Transform the clothing that’s sitting in the back of your closet, gathering dust, into stylish one-of-a-kind pieces.

Join Kirsteen Stewart as she teaches you how to transform your wooly jumpers into this beautiful scarf:

Or if you know how to sew and want to try a different project, we’ll have several charming project patterns you can work on and a huge stack of gorgeous sewing books to draw inspiration from.

Beautiful fabrics available

Browse a gorgeous collection of fabrics

New pieces of fabric from Kaffe Fassett, Alexander Henry, Cath Kidston and Kirsteen Stewart will be on hand for purchase to combine with recycled clothing to make fetching, affordable pieces.

Thurs and Fri, Aug 5 and 6 at Orkney College

Our sewing lounge will be held for two days only at our stylishly furnished tipi. Come join us for gourmet coffee and tea and the delectable truffles from Cocoa Mountain.

Delicious truffles from Cocoa Mountain in Durness

We’ll be at the tipi on the lawn of Orkney College (right next to the car park) for 2 sessions only so be sure to book now if you’re interested as we only have 8 spaces available each day.

By the end of the two hour session, you’ll have something fantastic to take home along with the skills to create more projects at home.

Register and pay now >>

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Available dates

We have two dates available:

• Thursday, 5 August, 2-4pm
• Friday August 6, 2-4pm

Both sessions will take place on the lawn of Orkney College, Kirkwall. Click here for directions to the College from the Bus Station (next to the library).

Cost

£4 or FREE if you bring an extra item of clothing, curtains or fabric to donate to our collection — natural fabrics only such as 100% cotton, linen, wool or silk.

We’ll provide all tools. We’ll also have truffles from Cocoa Mountain for sale, alongside gourmet tea and coffee.

What to bring

Bring at least two items of clothing (ideally several) that you want to repurpose — jumpers in particular, or all natural fabrics. We’ll also have secondhand and vintage clothing you will be able to purchase.

Pre-booking required

Because we’re limiting the session to 8 people only, you must pre-book the session.

Register and pay now >>

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See you there!

From a poster for the new Reinvention Sewing Lounge, coming soon

It doesn’t look it yet, but below is the beginnings of the new Reinvention Sewing Lounge, one of our latest projects:

Soon our tipi will be furnished with sheepskin rugs, a woodburning stove, and a cornucopia of fabrics and craft tools to transform the clothes you’ve got sitting in the back of your closet into hip bags, pillows and something new you’d love to wear.

My favourite part: while you sew, you can sip gourmet coffee or tea and nibble on some of the best chocolate truffles I’ve ever had the privilege to sample (and I worked in a Belgian chocolatier’s in college so I know what I’m talking about).

The rebirth of sewing

The sewing lounge concept rides the crest of a modern, stylish crafting craze that’s huge in America and in cities and is gradually making its way here. With places like The Make Lounge in London, sewing has followed in the wake of knitting to become something trendy and hip, an activity that’s more about creative expression and socialising than just making something functional.

Recycling + making something better = “upcycling”

Touchwood’s take on it is to introduce the element of upcycling, or making something new and better out of something old. In our case, we’re asking people to bring a few items of clothing that are languishing in their wardrobes and bring them in for a makeover. I know I’ve been holding onto a silk jacket that’s the wrong colour and shape because I feel guilty about buying it and not wearing it — well now it could become a sleeping mask for me or a lovely pillow for a friend.

Or maybe you could turn a few moth-eaten sweaters into a scarf like this one:

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll start making labels, stringing up the solar-powered fairy lights, stoking the woodburning stove, and in general making it an Aladdin’s cave that people beat down the door to enter. The feel I’m going for is a bit of early 1900s English Empire with a dash of 1950s American retro.

Here’s some of the stuff I’ve gotten already:

Almost everything is secondhand, from the vintage tin trunk that will store the old sweaters, to the leather suitcases and hatboxes for supplies. I’ve trawled eBay and our charity shops for weeks hunting things down.

Inspiration from amazing books

I’ve got a huge stack of outstanding craft books for project ideas too which I’ll have in the tipi. I’m going to create little laminated cards with photos of projects that I’ll string up next to fabric so that people can get ideas for which project they want to work on while they’re here.

Show me the money

One of the biggest challenges we face with this project, and with Touchwood in the long term, is figuring out how to generate enough income to be sustainable. Because of our hybrid status as a business whose profits are channeled entirely into a social cause, we can receive grants to do community work, but our long-term goal is to be completely grant-free.

The problem is, the first 6 courses we did with the sewing pilot project taught us that many of the people here on the island are accustomed to things being heavily subsidised. I know my sewing course was about £45 for 8 weeks thanks to big subsidies, and when we asked people what they would expect to pay for a sewing course, some of the answers were £4(!)

Bear in mind this was having a professional sewing instructor on hand and all tools and materials provided for a 2 hour session. We knew when we ran it that there was much more we could be doing, and that’s what the sewing lounge is in part trying to explore.

So rather than charge a big fee upfront, can we earn income through sales of things like tea and chocolate alongside selling fabric? Charge £1, say, for a nice square of silk or eye-catching cotton print.

My thinking at the moment is to have two (at least) different types of sessions: one led by Kirsteen Stewart, a local fashion designer and sewing teacher, where you work on a specific project and learn specific skills, and another where people who already know the basics of sewing can come to work on their projects without an instructor. The first is more of a sewing class, the second is more a get-together.

We have 2-3 more grant-subsidised sessions to find out what will work.

Getting the pricing right

I’m thinking £4 entrance fee or free if you bring an extra item of clothing to donate. That’s for a two hour session where you can use all the tools we have. One or two of those sessions will also feature Kirsteen as instructor, but if she’s going to do it longer term, we’d have to charge at least £16 to be able to pay her.

We’ll also have the gourmet tea and coffee brewed on the woodburning stove and served up in these handmade mugs at £1.50, and chocolate truffles from Cocoa Mountain, based in Durness, at £1.25 each.

Secondhand wool sweaters will be sold for £6 and varying prices for some of the cottons and wools. Maybe Malcolm’s homemade soup for £2.50, though that gets into the realms of food, which may be too complicated.

We’re looking at 8-10 people at a time.

Show me the social purpose

The reason we’re doing all this?

Well the goal is to empower people by teaching them practical and fun skills which also help the planet by recycling materials that might otherwise be thrown away (just cause it goes to a charity shop doesn’t mean it won’t end up in landfill or being shipped far away — charity shops can only sell so much).

Our newly revised mission is to “empower you to make the world better”. I certainly have seen how knowing how to make something beautiful that’s homemade makes your world better and I’d like to help anyone else who agrees.

I don’t know if people will go for it, but the upside is if they don’t, think of all the yummy chocolate and hot drinks waiting for me.

How can we make this succeed?

What do you think? Have you been to a sewing lounge? What would make you go out of your way to attend ours if you lived here?

It starts with a tapestry.

The Coming Storm tapestry

My first handspun project

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to knit a tapestry based on a photograph I took of our view. It was my first time working with dyes, carding wool, and spinning. I whittled and sanded the knitting needles from birchwood Malcolm collected for me down in the Cairngorms (wood being too rare here to gather).

I wasn’t sure if I’d actually finish it, it took so much time. But I was determined and today at last it’s done.

I decided to hang it next to our kitchen window, which is almost exactly the same view as I took in the photo. It makes me smile to see the colours and texture, and it’ll do me good to have something pretty to look at while I work on the computer.

Hanging next to the real view

Success is having enough

After a brief daydream about someday selling this kind of thing, I decided to stick with doing it for my own pleasure and for gifts. I’m happier that way.

Success in this case isn’t selling it, but enjoying my tapestry and feeling I completed a challenging project, especially as a beginner. I have to remind myself that it’s okay to be a novice, to be okay with making mistakes or having something come out not perfect.

The inspiration

At first I resented not being able to sell it — I’m not sure it’s good enough and more importantly, I loathe the idea of marketing it, even on a website — since that meant I wouldn’t have the money to keep doing my hobby. I’d have to stop spinning and dyeing.

This is one of those testing moments you have when you’ve decided to stick to a budget. You look for ways around it, and if you’re me, you throw a little tantrum when you can’t find one and you know you’re going to have to give it up, at least for a while.

But as the storm settled, I got to thinking again about the concept of having “enough”, of appreciating what’s there instead of always longing for more. Even simple things like a new craft offers me that chance to practice.

Because really, I’ve made so much yarn and related stuff for this I’ve got more than enough. To acquire more wool is unnecessary, and soon I’d have bags and bags of stuff I don’t use. More bags, that is, since I already have other bags of yarn and fabric for my crafty-ness.

And perhaps by having a limited supply I will be able to appreciate more deeply what I’ve created.

Perhaps with scarcity, I can forgive the imperfections and appreciate what I’ve got instead of tossing it aside to make more until it’s perfect.

You know, I think I might have talked myself round on this one. I’ve just looked over to my little tapestry with fondness, rather than a critical eye. How about that.

Offering spinning courses one day

The other lesson to come out of this is that I think spinning and perhaps dyeing are good projects for Touchwood in the longer term. My city slicker friend Steph was here a couple of weeks ago and she eagerly gave spinning a go. It seemed to be fun and relaxing even in just a short space of time. So I’d like to see us offer these courses at our eco lodge one day.

Final Coming Storm project: crazy pillow

I’ve still got more yarn:

"Sky" and "Grass" yarns handspun

It’s another good Power Off activity, so I think I’ll knit up a pillow I’ve long been meaning to do with the last of the yarn:

I'll try this in Sky on one side, Grass on the other.

As Clark W. Griswold said, “I did it.” Time for tea.

Malcolm and I are sitting in the conservatory waiting for the sun to dip below the clouds and treat us to a rare sunset over the water. For the past several months, the sun had hidden behind the peaks of our neighbouring island, Hoy, and only for the next few weeks would it set right on the horizon before wending its way north to hide again, this time behind the slope of Stromness.

Dispelling a fuddy duddy image

I took the moment to explain to Malcolm my conundrum: how do I write about how fantastically fun spinning can be, how surprising and imaginative and even countercultural, when most people find it boring?

Hence Malcolm’s comment about little old ladies. Commiserating.

I cast about for a way to describe the kind of spinning I’m doing and what I’ve encountered in the research I’ve been doing on the subject and voila! Punk spinning was born.

I couldn’t find a photo to illustrate this idea, so played around in Photoshop to design this little logo. I should screen print a bag with this on it to hold my spinning stuff (feel free to grab the logo and use as you wish).

Punk spinning is about sheer joy

Punk spinning is about spinning for the sheer joy of it.

Punk spinning breaks the rules, grabs crazy things like nettles, or fabric scraps or copper wire and gleefully spins that. Pluckyfluff creates all kinds of madcap, sublime yarns and is excellent inspiration.

Pluckyfluff's "Posie" yarn

Punk spinning tosses in ornaments and dolls:

Little dolls are actually handspun into this yarn.

It’s about being messy, deliberately imperfect, and generally playing around.

One of my favourites. I'm learning this technique next!

Getting in touch with what makes you feel free

It’s yet another way to tap into what makes you feel free, excited and in flow and I hope you’ll consider giving it a try if you haven’t already. Chances are, someone has a spinning wheel they’d be happy to lend you to try out. Or you can find a class.

Once you’ve got your hands on a wheel, here’s a great beginner’s tutorial. She’s got several more video tutorials to help you learn all about spinning.

Get the right soundtrack

Oh one last thing: a soundtrack is all important.

To keep me from getting too caught up in spinning the right way, or feeling it has to be perfect, I enjoy the not-so-dulcet tones of Rage Against the Machine, or The Rapture, a band I found thanks to the TV show “Misfits”.

Misfits, about a group of screw-ups doing community service who unexpectedly develop superpowers, is also excellent spinning background. Here’s a clip: (Thanks to Channel 4′s shortsightedness, I can’t show a clip so never mind. Grrr, greedy copyright sticklers drive me nuts.)

But find what works for you. And let me know if you go for it.

My wedding dress looked like this. All I need now is the hat.

Getting started with spinning

When we moved to this house, our landlandy generously left behind her spinning wheel to use and it’s been beckoning to me since then. Problem was, it didn’t seem to be entirely in working order and I didn’t know enough about wheels to know how to fix it.

Then I heard from my friend Victoria about this spinning class and the instructor, Jan, generously came over with her husband Andy to chat with us about spinning and take a look at the wheel. She then took it home with her and gave it a complete overhaul so it could be used. When I offered to pay her, she brushed it aside and it was clear it made her happy just to have the wheel in working order and ready to be loved.

We finally agreed that perhaps I could barter something in return, and I had one of those moments where I reflected on how much I enjoy life when you don’t just pay for everything. You end up having the most amazing interactions with people and doing things you wouldn’t otherwise.

A few weeks on, and I’ve fallen in love with spinning.

So much so, I’ve become obsessed with a new project for Touchwood involving creating my own tweed yarns based on photos of Orkney.

An example of tweed yarn

And not just any tweed yarns, but ones that tell a story. A good yarn, as it were. I’m calling the line “A Tweed’s Tale”.

A Tweed’s Tale: the magic of a good yarn

I love stories, especially imaginative, magical ones, so it only makes sense to combine that with my love of all things wool, of colours and how they work together to create a mood, our vast collection of Orkney photographs, and Malcolm’s knowledge of folklore and history (for those of you who read the Ideation post a few days ago, this is another example of Ideation in action — linking up different ideas to create something new).

The inspirational photo

So I’m taking this photograph as my first inspiration:

The lone house waits for the storm to come

I took it this summer and it’s our view to the southeast (the sea is to the right, out of picture). That house in the distance is abandoned — it’s the grand old house of a great Arctic explorer, John Rae. I can never quite capture the full vivid richness of colour, but at the time I was struck by the powerful mood.

The ominous, forceful rainclouds form a canopy over the cheery, unflagging wildflowers in the meadow. I’m going to call the tweed “The Coming Storm”.

Getting from photo to wool colours

To get from photo to yarn, I first used software called Color Schemer Studio to select the colours I wanted (slightly different photo but same colours):

Sampling colours

Then I take primary colour dyes by Landscape dyes and mix them together to match as closely as possible the photo’s colour. I used a great tutorial to teach me how to do this. So far, I’ve been working on the paler, more subtle colours and have produced these:

Some of the colours for "The Coming Storm" ready to be blended

(That’s snow on the wool, by the way. I got hit by a freak snow shower just as I started to take the shot.)

Uh oh

I’m a bit disturbed because I felt dizzy and nauseated my first night after several hours of dyeing and I think it must be coming from the fumes. I did it in our kitchen with the doors and windows closed because there’s snow outside and (I thought) a girl has to stay warm.

But I was determined to press on, so for the last two days I’ve turned the heat off in the house completely and had the windows wide open. I think I’m getting the hang of this no central heating thing. Copious cups of hot tea, two hot water bottles, and staying as active as possible seems to do the trick.

Coincidentally, I heard from Malcolm this morning as he’s down in Aviemore teaching firemaking, and he spent last night sleeping out in the snow. So we both get to feel we’ve had a memorable experience with managing the cold these past few days.

Chemical vs natural dyes

It makes me worry to use anything that might be making me feel ill. I’d already researched long and hard about the pros and cons of different dyes, natural vs synthetic, and had concluded that it wasn’t necessarily far more eco-friendly to use natural dyes because you have to use such vast quantities for one, you can need chemical mordants (chemicals that fix the colour to the wool and doesn’t let it bleed out) and some dyes (like that which produces red) come from South America and so you’ve got a big carbon footprint.

Of course, my dyes come from Australia, so who am I kidding? At the end of the day, chemical dyes were easier and I could create far more shades more quickly. But now I’m thinking it’s not worth saving some effort at the expense of health, so I think I’ll try natural dyes next.

Going local with Shetland wool

Some friends of ours, Chris and Howie, have a farm and even produce their own yarn. When we were doing the Power Off Weekend in December, they kindly brought over a whole bag of Shetland fleece for me to play with. Isn’t that great?

Since Shetland is just the next island up from us, it’s a pretty authentically local kind of wool to be using. I washed that (which took ages), then carded it, and then put it in the dye pot.

More yarns to come

I already have two other yarns I want to do: “Midwinter’s Tale”, which is based on Malcolm’s photo of the Ring of Brodgar in the snow and the story of the Dancing Giants of Brodgar, and “The Seafarers”, which is based on his photo of the brightly coloured fishing/diving boats in Stromness Harbour.

Since I’m using so many colours, and also still learning how to spin, it might take me a bit longer to get the finished version done, but I’ll get there.

Knitters and spinners, your thoughts please

I’m thinking of doing a super bulky, thick thin yarn because I had in my mind to do scarf kits, and I certainly found that learning on Colinette’s Point 5 yarn was a delightful and easy way to learn how to knit.

If I did ever decide to do more of these yarns, for sale or gifts, what weight would you think would work best? My concern with doing lighter weights like aran or DK — say, 4mm to 6mm needles — is that you won’t see the colours as much.

Perhaps it’d be better just to do the batts/roving?

Any advice and thoughts most welcome.

I’ll post again as soon as I have a more finished product…

“Up from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success,” says the fount of wisdom that is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I had cause to remember this as I made a complete mess of things initially with my first project, Wellie Boot Liners. I mentioned yesterday I was working on these and this morning I was determined to finish them, but I ran into problem after problem and finally had to admit defeat.

However, where my the boot liners failed, my alternative solution came up blooming because its far, far easier and quicker: Felted Shoe Insoles.

Cosy insoles for wellies made out of an old felted sweater

These handy little babies are what’s going to let me wear my utterly charming but poorly insulated new Wellington boots instead of having to stump for the practical but boring option.

What you need to make Felted Shoe Insoles at home

All you need is (yet again) an old wool sweater. That’s it.

If I haven’t persuaded you to start trawling the charity shops and your friends closets for old sweaters — especially ones with moth holes or stains — then hopefully I will now.

As I explained in the Felted Sweater Bag tutorial (for pictures and more detailed instructions), you simply add a few good squeezes of dishwashing liquid onto your sweater and throw it into the wash on the hottest cycle you have.

How to make the insole

Once you have your felt, simply remove the sole from your shoe and place it on top of the fabric.

Use your shoe insert and just cut around it

Then cut around it — I didn’t bother to trace it or anything, just cut away — with a little extra room just in case.

Place it in your shoe or boot and trim if necessary. That’s it!

The felted soles inside the boots

Making a Wellie Boot warmer

Now here’s how I came to be doing this. These are the boots that are my super deluxe purchase of the year: the Hunter Festival 2009 wellington boot.

Ready to walk in my new boots

I’m afraid they’re pretty much all style over substance, meant for traipsing about rock concerts in the mud. I tried, I really did, to find boots that had a rugged sole and warm interior to suit our daily treks over the rocks and the beach, but they were all just so borrrring.

I like my jaunts outside to have the spice of adventure, and that means a pair of boots I can’t wait to put on.

Wellie boot liners

When I found out there is such a thing as wellie boot liners, I thought I’d go one better and make them out of felted sweaters I’ve already got. Here’s the original design I was attempting to copy:

Here's the original Dubarry design

My niece Sameena was visiting from New Zealand and she came up with the design. She thought very cleverly of using plastic bags to wrap around our feet to get an idea of the shape of the pattern and we even sewed a mockup that looked like it would work.

Mockup in muslin to test the design out

So I made it up this morning using two different sweaters because I didn’t have enough fabric left over in either. But when I tried to put it in the boot, no luck.

Cosy but very bulky liner

Wayyyy to much fabric meant it was never going to get in there. It was a bit depressing really, but then sometimes it’s good to realise just how hard things are to make, that there’s a reason cobblers are master craftsmen, for example.

As I was thinking what to do with all these scraps of felt, I figured I could at least line the bottom of my boots and so I pulled out my shoe sole, cut around it, and popped the fleece into the boot. Ah, luxury.

I’m wearing the boots today to see how they do. So far, the soles feels fantastic.

So my other lesson for today is to Keep It Simple. And just for fun…

Your suggestions?

I haven’t given up completely on the boot liners, so if you have any suggestions, please chime in.

Welly warmer in fleece

So far, this is the best Welly Warmer tutorial I’ve found and I’ll probably give it a go at some point (though I couldn’t find any pattern to download, which means I’ll need to come up with it myself).

I’ve already ordered the faux fur to make the Dubarry knock-off boot liners, but now I’m thinking I might just use my over-the-knee socks and add a strip of fur to the edge.

If you try the insoles, let me know how you like them.

Finished and ready to use

Hello there,
Rachel asked me to do a guest post about this project, since it’s one she and I had worked on together before and that I recently took on all by myself. It probably would have been a good use of your Power-Off Weekend. Well, maybe next time. So! Let’s talk weaving.

Time required: Uh… several hours.
It took me an American football game (roughly 3.5 hours) and another hour or so to finish, but in fairness, I made a custom-size basket out of magazines, so there was a lot of time spent looking at things sideways and gluing bits together to make them as long as I needed them. So, if you use newspaper, or use magazines to make a smaller basket, it will take less time than that.

Materials needed: a newspaper or magazine, scissors, glue/tape/staples.

Skills needed:
cutting, using adhesives, patience, putting one thing on top of another.

The original idea: Rachel tells me she saw it here… http://www.craftstylish.com/item/47658/the-times-they-are-a-changing-how-to-make-a-basket-from-a-newspaper.

The process:
Rip pages out of your chosen newspaper or magazine. I chose, with all the irony I could muster, an old Martha Stewart Living. Fold each page in half the long way, then in half again, then in half again. I used the handle end of my scissors to get a nice strong crease on the last fold.

crease those bad boys.

Next, weave the pages together, using an alternating over-under technique.

that's as over-under as it gets.

you can see the strings i used to figure out when i needed to start the sides.

When you’re ready to start the sides, fold the paper up. I used as little adhesive as possible, so this was a little frustrating and seriously don’t feel bad if you use some glue or something. It would make your life (or at least this project) easier to stick it together a bit with something other than physics.

selective adhesion = lengthy project.

When you’ve got it as tall as you want, just fold the leftover bits at the top back over and weave them back down again; for extra security, tape, glue, or staple the ends.

Hey, it’s a basket!

and there she be.

[Note from Rachel: These also make great presents, so this is Part 4 of my Frugal and Green Christmas Gift series. You can find all the projects by clicking on this tag (also on the righthand side of every page): Christmas.]

Decorating the fireplace for Christmas

This I believe to be one of the earliest of human inventions and in all honesty, it is superior to the man-made, metal equivalent.

For one thing the parts are white and shiny, so reflect more light. For another there are many flutes thus allowing multiple wicks and thus variable brightness (the world’s first ‘dimmer switch’). Oh, and they are free, recyclable and beautiful.

Waiting for dark to be lit

Recycling a Scottish tradition

During the 17th – 19th centuries, and probably long before, traditional cruisie lamps were used to burn fish oil.

The upper bowl can be tilted to keep the wick wet so it doesn’t burn down

These were generally made of two metal dishes mounted one above the other, on the wall or hook. Now we are going to update this old lamp for the 21st century.

What you need

Rushes grow all over boggy fields

• scallop shells or similar containers
• vegetable oil or any oil that burns
• rushes or cloth, string or matchsticks

Readying the shell

Eat your scallop. Clean the shells, especially the insides, so there is nothing to ‘go off’. This also helps with reflectance.

The flat shell will catch any drips

The flat half of the shell makes an ideal base, to steady the upper shell and catch any oil that may run down the side of the shell. It also helps you tilt the curved shell at the right angle to keep the wick in oil.

That is the shell done!

Making the wick

You can use anything that will soak up oil, including cloth, string and matchsticks. I use the traditional wicks made from the soft rush (Juncus).

Gathering the rushes

Rushes grow all over boggy fields

The soft rush has been used for rush lights and wicks from long ago. As it is nowadays treated as a weed or plant of waterlogged and overgrazed land, it seems a good plant to use.

Gather a few stems of soft rush by cutting low to the ground. It is the soft, white pith in the centre that you want.

You can try peeling the dark green outer fibres as you would a banana, but for high quality wicks and speed, try this:

How to make the wicks from rushes

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Insert a nail, key, bone or similar hard object into the rush, leaving an inch or so of rush to grip (with your teeth). Note, the nail goes right through the rush stem but leaves the outer fibres intact on either side of it.

The green rush is pinched with finger and thumb against the nail. One hand is holding the nail, the other is pinching the rush sides against the nail.

Insert the key into the rush

Now, keeping the fingers pinching the ‘nail’ at all times, push both hands down the stem, whilst holding that inch of rush firmly between your teeth.

Beginners will want to choose only a short length of rush, maybe 4-6 inches, to start.

You will find the white inner pith is pushed out by the hard ‘nail’, as it cannot pass either side of the nail because of your pinching the sides to the hard object. The pushed out pith will then magically extend, like a concertina.

An alternative method is to strip away one half of the green outer fibre (as per the banana skin method, then use the back of your thumb nail to push along the inner of the remaining fibre, thus pushing the white pith forward and out, like a snow plough.

Either way, you are looking for nice, plump wicks. They can be used straight away or kept dry for storage.

Add the oil

Traditionally the oil could be coming from fish, seabird, seal, whale or animal fat (as tallow). If it burns, you can use it.

The easiest to use, and handiest in a power cut, is vegetable cooking oil. You usually have some of this in the kitchen, though it does give of a bit of smoke and the smell depends on what it is. You can add scent with essential oils.

Be safe

Burning oil can cause other things to catch light, so be careful.

Whilst the shell itself is low-lying and thus pretty stable, it can be knocked, spilt or spread. Do not light your lamp when it is set upon something flammable. Wood and plastic objects burn. Things like tables, televisions, stereos etc. All serious fire hazards.

Do not leave a naked flame unattended. Do not let pets near (the vegetable / fish oil is very edible).

How to use

Fill the shell with oil, place one wick in the fluted groove of the shell (perfect isn’t it), leaving half an inch protruding over the end of the rim.

Get the wick tip covered in oil too.

Lighting the rush wicks

Keep the oil level high and close to the rim by repositioning the shell on it’s flatter, lower partner. Take care to get it stable and not having oil dripping over the edge.

Light with a match or similar flame.

Lighting the rush wicks

Take care, please

Please take care! Ensure all fire, flame or heat is safe and out before you go to bed or leave the house. Accidents happen by their very nature when not expected. That said, many fires are started by electrical faults.

In this case, the safety is up to you. Fire and alcohol do not mix.

Final point

There is no point trying to replicate the light of a 100w lightbulb with candles or lamps. Instead, enjoy the calm and soft light of a natural flame.

Now run that bath and set up your lamps, with essential oils added, and relax. Who needs TV?

Peanut butter chocolate balls

The reason for the rush is I looked up the date you have to post all your gifts to the USA, and it’s December 10th — Thursday. To be honest, I’m not sure I can make it in time, but we’re giving it our best shot.

To help spur our efforts, we’ve been watching Christmas movies one after another, and we’re in the middle of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — the 1971 version with Gene Wilder mind you, which we both prefer.

So given the theme of candy deliciousness at the moment, today’s post is about making Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls. I use these as “Hitching Treats” to thank strangers who give me and Malcolm lifts, but I’m also going to use them to fill presents like the Felted Tin Cans I’ve made.

[Note: This is Part 3 of the Frugal and Green Christmas Gifts series. You can find all the projects by clicking on this tag (also on the righthand side of every page): Christmas.]

Time to make:

1 hour including freezer/fridge time

Materials needed:

Ingredients for chocolate peanut butter balls

• 450g (16oz) peanut butter — the cheaper, processed kind works best to be honest
• 200g (1 1/4cup) icing (confectioners’) sugar
• 50g (3/4 cup) powdered milk (optional)
• 115g (¼lb) butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla
• 450g (16oz) dark chocolate
• waxed paper

Original project from:

The BBC site had a good recipe that I modified. Because I used a lot less sugar, the peanut butter is gooier, so the milk helps it dry out a bit. But if you don’t mind it being softer, leave out the milk.

There are many recipes out there for chocolate and peanut butter treats, but most use milk chocolate and several call for paraffin wax, which I find slightly bizarre. I’m guessing the reason for the paraffin is to harden the chocolate so it doesn’t melt in your hand, but ugh.

Skills needed

• Measuring and mixing ingredients

What to watch while you make this

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory of course. You can eat about half what you make and feel completely justified in doing it.

Getting started

Mix the peanut butter, butter, sugar and vanilla together. I like to let the butter sit on the Aga to warm up for a while to make it easier to mix since I don’t use an electric mixer.

Who needs an electric mixer?

At this point, you need to decide which you want to make: clusters or balls.

Chocolate peanut butter clusters

Clusters instead

If you want clusters, just dip your spoon in and drop a bit onto the waxed paper.

Peanut butter clusters ready for freezing

Then place the tray of clusters into the freezer to harden for 10 minutes.

Rolling into balls

If you’re making balls, pop the bowl of peanut butter mixture into the fridge (or freezer if you’re in a hurry) to harden it up. I’d say 30 minutes in the fridge, 10 in the freezer will do it.

I forgot to take a photo of these next sections because I got so caught up in what I was doing…

Then bring the bowl out and, taking a spoonful at a time, roll into balls in the palms of your hands as quickly as possible.

Drop onto the tray and place back in the fridge or freezer to cool down and harden a bit.

Heating the chocolate

5 minutes before you take out the peanut butter mixture, start heating the chocolate.

Just use any old saucepan and put it on the stove with water to heat up to simmering. Place any bowl that fits over the pan on top.

Break up the chocolate into squares or pieces and let them sit in the bowl for a few minutes until they start to melt. You can stir with a spoon to check they’re completely melted.

Drop into chocolate

Drop the clusters or balls into the chocolate. The BBC recipe says you can use toothpicks to dip them, but I didn’t have any so I just used 2 spoons to roll the clusters and balls in the chocolate.

Alternatively, you can just drizzle chocolate on top of the peanut butter if you don’t mind it being more like a cookie.

Let cool and decorate

Sifting sugar on top

After letting cool for 15 minutes, I sifted some icing sugar on the top of several because I actually used even less sugar than I’ve given for this recipe and I found it not sweet enough. But try one without and see what you think.

For variation, you could add chopped nuts on top, or substitute a different nut butter like cashew or almond.

Enjoy.

Doesn't that look tempting?

Felted tin cans: one with lining, one without

For example, taking my cat Caper down to the beach this morning was a simple thing that seems to make her ridiculously happy.

Caper and I comb the beach this morning

Funny what it took to bring that lesson home to me.

It took reaching the brink of ruin, where the bank balance was shrinking, the bills were mounting, and I felt one of the worst feelings ever: I am a failure.

A failure as an adult, as a person

That’s the point we were at just six weeks ago.

I felt like I’d failed to be a success in business, failed to earn the money I thought I would when I went to university, failed to own a house, go on vacations or have retirement savings.

I remember we had The Talk, to figure out whether should move from Orkney to a city where we’d have more of a chance at getting so-called real jobs. Were we just being naive, irresponsible, to think we could continue spending our days doing what we wanted to do?

Malcolm and I spent hours discussing, trying to keep the fear from overwhelming us and staying focused on coming up with solutions.

We woke up the next morning and Malcolm said to me, “I think we should sell the car.”

The adventure of frugality

That touched off a chain of events that led not only to getting rid of our one and only car, but to examining every aspect of our lives, looking for ways to cut expenses and prioritise what really matters: our health, our relationship, and our belief in Touchwood and its goal of helping people to transition to a more environmentally responsible way that’s all about being happy and enjoying it.

I got Frugal Living for Dummies out of the library and read up on how to make a grocery list and comparison shop. We combed through the bills, making cuts in every area.

We decided to live during the day in kitchen where the Aga keeps it warm and not have heating on anywhere else. It’s where I’m writing this now, curled up in a cushy chair dragged from the living room.

Malcolm started planning the Power Off Weekend project, and we decided to try to make all of our Christmas gifts.

A doorway to plenty

The reason I share this with you — and you’ll be wondering what happened to my tutorial, which I promise is coming shortly — is that I’ve been…awed by the generosity, creativity and energy from people reading this blog and participating in our lives.

It’s been our new friends, Michelle and Erlend, organic farmers a few miles down the road who have offered to teach us the ropes of milking cows, shearing sheep and other farm skills we’d love to learn and haven’t a clue how to do.

It’s been the many people writing in to offer lifts into town and those who’ve stopped to pick some big bearded man with a rucksack on the side of the road and given him a lift.

Perhaps best of all, it’s been the stories from my mother and grandmother who have started sharing their own frugal tips, ways that were once everyday years ago but which have largely been put aside in recent times. These stories nourish a new kind of relationship with my family, across thousands of miles and with a very different lifestyle.

So reaching a point where I thought we had nothing, where I thought I’d failed as a grown-up, has been the means for a sense of success, for discovering a wealth of friends, resources and creativity I’ve never felt before.

I’m in the middle of that maelstrom of things happening and have no idea yet where much of it will lead, but for probably the first time in my life, I have long periods of a kind of calm, deep happiness alongside a genuine sense of bounty.

It’s that energy that motivates me to keep writing, to share with you my dorky little projects and our late night thoughts, in the hopes that you too won’t feel alone and will keep going down the road that’s uniquely your own, even when it looks crazy or like something other people might call failure.

Project: Felted Tin Can Containers

[Note: This is Part 2 of the Frugal and Green Christmas Gifts series. You can find all the projects by clicking on this tag (also on the righthand side of every page): Christmas.]

Today we’re going to use leftover pieces from our first project, the Felted Sweater Bag, to make this next project: Felted Tin Can Containers.

Felted tin cans are great for beachcombing

I wanted to create a simple container that could hold pencils or knitting needles or kitchen utensils. They could be used as a small gift for a neighbour or coworker, or even as stocking stuffers.

You could easily buy some chocolates — Ferrero Rochers or Lindt truffles would be excellent — to stuff inside.

Reusing tin cans

There are many websites out there touting cleaning and reusing your old cat food or tomato tin cans, but one of the biggest problems I’ve always had with reusing cans is it can look too unfinished for me to want to give it as a gift.

A nice solution is from CraftStylish, which uses them as herbal plant pots.

I would have done that for this post, except there weren’t any around to use.

So I had to come up with something else that hides the inside of the can, which is too industrial looking for my taste, at least as a present to someone else. By adding a simple liner, you can give it a little bit of prettiness.

Adding a liner in one

Here’s how you make it.

Time to make:

1/2 – 1 hour

Materials needed:

• leftover sleeves from Felted Sweater Bag project
• empty, clean tin can
• scrap of fabric approximately 12 cm x 24 cm, or to fit your tin can
• Ferrero Rocher, Lindt or similar chocolates (I used my own Chocolate Peanut Butter Clusters)
• optional: fabric glue

Original project from:

This is a different take on Timary at CraftStylish’s Recycled Sweater and Tin Can Herb Garden. See also Re-Nest’s “10 Ways to Use Tin Cans”, which includes using them to hold your kitchen utensils or as a flower vase.

Skills needed

• How to sew a seam (see Felted Sweater Bag post for demonstration videos)

What to watch while you make this

It’s the little kind things you do that matter.

That’s one of the themes of It’s a Wonderful Life, and so while you may have seen it 20 times — or just feel like you have because it always seems to be on television — it’s a film worth seeing again to be reminded of that as you make your humble tin can project. Malcolm and I watch this every year, well up a bit, and feel rejuvenated, grateful for the little things. I hope you will too.

Getting started

Now let’s get started making something. Grab some used tin cans from your recycling. We have so many from cat food that I’m thrilled to be actually doing something with them.

Empty cans, ready for reusing

Remove the labels and wash cans thoroughly.

Next, grab the sleeves left over from the Felted Sweater Bag project.

Leftover scraps from bag

Measure the length of the can. If you don’t have a measuring tape handy, just mark the length on a scrap of paper. Add 1 cm or 1/2 inch to this measurement. My can was 11cm long, so I’m going to cut 12 cm section off the sleeve.

Cut the sleeve slightly longer than the can

If you don’t give some extra length when you cut the fabric, it’ll look like my first attempt:

Oops

Check out that vastly uneven cutting job I did too. Luckily I could make 2 more from one sleeve.

You could stop here

Now at this point, you could fill it with soil and a plant. Pick up some basil or cilantro at the grocery store and call it a day. Or if you like the look of the tin, leave it.

Alternatively, add a simple liner.

Adding the fabric liner

I hunted around until I found a scrap of fabric to use. See what spare fabric you can unearth. Then measure around your tin can. Add 1 cm or 1/2 inch to length and width, then cut.

In my case, I cut out a rectangle 24 cm long by 12 cm high (11 cm height of can + 1 cm).

Cut the lining with 1cm added to length and width

Now fold the rectangle in half, right sides together, so that the long ends meet and then sew a simple straight seam. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can sew this by hand.

Sew the seam

Now insert the tube inside the tin can. Roll down the felted outside fabric half way, then fold the lining over the top of the can.

Fold over lining fabric

Now you can roll back up the felted outside and leave it as is, or if you want to secure it more firmly, you can add a bit of fabric glue. Malcolm’s just asked me if he can help, so I’ve sent him to go ahead and do this step.

Fabric glue is nice, but not necessary

If you don’t have any fabric glue, don’t worry about it. You could also use a rubber band. Or just leave it.

Filled with chocolates in one, seashells in the other

Now just add some Ferrero Rocher, Lindt chocolates or your own treats and you’re good to go!

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