2011 Thing a Week - Week 30 - Dish Scrubbies

I whipped up some dish scrubbies as the one we have sort of exploded. It's crocheted out of mesh, and at some point it ripped and now has a giant hole on one side. After a week of using a scrubby that was falling apart I thought it was time for some new ones.

These are knit from acrylic yarn as I've heard it scrubs better than cotton. These can be put through the top rack of the dishwasher (spear it so it doesn't move and get caught in the drain!) or can be washed with other kitchen towels. I had two of the old dish scrubby, and the second one was for washing the car. It worked great to scrub bugs off the front of the car.

2011 Thing a Week - Week 29 - Felted Soaps

So I finally made some felted soaps. I've been meaning to make these for a while, and it was a lot more difficult than I originally thought.

First I just wrapped the wool around the soap, dipped it in some hot water, and then rubbed it in my hands for a while. It just seemed to move the wool around. I scrubbed it hard between my hands for a while, and it still didn't seem to do much. I tried again with another soap, and it was the same.

Then like usual, I got mad and the soaps had to go on a time out for a little while. (Been wondering how that quilt is going? It's been on time out for a few weeks. I still need to ask you for help to see what exactly is going on wrong with it.)

Then I cut off the foot of a pair of tights, wrapped new wool around the already wooly soap, shoved it in the tights, and scrubbed it with a potato scrubber for a few minutes. The one on the left came out really well but the other two have a few spots where the wool is not fully attached and pulls away in small chunks. I don't know if I will fix the other two or just leave them. Also, I meant to give the good one to my friend Lindsay while she was in town, but I totally forgot! Now she's back in Texas, oops!

2011 Thing a Week - Week 28 - Lacy Ruffled Hat

Shelby's Place is closing and selling off their inventory for 50% off. I picked up a bunch of worsted weight merino sport yarn to knit baby hats since I know of a few babies that will be born in the next few months. When I grabbed this butter colored skein I almost put it back as it's a different sort of color, but when I found this pattern for it I knew it would be perfect.

I ended up finishing the i-cord the day Zoe was born, and we got to see her the next day! She was less than a day old!

The hat has you increase to 60 stitches for an infant hat and that just looked too small. I increased to 70 and of course that looked to big when I was finished. When we put it on the baby it fit great! It's of course a little big, but babies grow so fast in those first few months that this will fit for longer than a week. I love how it turned out and can't wait to make more!

2011 Thing a Week - Week 27 - Fuchsia Soaker

Another soaker for the baby, this time a smidge more girly.

With the weather so hot, most mornings I just pull a soaker on over her diaper and that's it! But her green and grey one was getting a little snug, so it was time to make Minnie another. I used Paton's Classic Wool, which isn't too sturdy but worked well for the previous pairs I've made. For the longies, which get more wear at the knees, I use a sturdier wool, bluefaced leicester. If this pink pair hold up I'll make her a few more pairs. If not, I'll save the wool for Future Baby.

2011 Thing a Week - Week 26 - Produce Bags

This week Tara and I got together to make some produce bags. We use reusable bags in our shopping, but we didn't have anything to use for produce. Tara brought over her two kids and some tulle, and we went about making some bags.

The one with the thicker band is super cute, but I don't want to have to pay extra for produce because of my bag. The one with a thinner band works just as well but is lighter.
After one trip to the farmer's market the tulle already snagged. I read up on produce bags, and heard about some heavier duty mesh that you can get at fabric stores, so I will need to hunt down some of that. I may also ditch the fabric band all together, even though it's cute, to keep the bag as light as possible.
Has anyone used reusable produce bags at the grocery store? Will they give you a discount like they do when you have reusable grocery bags?