autumn Joy sedums are also valued for the way the look all dusted with snow int he middle of winter.

5)Have Fun!: This is probably one of my favorite garden tasks. What gardener doesn't like the satisfaction of pulling out the pruners and cutting away? Well, this is a great opportunity to hack away without obsessing too much about doing something wrong. You will also love how nice your garden looks when you are done!

Examples of common herbaceous perennials in the garden: peonies, bleeding heart, hosta, many bulbs, daylilies, lilies, black-eyed-susan, most daisies and mums, grasses, veronica, coral bells, and many more.

Quick Tip For Gardeners

For those of you who may have a problem with an invasive shrub or cane berry such as poison oak or blackberries, now is the time to take action! For the most effective spray treatment you want to do it right before the leaves change and fall off of the plant. This time of year a deciduous plant sends all their energy and resources from the top of the plant to the roots, for storage and root growth. So if you spray them with a systemic chemical, like Crossbow, then the chemical will be pulled down to the roots and therefore be more successful in killing or doing serious damage to the plant.

Resist cutting it back first. The more chemical that you can apply to the unaltered shrub, the better. Feel free to cut it back after the leaves have all fallen off and the plant is beginning to look dead. You may find that this will not completely eradicate the weed in one treatment. The following year you may have more shoots coming up, but when you spray them they will be more likely to be gone for good.

Happy weed fighting!

Deodarizing Tip

While I wholeheartedly recommend cloth diapering and currently have 2 toddlers in cloth, I must admit to there being a few minor drawbacks. Lets be honest here; diapers stink. There are a variety of ways to keep your home smelling fresh and in the past I have been highly successful at keeping all the odors contained. However, as my babies have grown into toddlers I suddenly noticed that this was becoming harder to do. They wet more heavily and this has made it highly challenging to keep my bathroom smelling fresh. I was at the point where I was going to stop using cloth if I could not find a solution, my nose can only take so much.

In review of the practices I already have in place, here are a few things that have worked for me in the past:

1)Contained diaper pail with a lid and waterproof liner. The lid keeps the odors in the can and the liner keeps the pail clean so I can just throw the bag of diapers in the washer and not have a dirty pail to constantly clean.

2)Using diaper liners to make rinsing out the diapers easier.

3)Deo-disks: These go in the lid of the diaper pail and can last for weeks. They are citrus scented and do a pretty good job, but I stopped using them long ago because my nose is too sensitive to want to breath in the ultra concentrated orange scent, especially early in the morning.

4)Wash diapers every other night.

5)Keep diaper pail in the bathroom so I can turn a fan on after opening the lid.-

Now to reveal my newest secret that has finally solved my problems! Smokey Mountain Scents' soy and soy blend candles. I have never been much of a candle fan but I decided to try one of her smellerific creations to see if it would make the air a little more pleasant. Her heavily-scented candles have worked like a charm. I simply burn the candle for a little while in the evening when the kids go to bed and it leaves the bathroom smelling wonderful all night and the following day! Initially I expected this to just be a patch over a festering wound and that there would still be an underlying odor but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the candles have done much better than that. When I am not actually burning the candle I leave the lid off to keep the scent alive for longer.

So whether you are cloth diapering a stinky toddler or just want to keep your bathroom or home smelling fresh, I highly recommend Smokey Mountain Scents' wonderful candle creations! You can find these and more of her wonderful products at http://www.smokeymountainscents.etsy.com/ and http://hyenacart.com/AmericasHandmadeHomefront/

Gifts From South Africa

My little bro just got back from spending 2 years in South Africa and he has many stories to share. He also decided to ditch all the clothes he had brought and to fill his suitcases with gifts for the family; what a generous soul! Check out the things he brought back for me:

1) Local art: These three objects are palm kernals that are about the size of a chestnut. Each one was delicately carved by a local artist. He etched away the seed coating to reveal the white flesh of the nut, leaving pictures of African animals and the names of all our family members. A little leather strap is attached to each one.

2) Placemats: Here are 6 large placemats that scream African safari! There is a placemat that represents each of the 'Big Five' game animals as well as some zebras. Check out that adorable baby elephant! I plan to make a table runner or table cloth that goes with the theme.

3) Mbira or Kalimba: Also known as a thumb piano, this instrument consists of a crude piece of wood, flattened nails, and copper wire. I had suggested to my bro that he should not return from SA until he found one of these at a local market! For those of you who are fans of the movie, "The Gods Must Be Crazy" you will remember this instrument. He searched for 2 years and in several countries and finally found one in Namibia. I was thrilled that he found it!

Now don't these pictures make you want to visit Africa?

Caring for your Wool Diaper Covers

Washing and Lanolizing:

Washing and lanolizing a wool cover is very easy to do, but it does require some special care. Because of the antibacterial qualities of wool, you may not need to wash more than every 2 weeks. The more you allow your wool cover to air out and dry between uses, the less frequently you will have to wash. If poo gets on the cover or is begins to smell, this also necessitates it being washed. Here’s the basic wash method:

Fill a small sink or basin with tepid water (not too cold, not too warm). Add a small amount (about 1 tsp) of mild baby shampoo (Aveeno, etc) and swish around. Ivory soap or olive oil bar soap can also be used. Then take a small amount (pea size or less) of pure lanoline (Lansinoh, etc) and dilute it in a mug of HOT water; stir to completely dissolve. Mix into the sink of water. Immerse and gently wash the cover in the prepared water. Drain the water and fold the wool cover in quarters, then gently squeeze the water by pressing down on the cover; do not twist or ring. Roll the cover in a towel and press down firmly to absorb excess water. Lay flat on a drying rack or baking cooling rack to dry for about 24 hours. Putting it in a warm outdoor location will speed this up to only a few hours.

*a liquid wool wash or bar can be used instead of the baby shampoo and lanoline for regular washing. Wool wash bars can also be used directly on poopy areas on the cover for good results. Using a wool wash bar eliminates the need for using additional lanoline for regular washing purposes.

Lanolizing:

This is done to help maintain the wool’s water proof qualities. A cover may need to be lanolized once every month or 3 months or whenever it is easily saturated with water or if it begins to smell. Lanolizing is much like regular washing, but more lanoline is used. Fill sink with tepid water, add ¼ tsp pure lanolin to HOT water and stir to completely dissolve. Immerse the cover in this water/lanoline mixture and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Drain, and repeat drying process as described in washing instructions.