National Crochet Month Post #5: Soap Savers

I learned how to make soap savers last summer.  I must made 30 different ones while watching "McLeod's Daughters" and at the same time, learning some nifty Australian slang.  I wrote a post about these several months ago.

A soap saver helps lengthen the life of your soap because you can slip several slivers of soap into the saver and still be able to use the soap.  The saver helps lather up your soap and gets you squeaky clean.  It is made of 100% cotton yarn and it is soft and colorful.  Find a link to that post here.

These are all made with Lily Sugar'n Cream yarn.  And now for some pictures:

Happy showering!

And tomorrow is Friday!

Soap Saver Mania

Well, school is back in session soon, which is bittersweet news for teachers.  Yet I must say I feel like I've been fairly productive this summer.

I've been able to indulge in my love of making things with my hands.  I have made many types of soaps, and a variety of crochet projects.

My most prolific project has been my soap savers.  As soon as I finished my first one, I couldn't stop making them.  In fact, once I made a soap saver with each of the balls of cotton yarn that I already owned, Michael's just happened to have a sale so I went out and bought 15 more balls!  Good thing they offer a teachers' discount!

To date, I have made 13 different styles of soap savers.  I love seeing how the colors come together as they come off the yarn ball.   Here are the ones I've made so far.  Let me know what you think!

 Natural Stripes

 Peace

 Black Currant

 Kitchen Breeze

 Psychedelic

Lime Stripes

Moondance

Field of Dreams

Batik

Candy Colors

Fiesta

Country Stripes

New crocheted item--soap savers! Plus, a few project updates.

Yes, I am still working on my green and white king sized afghan:

and my red, white, and blue afghan:

but those are long-term projects that I work on little by little.  However, when I want to work on something and finish it rather quickly, I choose a smaller project.  Having finished my amigurumi cat Limey:

and begun working on a polar bear for Lizzie:

I decided to try to make a project I've been wanting to make for quite some time:  a soap saver.  What exactly is a soap saver?  Well, do you ever have tiny pieces of soap that are just too small to use effectively but too big to throw away?  I know I do!  And making my own handmade soaps makes me want to conserve my handiwork as much I can.

We hved several small pieces of soap in that category:

I made this fun soap saver using a pattern by Lion Brand. It is a simple design using mostly single crochet.  I used Sugar'nCream yarn by Lily in Moondance.  It is really pretty .  I love how the colors changed as I crocheted.  Of course, I was watching McLeod's Daughters as I worked.  Yes, I am still watching it.  I just watched the pivotal episode 26 in season 4.  Those of you who are fans know which one I am talking about, but I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't seen it.  :)

After I was finished, I posted a picture on Instagram, which then went to my Facebook page.

My cousin Janet rightly asked me what a soap saver is.  I explained exactly what I said above and then I told her I would use it and let her know how it works. So this morning, I put the leftover soap in the soap saver,

 I tied it tightly with the drawstring,

 and then I took my shower.  I realized you need to get it thoroughly soaked before it will be effective.  After that, I used it like I would a washcloth, but this time with soap built into it.  It lathered up nicely and smelled great.  Plus, I loved using up soaps that I wasn't quite ready to say good-bye to.

I hung the soap saver by the drawstring to my shower caddy to dry out.  I love my new soap saver!

After finishing the Moondance soap saver, I realized I had already started on one many months ago, but I had never finished it.  {The story of many of my projects.}  So I found the one I had been working on and finished it off.  This one was made with Fiesta by Peaches & Creme.  I can't seem to find this particular color of yarn for sale anywhere, so my guess is this color has been discontinued.  I just listed this item for sale on Etsy. Here are some pics:

This is my last full week of summer break.  I hope to make the most of it.  Have a bright, sunshiny day!

--Jenn