Of Castile Soap and Startitis

Yes, I have it.  Startitis.  Starting new knitting projects when I have (many) other UFOs languishing in various stages of completion.  I wanted some TV knitting, never mind I have such an easy knit shawl (my Malguri Morning shawl) that’s almost finished.  What do I do?  I write another shawl pattern!  It’s another shawl inspired by C. J. Cherryh’s Foreigner books that I’m calling “The Assassin’s Daughter.”  If you’re familiar with the books, you’ll know the character’s name.  If not, spoilers!  It has a little 5-stitch knit-as-you-go border (five being the basic number of an ashid).  It’s a simple pattern, suitable for beginners.  It uses the five basic knitting stitches:  knit, purl, k2tog, ssk, and yo stitches. The body of the shawl is garter stitch.

My skin and hair are so dry, a fact not helped by our “semi-arid” climate and lack of humidity.  (Our groundwater percolates through limestone so it’s very alkaline, also.)  It seems ridiculous to wash with regular name brand soaps that strip your skin of its natural oils, and then buy more product to slather on to replace the natural oils the soap stripped off. I’ve started using Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap, which has an olive oil base.  I’m using both the liquid and the bar.  I’ve been shampooing with the liquid, and showering with the bar, and so far I like the result.  I got some of the organic hair cream.  I’ve only used it the once, but so far it has really improved the texture of my hair.  After my illness in 2018, when I had to cut my hair so short because most of it fell out, when it grew back, it was even coarser than it had been, so coarse, in fact, that it felt like Barbie hair. (Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!) The ends split even worse than before.  Hopefully the hair cream will help with the split ends.  You work the cream into the damp hair, so maybe it won’t flake or coat the hair too badly.  We’ll see.

So far, the new year has been very tame and quiet, which is just the way I like it.  I’ve been chillaxing and taking it easy, which is also just the way I like it.  So far, so good . . .