Romance & Roses

Soon it will be Valentine's Day and many of us start thinking of Romance and Roses.  We desire to surround ourselves with bath and body items of beauty.  One of the many things I like to use is body powder for days that I may be hot and sticky.  Body powder can be purchased or made at home.  I like to use cornstarch, arrowroot powder and tapioca flour. A mixture of these powders works fine.  A touch of white mica (for shimmer) and a bit of fragrance oil or essential oil is sweetens the deal.  Different essential oils have antibacterial properties which is helpful when you are prone to sweating.  Oh, I forgot, women glow.  LOL   Most well known of these antibacterial essential oils is tea tree and lavender.  Tea tree is stinky to me and would have to be camouflaged with other fragrances. 

Body Powder,  Dusting Powder, Talcum Powder, & Perfumed Body Powder are all terms to describe the same thing.  Talcum is seldom used and most powders have some sort of fragrance, even Baby Powder.

If you decide to make your own powder,  you probably have containers at home to place the powder in.  I have a salt shaker shaped as a dress.  It works great for shaking powder onto my hand so I may place it on my body.  My preference is to use a powder puff, so my hands aren't all powdered.  These puffs can be made with the use of novelty yarn.  Any soft yarn such as eyelash or extra fluffy baby yarn is preferred.  I crocheted a circle and then closed the circle up.  A little piece of ribbon for a holder can be used in the center of the puff.   For containers, I like to use small jars and decorate the jars and/or the jar tops.   Another simple container to use is a teacup.  What do you think you will use?  

Don't forget to make a washcloth using the heart pattern posted here:  https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8166745332559091209#editor/target=post;postID=3780019047132877636;onPublishedMenu=template;onClosedMenu=template;postNum=3;src=postname

You can use any cotton yarn, but my preference is a thinner yarn, such as dk size.  I find the sugar n' cream yarn is too thick for me to use as a washcloth.  Once you use the washcloth or dishcloth, you want it to thoroughly dry between uses.  It is not necessary to use a second yarn for the additional sparks in the washcloth.

Do you have Valentine's Day plans?  I hope you enjoy the day!  Thank you for reading my blog.  Dawnie

PS  Don't forget to go to my website at: https://www.slipperywhenwetsoaps.com or my website at: https://www.custercottage.com or my Etsy shop at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CusterCottage

Sparkles

one lavender and two pink sparkle heart washcloths or dishcloths

Heart washcloths on display to greet guests and myself.  If I want to be pampered, I may have to pamper myself.  LOL

Dawnie

For a pattern, please refer to previous post. 

Resolutions???

Do you have goals or new year's resolutions?  What are they?
 
With what time I have left, I don't expect to climb Mt. Everest or earn a rodeo buckle for bull riding.  My goals are to get to the pearly gates. but before I do, I want to be here to support my son, help raise my granddaughters to become life-long learners, put their faith in God, enjoy life, and never forget to test skirts for "swirl factor."    Dawnie

Hearts Washcloth or dishcloth

Several years ago I made some dishcloths/washcloths with a center heart.  I used the pattern from the magazine which happened to come with cute labels "knitted with love."  I made several heart cloths and I varied the yarns.  I found that using cotton yarn with a thin, decorative carrier yarn gave the cloths an individualized look and a lot of pizzazz!   I can't find the original pattern, so I made one up similar to the original.  To knit up the cloths, I used a cotton yarn (paintbox, 50 gram skeins, 137 yards, 100 percent cotton, DK weight or #3 in weight) and a carrier yarn (Ice, Petunia, 20 gram balls, 190 meters, 70% polyester and 30% metallic) together.  The sparkle really adds to the cloth.  They are not scratchy. They work up to be 8" wide and  8" tall.  I used size 6 knitting needles.  If your cloth turns out to be a little larger or a little smaller, I don't think it will matter, so I didn't mess with the gauge.  This is a nice size of cloth for me and it doesn't stretch out with the weight of the water, like larger cloths do.

The pattern is designed for beginning knitters, but anyone should enjoy the pattern.  If you want to add a challenge to the pattern, only knit the center heart with the carrier yarn and yarn combination, or use a different color of yarn for the heart.

I added a place for you to check off for each row in case you knit with interruptions.  Sometimes it is difficult to tell where you are in a pattern.  If you find any problems with the pattern, please give me an email, or put a comment below.   

Heart Dishcloths/Washcloths Pattern:
Cast on 41 stitches
Row 1 through 6:  knit every stitch
1____2___3___4___5___6___
Row 7: knit 4 stitches, purl 33 stitches, knit 4 stitches
7___
Row 8: knit every stitch
8___
Row 9 through 13:  Repeat rows 7 and 8 two more times, and then row 7 again.
9___10___11___12___13___
Row 14: knit 20 stitches, purl 1 stitch, knit 20 stitches
14___
Row 15: knit 4 stitches, purl 16 stitches, knit 1 stitch, purl 16 stitches, knit 4 stitches 
15___
Row 16: knit 19 stitches, purl 3 stitches, knit 19 stitches
16___
Row 17: knit 4 stitches, purl 15 stitches, knit 3 stitches, purl 15 stitches, knit 4 stitches
17___
Row 18: knit 18 stitches, purl 5 stitches, knit 18 stitches
18___
Row 19: knit 4 stitches, purl 14 stitches, knit 5 stitches, purl 14 stitches, knit 4 stitches
19___
Row 20: knit 17 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 17 stitches
20___
Row 21: knit 4 stitches, purl 13 stitches, knit 7 stitches, purl 13 stitches, knit 4 stitches
21___
Row 22: knit 16 stitches, purl 9 stitches, knit 16 stitches
22___
Row 23: knit 4 stitches, purl 12 stitches, knit 9 stitches, purl 12 stitches, knit 4 stitches
23___
Row 24: knit 15 stitches, purl 11 stitches, knit 15 stitches
24___
Row 25: knit 4 stitches, purl 11 stitches, knit 11 stitches, purl 11 stitches, knit 4 stitches
25___
Row 26: knit 14 stitches, purl 13 stitches, knit 14 stitches
26___
Row 27: knit 4 stitches, purl 10 stitches, knit 13 stitches, purl 10 stitches, knit 4 stitches
27___
Row 28: knit 13 stitches, purl 15 stitches, knit 13 stitches
28___
Row 29: knit 4 stitches, purl 9 stitches, knit 15 stitches, purl 9 stitches, knit 4 stitches
29___
Row 30: knit 12 stitches, purl 17 stitches, knit 12 stitches
30___
Row 31: knit 4 stitches, purl 8 stitches, knit 17 stitches, purl 8 stitches, knit 4 stitches
31___
Row 32: knit 11 stitches, purl 19 stitches, knit 11 stitches
32___
Row 33: knit 4 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 19 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 4 stitches
33___
Row 34: knit 10 stitches, purl 21 stitches, knit 10 stitches
34___
Row 35: knit 4 stitches, purl 6 stitches, knit 21 stitches, purl 6 stitches, knit 4 stitches
35___
Row 36: knit 9 stitches, purl 23 stitches, knit 9 stitches
36___
Row 37: knit 4 stitches, purl 5 stitches, knit 23 stitches, purl 5 stitches, knit 4 stitches
Row 37___
Row 38and 39: Repeat rows 36 and 37
38___39___
Row 40: knit 9 stitches, purl 11 stitches, knit 1 stitch, purl 11 stitches, knit 9 stitches
40___
Row 41: knit4 stitches, purl 6 stitches, knit 9 stitches, purl 3 stitches, knit 9 stitches, purl 6 stitches, knit 4 stitches 
41___
Row 42: knit 11 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 5 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 11 stitches
42___
Row 43: knit 4 stitches, purl 8 stitches, knit 5 stitches, purl 7 stitches, knit 5 stitches, purl 8 stitches, knit 4 stitches
43___
Row 44: knit 13 stitches, purl 3 stitches, knit 9 stitches, purl 3 stitches, knit 13 stitches
44___
Row 45: knit 4, purl 33 stitches, knit 4 stitches
45___
Row 46: knit every stitch
46___
Row 47 through Row 48: Repeat rows 45 and 46 twice
47___48___49___50___
Row 51 through Row 55: knit every stitch
51___52___53___54___55___
Row 56: bind off while knitting every stitch across the row
56___
Tie off.   Use a darning needle to weave in loose ends.

You may find, as I did that it is hard to always knit or purl both yarns.  The thinner metallic yarn occasionally did not get knitted or crocheted and I noticed a looser stitch which gave it away, usually several rows later.  We are our own worst critic and most people would never notice.  LOL
 

Too bad the sparkles do not show up in the pictures.  The sparkle is what makes the cloth so special!

Have a great weekend and be safe.  We are having an ice storm over the weekend, so I may knit more of these.  

Dawnie  

Almost Lost Dishcloths/Washcloths Continued.

I have continued to make the almost lost washcloths/dishcloths.  I experimented with two crocheted together to make a hot pad.  I like the thickness.  The pattern and previous post can be found at

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8166745332559091209#editor/target=post;postID=8628507382804228634;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=3;src=postname

What are you working on?

Dawnie