FINALLY, after months of preparation, my Sweet Sheep Body Shoppe is now open for business!

You might remember from a while back my request for lotion bar testers. Well, with their helpful feedback, I’ve finally perfected my custom combination of beeswax, mango butter, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, meadowfoam oil, vitamin E oil, and lanolin! I think it now has just the right consistency and moisturizing effect that I wanted out of a solid bar. It is truly a lotion bar made by a knitter, for knitters (and anyone else who wants nice, soft hands). I currently have 10 different scented lotion bar options, 2 unscented options, and 1 custom order option available in the shop. Custom orders will take a couple of weeks to produce before I can ship out as I’m currently waiting on more supplies to arrive. The shop is certainly a work-in-progress as there are several scents I’m planning to add (lemon cake! green tea! cinnamon chai!) as well as sample sized bars and lip balms when I get the packaging for those little guys sorted out. I just didn’t want to wait any longer!

My favorite scent at the moment is Turkish Mocha:

Does that not look delightful? It’s a warm, spiced scent of coffee and cinnamon with chocolate-y undertones from the non-deoderized cocoa butter used for these bars.

Although a close second is Spring Meadow:

It’s a completely different kind of fragrance: a sweet, light floral that smells exactly like a field of flowers blooming in the sun. For all of the non-chocolate-y bars I used deodorized cocoa butter so the fragrance wouldn’t be compromised by the natural scent of the butter.

As a special thank you to all of my blog readers, I’m offering a 10% discount with the coupon code BLOGLOVE. The code is good through the end of April. Just add what you’d like to the cart, enter the code in the appropriate place, and it should automatically deduct! Please let me know if you encounter any problems or see anything on the site that’s confusing or unclear as this is my first Etsy rodeo and there could’ve been some fumbles during setup. Now, back to knitting…

Kelp-y Kelpie:

Brooklyn Tweed Loft, colorway Sweatshirt. Click for project page.

After a few weeks of avoiding working on this due to a dislike of the metal needles I was using, I’m happy to report that after switching to the Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles that I’m testing out for an upcoming review, my progress became quite speedy and comfortable! I hesitated to switch because I thought that such a grippy yarn like the woolen-spun Loft would work best on metal needles, but the stitches slide along just fine on the Karbonz and I’m thinking the metal tips probably help things go smoothly. Huzzah for progress!

Blue Loasa:

BMFA Socks that Rock Mediumweight, colorway Blue Moonstone. Click for project page.

Despite all the preparation going on, I’ve made some decent progress on my Loasa lateritia sock. I zoomed through the lace cuff (which doesn’t look like much in the photo above since it is inside out) and am now about ready to start the heel. I’m really loving this color, Blue Moonstone, right now. It feels so bright and cheery for spring!

That’s it from me this week. Check out more WIPs at Tamis Amis.