Save money#6 make stock

 This is a bit of an experiment since I've never done this before. But I was inspired to do this when I saw a video about environmentalism and a person said she saved her kitchen scraps to make stock. This was from a zerowaste perspective but it works equally well for frugal people. Not that stock is that expensive but still. 

So before I begin I should say that I've never made stock before. I know my sister tried to do chicken stock once and ended up throwing it all away so I'm not super confident. I decided to try it. 

Looking through my big cookbook I actually found a recipe for vegetable stock. So rather than look for another I used that. The recipe assumes using whole vegetables rather than scraps but well see. 

For a while I have been gathering scraps like carrot and parsnips peels, leaves from cauliflower, onion and other things. This was the work of a few weeks so I put it in boxes in the freezer and slowly filled them. 

Cooking

I'm not going to include the recipe here because it's not my recipe and I'm sure there are plenty you can find. But it was basically put vegetables and salt in pot add water, boil then let simmer. Finally run it through a sieve. To make it more flavorful I threw in some oregano. I have some growing (dying) in the window so the wilted pieces went in as well.

At this point I realized I have nothing to store it in except some glass jars which is less than ideal for freezing. I did worry that the jars would break when it froze but I also wasn't sure it would last in the fridge. I tried to not fill them completely and luckily they didn't crack. 

Results

I'll admit this takes some time both to gather the scraps and to cook the stock. I'm currently at a point where I work from home and so have time to keep an eye at a pot that need to simmer for a few hours. 

I've used it in a few things since then some couscous and a soup. It's worked well though it is less salty than stock-cubes and it is less versatile so ill still be using them but this was I fun little experiment and I'm already starting to gather scraps for the next batch. 

Infinity-scarf with a hood

 In my ongoing quest to not freeze this winter I have been wearing a lot of hoodies inside often with the hood up. This means that I need to change into a sweater when I go outside. You just can't wear a hoodie under a wool coat at least not comfortably. Also when I get back in I don't have a hood anymore unless I change clothes again. But I have come opp-on a solution to this problem a sweater and a removable hood. Or to put it differently a circle scarf with a hood attached. 

The idea is to make it in sort of this shape (see picture) then fold in the center and sew or crochet the top together. Of course the long part being a circle but that's hard to draw and I was more interested in the measurements. I had used a scarf I have to measure out the length. Circle scarfs are annoying like that doing them too long or too short makes them hard to fit.  Since I'm doing Doing it lengthwise I need to figure this out from the beginning since I can't add anything later on.

For this project I plan on using some of my left over yarn Since I feel like I have too much of it. This isn't even all of my yarn just the ones that matched my color scheme. This is also why I decided to use needle-binding since it works well with yarn scraps. Unlike knitting where you just pull as much from the skein as you need for each stitch. In needle-binding you cut off and use a short piece at a time. 

I don't have enough of any color for the whole hood so the plan is to use alternating colors first the black then gray then blue. letting the colors overlap and creating a gradient.

A thing that annoys me when I'm googling ideas for what to do with crafting scraps is that they mostly assume that you have the same yarn or fabric in different colors. I do not. I have wool and cotton, thick and thin, elastic and non elastic and they in general do not want to work together. 

This is what I'm thinking as I'm finishing the second row of this scarf in a thicker yarn that almost completely covers the first row.

I'm on row ten when I notice that the scarf has gotten longer and by quite a bit too. I think its a result of measuring it out using a thinner yarn and then doing the same number of stitches for the thicker one. At this point I should unpick it and start over. But needle-binding takes almost as long time to unpick as it does to make. So instead I chose to keep going hoping that reducing the number of stitches would fix it. You'd think I'd have learned by now that this rarely works. This time was no exception

After making two new rows I ended up unpicking it anyway and started over this time starting with the thicker yarn. I then unpicked it again because I had figured out another way to add a new row. This would allow me to put the rows side by side rather than overlapping them. This reduces the thickness but lets me get more length which I need since I have limited yarn. Needle-binding is still rather new to me and I'm still figuring it out. 

Third time was the charm and I finished the scarf part. Starting on the hood I measured out the length for it and marked it off on the scarf. Then once I reached my marker I simply stopped going round and started going back and forth between the markers. Slowly it started going higher.

Every row I also started adding a single stitch in the center back of the hood to make a bit if room for the back of my head. Then once it got high enough I started reducing by one stitch instead. Then two and three as I started to reach the top. Until finally I could stitch the top together. Here was a bit of a problem you can sort of see it on the picture but the top is a bit concave with the front being higher than the center. I solved this by stitching the front together then doing another few rows on the inside of the hole left before binding the edges together. Then all that was left was weaving in the edges of which needle-binding has many.   

Result

Trying it on it wasn't quite as deep as I wanted so I added two rows along the front edge. This also evened it out some but really can you ever have a hood that's too large. 

Despite the hood size I still liked the shape of it. However I'm also not sure about the color. The gradient is a bit stark so the scarf is gray and the hood blue and a bit uneven. It looks like it was made from scraps more than anything deliberate. I know that's what it is but I'd still prefer it not look like that.

It is cozy and warm though so I have been using it quite a bit. It's nice to wander around the house with which was the plan all along so I'm not too disappointed.

I might redo this some day but then with a single color and type of yarn. If so I'll make the hood even deeper and have something More dramatic. 

 

Making a basket of scrap fabric

In general I have far to much scrap fabric or rather the box I use to store it in is full and I've decided not to get a bigger one. Mostly as a nod to minimalism but mostly since crafting supplies have a way of multiplying if I'm not careful. 

Since I also kind of want something to keep project tools in while I'm working on a project but that can  easily be stored away when I'm not. Something to keep needles and thread in. I have been seeing these little folding baskets in some stores so I'll try making one.

Materials

Fabric: Two square pieces, mine are cotton 22×22 cm 

Four snapp fasteners.

For the handle either two rectangular pieces of fabric 5×24 cm or one could use a piece of ribbon instead. Or ignore it completely, the handle's not integral.

Also normal sewing supplies like thread, scissors, needle or sewing machine.

Instructions

First iron the fabric, measure out and then mark up the pieces before cutting them out. As I said I'm doing 22x22 because that's is the largest I can do with the amount of blue fabric but it can be made bigger or smaller. The important thing is that the handle pieces are slightly longer than the basket pieces.

To make the handle pin the handle pieces together inside out. Sew along the edges to turn it into a tube and turn it right side out.

Iron it again and then sewing again along the edges, this last one is mostly just to make it look nice. But it's a small thing. 

I then took the two square pieces again pinning them together inside out. Remember to place the handle in the middle going from one edge to the other. Let it be a little loose since it needs to be folded around the edge. I did not remember this and pinned it to the outside first unfortunately I had already sewed it together before I realized.

So I unpicked it re pinned it and sewed it along the edge same as the handle. Though since it needs to be turned I din't sew all the way. I then turned it right-side out before ironing it again, making sure to fold in the open unsewed part. Then sewed along the edges. Again mostly for neatness but it also because it closes the opening. Sewing under the handle was a bit tricky but it was worth it for the visual. I should say since I'm doing two different color fabrics I had to match the over- and under thread to them. 

I then pulled up the corners and pinned them in a way that looked nice. I used that to measure out  where I wanted to put the snap fasteners. In my case that was 3,5 cm from the edge and 1 cm down. Placing one at each side of the corner. Then all that was left was sewing on the fasteners. 

Result

This is a nice little project that I finished in a few hours. As a basket it works well when sitting on a table but the bottom is a bit to soft for carrying it around. It works but it's not that great. If I make another one I might put a piece of cardboard in it. But then I wouldn't be able to fold or roll it up when I'm not using it. I also didn't know how big the bottom would be. With 22 cm pieces it's bottom is only 12 cm so while it works well I can't fit my big scissors in it. So I'd probably make it a bit bigger.