Felted Soap!

I am a beginning soapmaker.  I am having a lot of fun with it, but the learning curve has been really steep.  All of my soap has turned into real soap (gentle on the skin, makes bubbles, removes dirt and grime from hands) but my bars don't always look as beautiful as I would like them to.

Like my Pumpkin Spice soap.  It's made with coconut oil and olive oil and pumpkin puree, and it smells divine!  Just like fresh baked pumpkin pie.  But it's brown, and while there's nothing wrong with brown, I had really wanted a beautiful deep pumpkin orange that made you think "Fall" the second you laid your eyes upon it.  Lucky for me, I know how to fix it...

Cover it with beautiful crochet!!!!  I bought some beautiful chunky autumnally colored wool and made a cover that just screams harvest-time!

And because it's wool, it will felt as I use it, becoming even more beautiful and working as a built in washcloth/soap saver.  Beauty and function?!  Oh my goodness, I'm almost glad my yummy smelling soap turned out so ugly... almost.

3" ROUND SOAP COVER
(to cover 3" round x 1" thick soaps)

I used approximately 23 yards of Patons ColorWul in Countryside (but you could use any bulky weight 100% wool yarn)
Size H hook

Bottom piece:
R1: 6 hdc in a magic loop, pull loop tight and sl st to first hdc to close round (6 st)
R2: ch 2, 2 hdc in each st, sl st to first hdc to close round (12 st)
R3: ch 2, (2 hdc in next st, hdc) 6 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (18 st)
R4-8: ch 1, sc in each st around, sl st to first sc to close round (18 st)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail for stitching later.

Top piece:
R1: 6 hdc in a magic loop, pull loop tight and sl st to first hdc to close round (6 st)
R2: ch 2, 2 hdc in each st, sl st to first hdc to close round (12 st)
R3: ch 2, (2 hdc in next st, hdc) 6 times, sl st to first hdc to close round (18 st)
Fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Fit soap into the bottom piece.  Cover with the top piece and whipsitich the top to the bottom using the long tails left from fastening off.  Match stitches to create a smooth even edge. Weave in any loose ends.

The soap on the left is freshly crocheted, the one on the right has begun to felt from use...

Use as you would use any felted soap, the cover will loosen when first exposed to water, but will snug up around the soap as you use it, making a tight wool case until all the soap is gone.  Even after the soap is all used up, I know that some people slice open the empty soap pockets to use as the bottom of a coin purse, or to continue to use the empty felted pocket as a bath scrubby...

I made one in a dark gray wool with a cream colored star, too!  Now all of my ugly soaps are beautiful, and I can still smell their yummy pumpkin scent through the crochet fabric.  I am a happy girl!

If you don't have a source for great smelling 3" round soaps, you can always use THIS pattern from Lion Brand to make a cute cozy for commercially produced bars of soap.  I think they would make beautiful and unique holiday gifts...

xoxo