Summer already?!

This morning I realized that it's the last day of February, and I need to begin making my summer seasonal soaps already by next week. And I have no idea what they are going to be.

What?! Back that train up! Yes, you are probably thinking didn't she just announce her spring stuff a couple of weeks ago? And quite honestly, that spring season is really dragging its feet. When you look out the window, spring still seems a long ways off. But with curing times and deadlines for the newsletters, I have to begin summer already.

My method, if you can call it that, is to keep a file folder for ideas. Any time a light bulb goes off, or I see something that sparks an interesting idea, I jot a little note on some scrap of whatever is handy and toss it in the file. Pictures ripped from magazines too. Then, when it's time to plan out the new line, I haul out the bulging folder and try to come up with a list. I juggle colors, a possible theme, things that will smell good together instead of clash next to each other. That kind of thing. It's not a long, agonizing, analysis. It's mostlly intuitive and sort of cobbled together out of whatever is stewing on the back burner in my head.

Sometime last fall I decided to upgrade my "system" a little bit and make a more cohesive notebook, with a section for each season, and get a little more organized. So far, all I've done is buy the notebook. It's still sitting here, empty and alone. So I'm back to the pile, and wishing there was a little more sunshine going on out there today to get me motivated, instead of all the grey skies and sharp winds.

So I'm trying to conjure up scenes of beaches and bathing beauties. Hot sun, ripe fruits, hoochie umbrella drinks, lazy afternoons in the hammock. While piling on another layer of socks in my cold little office.

So back to the spring stuff that was just announced -- quick report card on the spring soaps -- they are ALL good. My personal favorites are the rosemary, bergamot and peppermint. I'm currently having a little love affair with all three and rotating them by day in my shower. My friend Marilyn called last night to say she especially like the Almond Goat and the Blossom. The bergamot sold out at last week's show, but that's not really a good comparison, because I didn't get the rosemary cured enough to even bring there. And last summer, my test batches of rosemary sold better than the bergamot, but I hadn't made the peppermint one yet. So there you go. Try them all and see which one you personally like the best. Each one of them is lusciously creamy and gorgeously fragrant.

P.S. Thank you! to Leslie, who made such a nice little mention of me on her knitting blog, Nake-id Knits the other day. I haven't really shared lessons on how I make soap here on the blog yet, but after seeing yours, I was thinking I should do more of that. Hm, maybe. How to take pictures and stir at the same time?