RIP, Knitcircus mag

I heard the news recently that Knitcircus Magazine will be terminating, the last issues being the previous winter issue and the special gifts issue. The Knitcircus brand will be living on, however, through a weekly e-newsletter.

I am very sad for this news - Knitcircus has in my experience been a fabulous publication, from a designer perspective and a knitter perspective. Their patterns have been consistently high quality, and their articles as well. My Interwoven hat pattern was in the last fall issue - it was my first time working with a publication and it was a wonderful experience.

You can read the official blog announcement here, and you can discuss the changes at Knitcircus' Ravelry group.

Photo courtesy of Knitcircus

~Joyuna

Dead Easy DIY: Clementine Candles

I found this great idea over on Apartment Therapy via Pinterest. You can make your own candles (or oil lamps, really) from clementines.

If you don't care to click through their 30-photo slideshow (I don't blame you), here are the instructions in a nutshell.

Take one clementine, a sharp knife, and some olive oil. Slice the clementine skin in half, remove the fruit inside. Try to keep the fleshy bit in the middle intact - this will serve as your 'wick'. Choose the half of the clementine with the most 'wick' and pour some olive oil into it. Let that soak in for a minute or two. Meanwhile, cut a vent in the other half. Light the wick, place the top half over it, and enjoy your clementine lantern. That's all there is to it!

The 'wick' is a bit hard to light, but keep trying and you'll get it eventually. Try to be a little delicate when you're removing the skin off the fruit, so you can keep the fleshy center bit long enough for the wick.

I feel like these would make awesome mood lighting at a party. You could even float them in a bowl or tub. Best of all, they release a subtle citrusy scent into the air (not very strong, but it's definitely there).

~Joyuna

Orange colorwork sweater FO

I didn't expect to finish a sweater before returning to the UK, but I did! This is Caitlin (kind of).

I made a LOT of mods to this pattern. Firstly, the pattern is written in pieces and I did it all seamlessly in the round. Second I altered the charts slightly. Third, I made up my own shaping and added bust darts. But at its heart, it's still the same sweater.

I'm so very pleased with this sweater. It's only a few months ago that I started it and since the majority of the body is plain, it went very quickly. The body of the sweater is done in millspun yarn - Lang Shetland Soft in orange. But, all the colorwork sections are done in my own handspun yarn, in Shetland yarn in natural colors plus a little bit of orange merino/silk. So, it's like training wheels to a handspun sweater - I didn't have to spin an ENTIRE sweater, but I still get to show off my handspun.

The Bohus-esque colorwork yoke of the sweater does a good job of flattering my shape, I think, as I had read about in Fit to Flatter. Amy Herzog might have recommended that I remove the colorwork section from my hips, but I like the balance it gives. At any rate, I'm almost itching to knit a 'real' Bohus now... maybe someday!

~Joyuna

Dead Easy DIY: Lip Balm

Recently, I tried my hand at making lip balm. I wanted to get everyone in my extended family something small but thoughtful for Christmas. I'm a total lip balm junkie myself, and when I found a recipe for DIY lip balm online, I couldn't resist giving it a try. It turned out great!

I used this recipe from Instructables, which I found via Pinterest. It's really simple and once you get all the ingredients, it's a snap to make.

You will need: Beeswax, cocoa butter, glycerin, liquid vitamin E, some type of oil (I tried Sweet Almond Oil and Coconut Oil; both worked great), and optionally: honey, cocoa powder, or some other flavorant/scent (make sure it's food-safe), and a bit of lipstick if you want to add a tint. You can find all these ingredients online at places like Etsy or bath & body supply shops, and some of them you can also find at the drugstore. I got all mine online from one source, because it was easier that way. (Except for the cocoa powder, honey, and lipstick of course, which I already had around the house)

You will also need a pot or saucepan, a smaller container for the ingredients, measuring spoons, lip balm containers, and a dropper. The instructable tells you to just pour it in, but that could get really messy! I also used a tray specifically for filling lipbalm; it isn't strictly necessary but again, it's less messy that way.

After you've measured out your ingredients, you just need to melt them down and pour it into containers. Melt your ingredients in a small cup inside a pot of water, double-boiler-style. I got lip balm tubes from the same place I got all my other ingredients; you could also use old ones you already had or little pots or whatever, really! Make sure everything is stirred up really well; the honey has a tendency to separate from the rest of the mixture, and if that happens then it won't harden as it cools.

It's a good idea to buy disposable droppers for getting the lip balm into tubes. The lip balm hardens as it cools and after a while it will clog up the dropper. For that reason, throwaway plastic droppers would be better than a glass eyedropper or turkey baster or whatever.

The lip balm will cool very quickly after being taken off the heat, and your tubes should be hardened in under a minute. I had very good luck with this recipe other than the separating issue - I ended up with a few duds in my batch, but the rest turned out great. So long as the proportions are consistent, you can play around with the recipe and adjust it - just remember to keep in mind how you change the recipe will affect your finished product. For instance, the more oil or less besswax you add, the softer the balm will be. If it's too soft, it won't work in a tube.

I followed the recipe for my first and second batches of lipbalm (for the second batch I left out the cocoa powder). My third batch, I switched out the almond oil for coconut oil (I like the smell of it better) and added a slice of an old tube of lipstick into the batch. I used about half a tube of lipstick across 25 lip balm tubes, and it created a subtle tint for my lips. Not too noticeable, just adding a tiny bit of color.

~Joyuna