♥ Heidi Bears Designs Ravelry Group Launch ♥

I have finally launched a Ravelry group for Heidi Bears Designs! In order to celebrate this, I am having a group launch promotion on Ravelry for my patterns...50% off the usual price. The promotion will require you to enter a coupon at the checkout stage (keep a look-out for a small tag icon with the legend "use a coupon code" at the checkout point, and enter the coupon code HEIDIBEARSLOVE, which should automatically deduct 50% from your purchase price! It's a small way for me to share the ♥ with everyone :) The promotion will run from Monday the 7th of January 2013, starting at 19H00 GMT and will end on the 9th of January 2013 at 19H00 GMT....so go and diarise it now folks! :)

I am very excited about the group...I will be launching new patterns, promotions and generally hanging out and living the yarn addiction life with all of you...

I have been working hard on several new designs, that will be rolled out over the next few months...today I spent some time dyeing a specific color set for one of the designs...here is a pic...can you guess from the colors what it will be? (Hint*: this little person can be found lazing about in parts of Africa...)

 

The yarn is a wonderful squishy, soft 100% superwash merino in a DK weight...it's my favorite yarn at the moment to knit with...

 

The reddish pink color is for a different design, and will be used most likely for shoes :)

  

It's a beautiful day here at the coast today and perfect weather for knitting and spending the last days of our holiday with family...

What are you knitting at the moment? 

♥

Knitter's Basic Design Template

I recently joined a Design Challenge on one of the groups on Ravelry.

The challenge was open to any type of design, the requirements being that it must be written up and made available to the other members of the Design Challenge.
It was a great experience and made me approach the whole design process in a very different way from the usual of messing about randomly with sticks and string :)

I am sure that deep down in all of our little knitter's hearts there lurks a budding designer that wishes for nothing more than being able to abandon the day job and spend all day doing happy things with yarn and color and adorable, magic handmade needles :) Of course the reality is such that designers have a tough time making a good living from their designs and mostly work hard to keep the yarn wolves at bay. However, whether you want to quit the nagging boss or buy the OOAK handspun mink eyelash yarn, there is really nothing to lose in designing a pattern or two and putting them up on Ravelry or Etsy or Craftsy or any of a host of other sites...after all folks, habits need feeding....so give it a try and see...you may find hidden talents you never knew you had :)

Although the design process may seem hugely daunting, all you really need to do is follow logical steps through a basic process....Sure, you may say, easy for you to say that but where the heck do I start and what if it doesn't work out, and what if no-one likes the design and what will I design and where will I get ideas from and what if tomorrow the sky falls on our heads...and...and...and...

With this understandable first time designer's angst that I want you to squash like a bug in a rug, I have put together a basic * design template that I use to go through to develop a design...this is my process, not necessarily the only/best/perfect etc, but works for me and is adaptable to different types of designs...you can download it , save it and use it for every new design you have that wants to burst it's way out of your imagination!

There are so many resources available to new designers, and so many groups on Ravelry that there is always someone willing to help and guide and troubleshoot or give tips and advice, that the only risk you run of trying is that it may become impossible for you to stop after your first design :)

I am in the process of designing several new animals for my menagerie and have found that the basic template allows for less schlepp in making sure you have covered all your bases. 

In future posts i will chat about some of the steps in the process of designing something relatively simple, perhaps a pair of fingerless mittens, a pair of socks, a simple shawl...something do-able and useable...

Do you want to be a designer? Have you designed knitting/crochet patterns? How have you approached the process? What would you like to know about designing?

Sleep tight folks!
♥

Design Template

No New year's resolutions methinks....

...and so a New Year is upon us...

Quite something folks...we are indeed living in historic times. After all the Mayan apocalypse hysterics, it seems we are to still trudge through the same-as-usual New Year's resolutions quicksand...I can safely say that my enthusiastically envisioned resolutions for 2012 died a quick and (in retrospect) merciful death...
It feels like a lifetime ago that I posted about the great plans I had to do more of this, and more of that, and even get this and the next thing done during 2012...hmmmm...



This year I will not make any New Years Resolutions...instead I think I will try to make an effort to achieve ONE thing a week...a DO-ABLE thing, something non-earth shattering that may be good for me/my family/others...something possibly unnecessary, but if achieved, very satisfying.
Life is so full of surprises and so unpredictable, that achieving even small things could be a big win :)

Are you planning New Years Resolutions? What do you think will make you achieve them?

Perhaps my goal for this week is to finish writing up a pattern I have been working on...a cute and fun knit...

Whatever your take on resolutions, I wish all my blog readers a healthy, blessed and calm 2013...

♥

Happy Valentines...and a Hearty Hexagon Pattern

♥♥♥♥♥Happy Valentines Day for tomorrow!♥♥♥♥♥

I have spent the weekend working on my Hearty Hexagon Pattern, hoping to have it ready for Valentine's Day, and happily, here it is! I must say, that when you have read a pattern a thousand times, and the words and symbols start blurring into a mass of scattered lines, then you need to have a break and step back...so please folks, if you buy the pattern and find a mistake, or typos or generally any things that aren't clear, please let me know... :)

Here is the link if you would like to buy a pattern:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-hearty-hexagon-crochet-motif

I spent weeks trying to find a design that makes a clean, clear hexagon shape without any distorted features or edges. I have a hundred half crocheted hearty bits lying around...my house looks like someone yarn bombed it :)

I hope you all have a Happy Day tomorrow, and get spoiled and appreciated by your loved ones :)

♥Heidi

Versatile Blogger Award

So today I opened my gmail and saw an email from Helen over at 26 minutes Past. She has awarded me a Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you Helen! Until now, I had never heard of this, being suspended in space between work and wanna-work stuff (I seriously need to get out more folks...), so it came as a happy surprise :)

There are rules to abide by when accepting a Versatile Blogger Award, and they are as follows:

1. Add the award to your blog
2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Give the award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 bloggers by leaving a comment on their blog .

Okkkkkkaaayyyyyy...so.....

Random thing No 1.

I LOVE almonds! Yes, l♥ve them...I will eat an almond every-time if given the choice between them and other nuts...

Random thing No 2.
Believe it or not ...one of my middle names is St John!

Random thing No 3.
I once had a total stranger ask me if I would be willing to do a photo shoot, of JUST my hair (it was for hair products).... (I said no...)

Random thing No 4.
I used to be quite involved with a form of hand to hand combat and self defence, called Kalah (loosely based on what the Israeli special forces use...). I don't have the time for it nowadays...

Random thing No 5.
I have an incredibly strong sense of smell, and become quite overwhelmed if anywhere near smokers or in a place where there are potent smells...

Random thing No 6.
I am totally, utterly, irrevocably creeped out by Parktown Prawns... they are like the spawn of hell...it's also almost impossible to kill the gross things! They jump at you and poop a black pooey substance...

Random thing No 7.
I am the very definition of easily bored...I have to do ten things at once (mind you...enjoyable things, like knitting, crochet, painting etc, not the daily grind stuff...)

Righteeeoooo! Time to nominate the 15 Versatile Bloggers!

The Adventure Blog
A Sonoma Garden
Natural Suburbia
Do you mind if I knit?
AC Engineered Knits
Little Cotton Rabbits
Colourspun
Petitefee
Haken en Meer
Vignette Design
The Inspired Room
Untangling Knots
Le Monde De Sucrette
Adventure Journal
The Cottage Home

All of these blogs are an inspiration! Go and check them out :)

On another note: the last few weeks have been bad for blogging...I just have too many distractions and happenings at the moment. I hope to have a surprise release for Valentine's Day...see you all soooooonnnnnn..........

Have a great evening folks!
♥Heidi

Heidi's Liquid Handsoap...easy as pie!

I spent yesterday morning experimenting with making liquid handsoap...yes, I was distracted by the allure of mixing and whipping and pouring and generally making a mess of things, and didn't complete the editing for my Happy Hexagon Crochet tutorial...so I am sorry dear readers, and will get on that asap in the new week...BUT, I think I have unvented (don't you just LOVE that word? Thank you EZ!), a very easy, all natural method of making liquid handsoap, without having to use lye and long cooking times... As you all know, I am totally smitten by the cold processed soap that I had learned to make from Rhonda's lovely blog, and since that, I have only made soap, never bought commercially available soaps again. My kids and husband love it, and Gerry even uses the soap to wash his hair...so all-round a big hit!

I really like liquid soap next to the basin in the kitchen, because it's so easy to just squeeze out some from a pump dispenser when you want to wash hands, and it stays clean and contained...however, the daunting prospect of making liquid soap in the traditional way with cooking in a crockpot, and watching it, and having to use KOH lye etc led me to trying to make the liquid soap using just my cold processed natural soap that had been "curing" for around 3 months.

I have seen many references on the web to using commercially available soap, grating it up and melting it in water and adding some glycerine to thicken...I went through the whole process of trying this method, but using my cold processed soap instead, and it failed completely! I even tried whipping the liquid with a a hand-held blender and it didn't thicken at all...
This made me wonder what they put in commercially sold soaps that makes it thicken with just water and a bit of glycerine? I guess it may be the same basic process as making the liquid laundry soap...if anyone knows, let me know what the "thickening " ingredient is :)

After much experimenting and some messed up batches, I have come up with the following process, and it really made the most beautiful, moisturizing liquid soap I have used :)

Heidi's Liquid Handsoap Recipe

Requirements:

240g of grated cold processed soap (made with olive oil and coconut oil)
2 Liters of water
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of beeswax

Handheld blender
Large stainless steel pot
Glass bowls
Double boiler

Start by grating your cured cold processed soap. I arbitrarily used 240g of soap as my starting amount.
Pour 2L of water into a large stainless steel pot and place on low to medium heat. Add the grated soap flakes and stir until all the flakes have melted.

The mixture will make some foam, so try not to whisk it, just stir gently ...above you can see the clear golden liquid that results.

In a double boiler (or in my case, a Pyrex glass bowl suspended on a steel pot with some boiling water in it), melt the coconut oil and the beeswax pellets. Use low heat...you don't want it to get super-hot...just hot enough to start melting the beeswax.

Above you can see the melted mix...when I see the beeswax pellets beginning to melt, I turn off the heat. The rest will melt in with some gentle stirring.


Let both mixtures (the soapy water and the beeswax/coconut mix) reach around 60 degrees Centigrade (I am not sure if this is critical...I usually make sure that any mixes are at the same temperature...).

Pour your beeswax/coconut mix into your soapy water, slowing adding all of it while blending with a handheld blender (I used the high speed setting on my stick blender). It won't thicken, just mix all of the ingredients very well...

You will now have a milky coloured watery liquid. I poured it into a large glass bowl and put it in the fridge to cool. Over the next couple of hours, I checked in on it and found that the mixture separated out into a clear golden liquid at the bottom, and a white layer on the top.

I gently mixed it back into an all milky colored liquid using a hand whisk. Next time I checked, there was less of a separation, and I again gently swirled the lot with a whisk. I mixed twice in about two hours then left it in the fridge.

When I got up this morning, I found that it had gelled into the most wonderful, thick milky liquid! It is really lovely stuff...it didn't leave my hands dry as I think the coconut oil is probably adding a moisturizing element...

I decanted the liquid soap into a pump dispenser and it works well...no clogging or blocking up...

Please try this out and let me know if it works out well for you?

Next week, the promised Happy Hexagon Tutorial!
Have a lovely Sunday folks :)

♥Heidi