How We Flourish

Creating healthier people and a healthier planet, one step at a time

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Buying Jewelry

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in this post. See more details here.What no one talks about and what everyone should is how to buy jewelry that is budget and eco-friendly. Especially with engagement rings, everyone just assumes bigger and more expensive is better, but this is absolutely not the case. […]

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Treating Eczema

Aloe veraAs I mentioned in my last post, I recently learned that I have been having eczema breakouts for the past few years, and this winter I have been dealing with the first one that doesn’t go away in two weeks. I got it back in January and I’m STILL dealing with it. It is […]

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Homemade Body Butter

For some reason, the air/water at my college freaks my skin out, and it has gotten worse every year. I seriously think I will just lose all the skin on my arms next year. This year, I bought a lotion that my skin did not like and I got the worst eczema rash on my […]

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Have An Eco and Budget Friendly Wedding

We have a ceremony site booked and a date set, so it’s time to really get into planning my wedding! Our budget is about $7000 for 120-150 guests, so we are doing all we can to keep costs down. As it turns out, many of these strategies are better for the earth! From now until […]

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Finishing Up

Now that you’ve washed, spun, and dyed your wool. You have to put it to use. You can sell it, donate it, gift it, or make something out of it. Even if you don’t like your first yarn, make something up to show what you’ve accomplished! I made up a vertical garter stitch scarf. I […]

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Dyeing Yarn

I like to dye my finished yarn because I have more control over where the color goes and often I don’t know what I’m going to make when I’m spinning the yarn. But you can dye at any point in the process. First off, I highly recommend you get the book Hand Dyeing Yarn and […]

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Finishing Yarn

Okay, now you’ve spun yarn. Congratulations! But you aren’t done yet. First, you have to decide if you want to ply or not. Then you have to set the twist. Plying is a good option, since it counters the twist of your singles, and therefore knits up without “bias.” It also evens out the appearance […]

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Spinning Yarn

When my first, and so far only, spinning wheel, the Babe Pinkie, came in the mail, I was so excited. But it was HARD! And no one told me. I read Start Spinning by  Maggie Casey and that was amazingly helpful, but not as much as I needed it to be. There’s no substitute for […]

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Prepping Fleece

Of the ways to prepare fleece once it’s been washed, I’m going to focus on hand carding. This is a lot of work and takes a lot of physical effort. If you can afford a drum carder, that is a good way to go. But I could barely afford hand carders and I had trouble […]

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Washing Fleece

My mom came home from work with a bag of wool sheared off a meat sheep. It was disgusting, I was not planning on learning to spin yarn for about 15 years, and I had no idea where to start. I was a 20-year-old college student in the suburbs. That should sum it up for […]