Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ravelry and forays into herbalism

I finally figured out how to post a pattern for sale to Ravelry!  Whoohoo for me!  Yes, I know - it took an awful long time but I did it.  I now have the 5-10 Point and the 20 Point Round Ripple Patterns for sale on Rav.  I know that a lot of you guys prefer Ravelry to Etsy because they have instant downloads and a pattern library.  I do plan to keep my patterns on both Rav and Etsy for now.


Some of you may know that I've become interested in herbalism.  There's just something so great about being able to care for yourself and your family naturally.  One of the things that I've come to love in herbalism is infusions.  Simply put - an infusion is a very strong tea.

Some of the reasons I like them so much is because 1) they are so easy to make, 2) they are sooooo very good for you, 3) I can actually get my family to drink them.

To make an infusion you'll use herbs like nettle, oatstraw, red raspberry leaf, dandelion or rose hips, to name a few.  1 ounce of plant material to a quart of boiling water and then you let them sit anywhere from 4-10 hours or overnight.  It's best to keep them warm as long as possible.  I got very tired of having my jars wrapped in towels sitting on the counter.  It just looked bad.  So I started crocheting little cozy's for my jars.  Being the dork that I am I even color coordinated my cozy's to what was inside them lololol. 


I started with a basic and very boring basic shape, turned that into the fitted shape of the green one above and of course, me being me, decided that simple just doesn't always do and created the Turtleneck Cozy above as well.

So, my dear friends in yarn, my gift to you is the pint size canning jar cover.  I use this to make smaller infusions like the dandelion and rose hips.  It really does make a huge difference in how long the teas/infusions stay warm while sitting on the counter.  And they look good too!

~

2 comments:

Sheltie Times said...

I think it is a great idea. Sadly, we have lost much of our family wisdom. My grandmother knew a great deal about herbs, plants, and other important information I would love to have learned, but she only visited once a year. The children she was near showed no interest so the information died with her. It is important that we relearn what has been lost.

Michele Shirley said...

You're so right. There's a huge movement to return to backyard herbalism.