Surprises

Today when I got home from work the house smelt lovely! In Sweden, St Lucia saffron buns are very popular this time of year, and my three boys had decided that it was time for the first batch to be made!

 

The classic saffron buns are quite nice, but the boys made these really delicious, stuffed with butter and almond paste. It was a very popular Thursday evening snack yesterday!

Furthermore, there were two packages for me in the post!

 

We try to minimize our use of plastic at home, especially when it comes to cooking, eating, and food storage. There are so many reports on hazardous softeners in plastics that are suspected to act as hormone disruptors, especially for infants and particularly for boys.

I’ve had my eyes opened for something that can replace plastic film, something we use a lot of. So I found Bee’s wrap:

It was quite expensive, but I was really excited about this product!
The Bee’s wrap is a piece of fabric infused with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin. It is made by a small company in Vermont.

I had to try it immediately! Voila, a piece of parmesan cheese wrapped in Bee’s wraps.

As you see, the wrap is really snug. You use the warmth of your hands to form it really stick to the shape.

The third surprise was in line with the Bee’s wrap, namely Otter wax.

I’ve seen that other bloggers use this to make waxed table cloth and bibs for kids! These are projects that I hope I can share with you soon!

Adjusting size of felted mittens

The mittens I made for my husband turned out pretty well!

However, the right hand mitten was a bit smaller than the left hand mitten, and my husband preferred the fit of the smaller one.

I tried to adjust the size by felting the mittens by hand. To do this I filled the sink with hot water and some flaxseed oil soap.

Then I worked the mittens towards the washboard. I tried to make the mittens fit more snuggly around the wrists.

 

This treatment turned the mittens thicker, so they will stand more of the cold wind, and the sizes are now also more coherent.

 

 

Mittens for the husband

After my incident with the felted mittens that turned out too small:

I decided to make another pair for my husband. I have not made anything for him before, he's quite picky, but I think a pair of felted wool mittens will come in handy when the snow starts to fall.

I did have a back-up plan: Since "my" mittens now fit my 3-year old, I figured that if my husband's mittens turn out too small as well, they will fit me!

I made the mittens huge, and run out of yarn during the process.

After an hour in the washing machine on 40 degrees Celsius, they looked like this:

The mittens shrunk a bit differently, but that could be fixed. I could also tell where I ran out of yarn, because the new yarn shrank more.

However, the end result was good:

I will do some wool embroidery too, but I was quite eager to share the result so far.

My sister joins the sewing community!!

My sister bought a sewing machine a while ago. She has made some beanies for my boys, and now she has made her first top.

I'm really impressed!

She didn't use a patter, but traced a top she had. I've never succeded in doing this!
Furthermore she stars out her sewing adventure with sewing with knit fabrics!

Great job sister!

Bread

Yesterday afternoon/evening I made some bread loafs with the kids.

I'm not used to the English language when it come to baking, so I will write in Swedish.

Jag skulle gärna vilja baka mycket mer av det dagliga bröd som familjen äter. Det går bra i perioder, men så känns det ofta som att det är svårt att få tiden att räcka till. Särskilt nu när jag jobbar under dagarna.

Det var dock en positiv överraskning igår att det gick att få ihop bröden under en helt vanlig kväll. Jag började redan på måndagen med att skålla rågdeg, sedan blandade jag ihop fördegen igår vid 17.00, och denna skulle jäsa en timme. Sedan var det dags att använda hushållsassistenten och knåda degen som sedan skulle jäsa ytterligare 1 timme. Därefter formades bröden, som jäste 45 minuter och gräddades 1 timme.

Jästid: 2 h 45 min
Gräddningstid: 1 h

Det var alltså 3 h 45 min i bara jäs- och gräddningstid! Om jag inte hade varit tankspridd och skållat rågmjölet kvällen innan hade jag ALDRIG gett mig in på ett sådant projekt en helt vanlig kväll.

Det visade sig dock att det gick hur bra som helst att baka dessa bröden! Arbetsinsatserna mellan jästiderna är små, och gräddningen kunde ske medan nattning av busfröna pågick.

Jag ska prova mer vardagsbak framöver!

 

Resultatet blev härligt fluffiga limpor!

 

Receptet finns i Jan Hedhs bok "BRÖD", och kallas Laputabröd.

Stain treatment - flaxseed oil soap

When doing laundry this week-end, I found a few clothes pieces that did not come out as nice and clean as I wished for.

These clothes had been in the laundry bag for quite some time, so the spots had dried thoroughly. I did not treat any of the spots in advance, they just went in the washing machine, 40 degrees Celsius.

 

I put flaxseed oil soap on the spots on the wet  garments and let them rest while I had dinner with the family. Afterwards, I put them in the washing machine again, 40 degrees Celsius.

 

The results:

 

The blood stain is almost gone!

 

The neckline looks better!

 

 

The corn stain is still there...

 

The deodorant stain is not as pronounced.

Felted wool mittens

I have just made my first felted wool mittens!

I thought these would be perfect for when I bike to work during the cold months.

The pattern and yarn is from a local needlework and wool shop, Fingerfärda  The yarn is by Ullcentrum, a company that sells local sheep wool that would otherwise have gone to waste.

Since the mittens are knitted with large needles they are very quick to knit.

Before they are felted they are huge. I put plastic bags inside the mittens and thumbs to keep them from felting together.

 I used flaxseed oil soap to prepare the mittens then put them in the washing machine together with some red bath towels, and washed them in 40 degrees Celsius.

 When the mittens had dried I used some wool embroidery thread and stitched some stars.

There is only one problem…

Lovely, warm, mittens for the kids!