A bit of this , and a bit of that....

The holiday is finally upon us...the last two weeks have been very tiring on Gerry , with his ICU full of the very sickest of patients...the silly season seems to be in full swing, as we have seen a remarkable increase in patients who were involved in car accidents. So he has been at the hospital virtually all the time, and having hardly any sleep. We have had four ECMO patients as well in this period, necessitating almost round the clock checks. And then, he woke up this morning sick as anything...he had cut his foot and hadn't really paid all that much attention to it as he was too preoccupied with the patients. And thus, as is Murphy's Law, it became cellulitic and he was feeling awful. I dosed him properly with antibiotics and panado, and by this afternoon he was feeling a little better. This really highlighted the need for a break with some sleep and relaxation, so tomorrow his partner will take over running the ICU and we will go on holiday! Whoo Hoo!


We will spend Christmas at the coast with our close friend Peter and our little godson Joshua. Aunty Heidi has already bought the little potato a truckload of presents as well as some delicious Christmas biscuits in different Christmas shapes. He loves these and I know will want to eat all of them in one go (I have my sincere doubts that his mom will allow this tho' :) ). Our precious girls can't wait to play with him and all in all, I think he will be in for a big spoil of attention time!
My good friend Dana has recently designed and knitted a beautiful elephant blanket for another knitter friend of ours who is having a baby in January. You can see it in the photo at the top of this post. I so loved this simple , beautiful design in Dana'a handdyed cotton, that I asked her to make up a kit for me, which she did (Thank you my friend!), and I hope to spend some time this holiday knitting it up. If you are interested in a kit , contact her...she may still have one or two left :)


I recently ordered a skein of Kauni self striping rainbow yarn. I have looked a lots of beautiful projects on Ravelry, using this yarn, so I wanted to try some. It really has lovely, vibrant colours, but is a little rough in feel. I will try to soak it in some fabric softener and see if that makes a difference. Nit sure yet what I will make from it...perhaps some socks? Any suggestions?

I am working on a sock pattern (every chance I manage to get...), and needed some stitch markers. I like the little bells that have been lurking in my beads cupboard, so I made some up into simple stitch markers. I really prefer the lobster claw attachments, as I can easily move them around without slipping stitches from needle to needle. They were quick and easy to make and cost almost nothing...


Above you can see some of Joshi's biscuits...

As you may all have figured out by now, I only knit on circulars and at that , only really knit Magic Loop wise... Because of this, I am always looking for new releases of circular needles. My favourites have always been the Addi's and the KnitPro's...until now! These new Red Lace Chiaogoo's are simply AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Although I love the Addi's and the KnitPro's, I have found that their cables are difficult to keep controlled (especially when you knit on 150cm needles), the immersion in hot water nothwithstanding....
The Chiaogoo's red cable seems to be made from a nylon encased metal / steel ?, and has NO memory whatsoever...so no coiling around itself and getting tangled... I JUST LOVE THEM! The points are sharp (Red lace needles) and the cable/needles joins are flawless. Really, I suspect that these will be my new BFF's... they come in a variety of sizes and can be found in loads of online yarn shops. I bought mine from Purlescence.



My yarn stash is housed in our spare room, and is chock full of stuff related to my knitting / crochet addiction. I managed to get some of the mess cleared up (yarn in bags, books organised, needles gathered etc...), and although there is still work to do, I am much relieved that I can at least walk around unimpeded! I have all my quilting and sewing stuff there as well.

Above are my sock knitting books and embroidery cottons...

On the centre island (repurposed kitchen block), I keep my sewing machines and odds and ends...

More books and yarn....

A friend...

Quilting cottons...

Friends and cottons...

...yet more quilting cottons... a lot of these were purchased for a set of quilts that I started making for the girls. I have a fair amount of the blocks made...perhaps I will take up the task of appliqueing the remainder next year. The pattern is Piece o' Cake Designs' "Welcome to the North Pole"...a fantastic book with adorable applique designs. The quilt is made up of blocks that each depict a North Pole House, eg Elves bunkhouse, Ice cream shop etc, and the variety of fabric printed textures you need, resulted in the cotton stash seen here...

I just love Puggies (and Pittbulls...better say that or mine will be jealous!)...

So, a post about all kinds of bits... tonight I need to pack Christmas pressies in my suitcase and gather my knitting goods...for tomorrow bright and early we'll be off :)

Have a great weekend folks!
♥Heidi

Sunday dyeing happiness...

I spent a wonderful Sunday dyeing sock yarn. After an initial dyeing disaster (in which I had forgotten to add some ingredients to my dye bath :( ...) I managed to get exactly the right rich red colour I had wanted. I am working on a pattern for a pair of socks and have the first draft ready for test knitting...whoo hoo! I plan to knit until late...hope I can blog about them next week.
We are a week away from going on holiday! I am hoping that I will have the time to post more frequently...I have been a bad blogger , not getting to post at all in the last few weeks... here's hoping for some blogger time :)
Enjoy your Sunday folks :)
♥Heidi

Catching up...and some new activities

Today is a very quick post just to say "Hi", and let you know what I've been up to...I have been a busy little bee in the last few weeks :) Still running a lot at work, but I have managed to squeeze in loads of catch up fun stuff between everything. The staff and I want to decorate the ICU for Christmas, and after much thought, I decided to use paper as our tool for decor. It's relatively inexpensive (as I have wayyyyy too much Scrapbooking paper), and everyone can make something. We wanted the ICU to look bright and colourful, so hot pinks, bright oranges , neon greens, egg yellows and other saturated colours are the main elements.


We are making 3D paper stars, 3D snowflakes, and other paper cutouts to hang on the walls. I found the most amazing range of colourful glitters to add a happy sparkle to the finished items. Hopefully this week will see me making the Santa's Village (in paper of course :) ) for the Nurses station. I hope to make some big and small reindeer as well, and our small Christmas Tree...yes, also from paper.

Above is my Cricut Expression Cutter. I am using a bunch of cartridges with Christmas and Snowflake patterns, to cut out shapes and decorations like these you see below :) Loads of fun and actually quite quick!


I managed to make all the Christmas gifts for the staff as well as little Origami gift boxes to house the gifts, and most of my friends' and family's gifts too...so things are on the way to getting finished :)

I pinned LOADS of pins on my Pinterest Boards for you all to see...so if you need some inspiration for gifts, go and take a look :)


I found the most amazing papercraft and Origami stuff while searching the web for ideas for our ICU...I pinned the best ones for you to see ...


Two weekends ago, I made up a huge batch of Bath Melts (probably around 300 or so), which were Lavender scented...these will be gifted to all my lady/ girl friends and family members.

How is your gift making going? Have you found anything that has inspired you? I'd love to know :)

Have a good evening folks!
♥Heidi

Two-at-a-Time Socks on a Magic Loop: The Heel Part 2

Hi everyone! This week has been really hectic at work...I had great hopes of getting through the have-to-do-stuff, so that I could go to our weekly knitting meet and blog a few times, but it wasn't to be... I guess perhaps things will settle a little towards the end of the year, and I'll be able to post merrily while at the coast, so here's hoping! I did however, work very hard to finish up the second part of my heel tutorial...I'm sure that there are eager sock knitters waiting with sticks suspended, to see how the heel grows :) That being said, I really hope that whoever of you who are actually knitting socks from these tutorials, will post some photos on the Ravelry page...I am super-keen to see your wonderful socks being born!

Ok, ready to finish up your heel?
In the last post , we ended up at the half way point... if you look at the photo below, you'll see the last stitch that was worked...remember that you are knitting/purling back and forth, just as if you had two knitting needles and not a Magic Loop.

Let's look at these heel stitches...
When we made the first half of the heel, we divided up the stitches roughly into three, so the short-rowed stitches on either side (10sts each side) and the un-short-rowed (for want of a better word) , in the middle of the heel (12sts). When you make the second half of the heel, you'll stick to this same division set-up, but now you are making "long-rows" (purely for descriptive purposes ;) ). So previously, you worked an ever shorter section of stitches, now you will work progressively more stitches on each row.

When you have worked all the necessary "long-rows", you will again have made a total of 20 Double stitches, BUT, whereas before, you made them all at once, you are now going to do ONE at a time on each row.

Looking at the photo above, you see that we still have 32 sts on the heel. You will be knitting across 22sts, until you have reached the 10th stitch for the left hand side of your knitting. This stitch represents the first stitch of the 10-stitch side section (at the side of the sock) that will be worked in "long-rows".


Knit 22 stitches.

Knit the stitch shown above. This is the first stitch of the 10st section that will become a Double Stitch. Turn your work around, slip this just knitted stitch purlwise, make a Double Stitch.


Above you can see that I have made the Double Stitch, and purled the next along stitch.

Purl across your work until you have 10sts left on your LHN. As before, you are getting to the 10stitch section at the side of the sock.

Purl this stitch, turn your work around, slip this just purled stitch purlwise, and make a Double Stitch.


Now knit across the stitches until you get to the Double Stitch. Knit the Double Stitch, making sure that you have knitted both legs, then knit the next stitch along.

Above, you can see that I have just knitted the Double stitch...knit the next stitch.....

Once you have turned your work, made the DS...purl across the heel to the Double Stitch on the other side. Purl the Double Sticth, purl the next along stitch, turn your work around, slip the just purled stitch purlwise, and make a Double Stitch. Knit across to the Double stitch etc etc

Continue along the heel, in the same manner, until you have the purl side of your work facing you, and you have reached the DS which is the second to last stitch on your LHN.

Purl the DS as well as the last stitch on your LHN.

Your work should look like the photo above.

Turn your work around. Make a Double Stitch. This Double Stitch will remain just where it is...you won't be working it again until the next round (after you have created the Left Sock's Heel and knitted all around to the Right Sock Heel stitches again). Just remember to knit this Double Stitch as a Double Stitch ie two legs together and not as two separate stitches!



Knit across all of the Heel stitches, right to the end. The last stitch you knit is a Double Stitch.


Well Done!!!! You have finished the Right Sock Heel! You are a sock knitter extraordinaire!

Sometimes (depending on how tightly you knit...), you may end up with a small hole at the interface between the instep stitches and the heel stitches. To prevent that, you can pick up a stitch in the fabric between the heel stitches and the instep stitches. Use your RHN to do this. When you have picked up this stitch, let it slip onto your RHN to lie with the Heel stitches. Just remember to knit two together when you reach these stitches again on a subsequent round.


Your work should look like the photo below...the Right Sock Heel is completed, and you are going to repeat all of the previous steps to make the Left Sock Heel....exactly the same process!

Below you can see the Left Sock Heel in progress...I have knitted the first half of the heel...

Below is the Left sock Heel completed. Again, you can pick up a stitch in the fabric section between the instep stitches and the heel stitches, to prevent a small hole from forming.


Once you have picked up this stitch, let it lie with the heel stitches, and again, remember to knit two together when you reach these stitches on the subsequent round...that will ensure that you have the correct number of stitches for your sock.

Turn your work around.

Knit across the instep stitches of the Left Sock. Pick up a stitch in the fabric space between the instep stitches and the heel stitches of the Left Sock...just as before. This time let it lie with the Instep stitches...remember to knit two together when you get to these stitches on the subsequent round, to ensure that you have the correct number of stitches for your sock.

Next, knit across the instep stitches of the Right Sock. Pick up a stitch in the fabric between the instep stitches and the heel stitches of the Right Sock. Remember to knit two together etc etc ....

Turn your work around. From hereon out, you will knit rounds on the Magic Loop until your socks have reached the length you want.

I hope that you have found this post easy to follow...if you are unsure of any of the steps, please email me and I will try to clarify things!

The next sock post will be on the bind off for the cuff...whoooohoooo! Socks Rock!

Have a good Sunday folks!
♥Heidi