Knifty Knitter Fingerless gloves for kids!

My daughter has been bugging me the past few months about making her some fingerless gloves.  Unfortunately, making the gloves on the blue Knifty Knitter loom makes the gloves go up to her shoulder... Stylish, but not what I'm going for!  So, I thought, we not use the Knifty Knitter flower loom.  They came out really cute! Hope you find this useful:


Materials:  Flower Loom (I hot glued my pegs in place!), yarn (I used 2 stands throughout to make them thick!)

• Cast on (you will be making a flat panel using all the pegs on the loom)
• Knit until the piece is long enough to go around your little ones wrist (I knitted 20 rows)
• When you have knitted the amount you need, reach into the loom and bring up the cast on row
• Just as you would for making a turned brim, put the bars from the cast on row back on the pegs SKIPPING PEG 5!
• Knit the pegs that have two loops on them
• Starting from the last peg, remove the whole piece using the crochet method

Liquid Laundry Soap

My review for the powdered laundry soap is in...  it gets clothes clean, but I feel like I always need to add more than 2 tablespoons.  This is purely a "me" thing... because the clothes are clean!  I think it's because after using name brand laundry detergent over my lifetime, I must be brainwashed that I have to use more (like a 1/4 cup or something).  More is better right?  So, I found myself doing laundry sprinkling in a little more washing soda or borax.  I was also at times putting 3 tablespoons of the laundry soap in.  So, I'm moving on to liquid laundry soap. This recipe definitely is MORE!  It makes 10 gallons!  I'll be having laundry detergent for years!

This soap is apparently the Duggar family recipe.  We don't have a TV, so I don't know much about them except what I see on the internet.  Apparently, they have a really big family (19 kids), and laundry is a full time job in that house.  Therefore, they should know what works.  So their recipe is:

1 grated bar of soap ( I'm going to use my homemade soap!)
1 cup of washing soda (see recipe, if you can't find it in the stores)
1/2 cup of borax
4 cups of hot water
5 gallon bucket
MORE water

Melt the grated soap in a saucepan with 4 cups of water.

 Fill up the bucket half way with hot water.  Add the melted soap, washing soda, and borax to the bucket.

Mix and make sure everything has dissolved.  Then add more water to fill the bucket.  Let it stand overnight and it will turn to gel.

Some people use the soap at this point.  One cup per load.  But the Duggar family takes it one step farther.  They are saying that what we just made is a concentrate.   When you are ready to use it, fill half of a used name brand laundry detergent container with your newly made soap and the other have with water.  Use one cup per load!

So I'm going to try both ways...  I'll get back to you!

Knifty Knitter Dish Scrub

A simple 20 minute project with great results!  This little scrubby works great on all hard to clean pots, pans, and dishes.  All you need is a blue loom and nylon thread.  I found this stuff on a trip to home depot with my husband!

Cast on leaving 8-10 inches on the holding peg. E-wrap and  knit 15 rows.  Cast off using the gathering method.  Using the thread from the holding peg, using the gathering method to gather the other side.  Tie off and hide the thread inside.

I also made a smaller scrub by knitting just 10 rows!  Experiment away!

Again, thanks to Rostitchery for another great tutorial!

Washing Soda

So, I've been making soap like no one's biz... and now I want to go to the next level...  laundry detergent. It's economical, and I can use my homemade soap in it.  The basic ingredients are 1/2 of Borax, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and 2 cups of grated soap.  I had no problem finding the borax... but the washing soda, I couldn't find to save my life.  You would think in an urban setting, I would have no problem finding it.  So with a little research I found out you can make it!  Washing Soda is Baking Soda cooked.  By baking baking soda for about 2 hours on 400 degrees, the baking soda becomes washing soda.  If you are interested in the chemistry of it... google it....  but I must say....  I am now a proud maker of laundry detergent.  Two table spoons of detergent into the load... and I have clean clothes!