Orenburg lace

Orenburg lace is a fiber craft from Russia. Traditionally these lace shawls are made from goat (cashmere) fibers. Many people in the English world referred to them as wedding ring shawls because the knitting was so fine the entire shawl (normally quite large) could be pulled through a wedding ring.

I decided to try my hand at a warmer version of the Orenburg lace shawl and knit one in light fingering yarn. I found this shawl in the 2009 May / June PieceWork magazine (an Interweave Press periodical) at the local library. I spun some of my merino and after I plied it it was a light fingering yarn, not really suitable for most of the sweaters on my list. So, since I now have a suitable yarn with the correct yardage, I decided to go ahead and try this one. Wish me luck.

The photo above is from Interweave press. They have great magazines: Spin Off, Hand Woven, Interweave Knits...so many to choose from.

Soap

The soap is curing and when I cut it it broke, but it is still soap and my does it smell good. I particularly like the Neroli, Frankincense, and Rosewood combo. They are all fabulous, though.

Making soap

I am in the process of making soap. The first step is rendering the lard. I cut up 28 pounds of lard (I have 16 more to go) and put it in pots to liquify. I cooked it util most of the water was gone and then I strained it and put the lard in buckets with ice water to rapidly cool it and clarify it further. After it solidified, I melted it again and cooked it until the thermometer read 225 degrees F. Here are a few photos of the process.