Natural Visitors

Welcome and random visitors....



Wild Coast of South Africa...taken from my balcony.....



Nesting finches...taken from my porch....

Have a good evening :)
♥

The Pretty Picot Cast On...a Tutorial

Well today was quite a day! I had to do some proverbial emotional tap dancing, but it is testimony to my blogged determination to bring you a small post, and keep my promise! To this, I must add some explanation...

I have uploaded two videos demonstrating the details of today's post, but in the first video, I was alone, and had to content with severe body contortion and a deep sustained squint (I was eventually sure that I was looking myself in the eye...) in order to film this here little clip...

Normally my precious daughter does the filming while yours truly demonstrates knitting bliss, but in the first video, I set up my trusty tripod and after considerable trial and error , I managed to get the whole thing focused, while leaning, arms akimbo, back pretzeled, around the darned tripod. This resulted in me only being able to see what the heck I was doing , by looking at the video viewer a half inch from my nose :[

Ok, so what am I trying to say? The video makes me look like I am trying to knit while demonstrating sign language, so please forgive this ambisinistrous knitter...

The Picot Cast On...with a twist!

Ok, so you know how you sometimes want to make something uber-girly and adorable, and you are not sure exactly what kind of embellishment will add that certain " Je ne sais quoi..." without making you (or your recipient) look like a deranged escapee from the Barbara Cartland fan club? Well, search no more! 'Cos here , on your friendly neighbourhood blog, you will find just the thing!

Now, I am sure that the vast majority of readers out in Blogland, have already come across or even mastered this little cast on, and if you have, I am sorry... a tedious description will now follow...

The idea with the Picot Cast on is to create a set of little bumps at the cast on edge of your knitting. This adds a bobbly , pretty border, and is useful for a variety of items, including the ever mentioned babywear, blanket edging, mittens, gloves, scarves, hats, sweaters etc etc .... in fact anything that you can cast on for :)

If you Google "Picot Cast On" you will get a gazillion hits, and your monthly download package will be used up if you just watch the first twenty videos that pop up, so please don't think this way is the only way...it is merely how I like to do things :)

Most of the web sources will describe the picot cast on by using 5 stitches initially.

So it goes something like this...

Cast on 5 stitches.

Knit 2 stitches.

Bind off one stitch on your right hand needle, by slipping the far right stitch over the second stitch that was knitted.

You have one stitch left on your right hand needle.

Knit one stitch.

Bind off one stitch just as before.

You have 2 stitches left on the left hand needle, and one stitch on the right hand needle.

Slip the right hand needle stitch (remaining), onto the left needle.

You now have three stitches on the left hand needle.

Cast on four stitches.

(NOTE: You started with 5 stitches, bound off two stitches, and were left with three stitches. The stitch you slipped from the right hand needle to the left COUNTS AS THE FIRST STITCH, of the five you need in total, ie you cast on 4 extra stitches to make up FIVE stitches to work with, just as in the beginning).

You will have a little gap between the first two stitches on your left hand needle, and the stitch you slipped from the right hand needle to the left.

Repeat from process from the beginning...knit 2, bind off 1, knit 1, bind off 1, slip remaining stitch to left needle, cast on 4. There you go :)

Your knitting should look like the pic above. I am not wild about the look of these funny little picots...they kinda look like (please excuse the phrase...) little udder teats...not nice and bobbly-like... So I sat in bed one night, knitting and fiddled with this. How could I make them look rounder and cuter?


First I thought I would make the picots, using only FOUR stitches instead of five, making them crowd together and perhaps make them fatter that way. Above is the result. The bit of knitting has a natural tendency to curl up, since it is stocking stitch after all, but I think that the four stitch picot cast on worsened the curl up. Hmmmm...so back to the drawing board....



In the pic above, I have taped the knitted piece down to force it flat, so that you can see the effect. It's better, in my humble opinion, but the curl up is too much to deal with....

Then I added a twist...and I had a zen moment. In the pic above you can see the roundy, fat little picots that were made. It is extremely difficult to describe a three dimensional technique in written words, so I have made a video showing exactly what I did. It's the second video. I am going to add a written description as well...just in case ;)

Cast on 5 stitches.

Knit 2 stitches.

Bind off one stitch on your right hand needle, by slipping the far right stitch over the second stitch that was knitted.

You have one stitch left on your right hand needle.

Knit one stitch.

Bind off one stitch just as before.

You have 2 stitches left on the left hand needle, and one stitch on the right hand needle.

BEFORE SLIPPING THE STITCH ON YOUR RIGHT HAND NEEDLE ONTO THE LEFT HAND NEEDLE, rotate your right hand needle through 360 degrees, moving away from you .

Slip the right hand needle stitch (remaining), onto the left needle.

You now have three stitches on the left hand needle.

Cast on four stitches.

(You started with 5 stitches, bound off two stitches, and were left with three stitches. The stitch you slipped from the right hand needle to the left COUNTS AS THE FIRST STITCH, of the five you need in total, ie you cast on 4 extra stitches to make up FIVE stitches to work with, just as in the beginning).

Repeat from the beginning...knit 2, bind off 1, knit 1, bind off 1, slip remaining stitch to left needle, cast on 4.

I must say, I really like these little critters! When I started knitting, I realised that I had inadvertently created a set of eyelets just above the picots :) Of course, I had to try the four stitch picot with twist option, and yes, of course the thing looked adorable, but curled like mad.

So I went back to the five stitch picot cast on and proceeded as follows:
Row 1: Knit all
Row 2: Knit all
Row 3: Knit all
Row 4: Purl all
Row 5: Knit all
Rest of work: alternate purl and knit ie stocking stitch.

I found that this helped to uncurl the work a bit and I liked the effect of the row of purl above the picots.

Right...back to the four stitch problem...
I decided that I liked this look better, but obviously needed to add stitches to the work to allow for a bit of uncurling ...so this is what I did...


On Row 1, I knit into the front and back (thereby making one extra stitch), of the stitches shown above. I then proceeded with Row 2 exactly as described earlier on. And it worked! I made little eyelets, the picots were a little closer together, and the knitting curled a bit less...happiness!

The video above is the self flagellation one...how to make a five stitch picot cast on...

The video below is the demonstration of the twist...happy viewing!

And now, Scotty beam me up.....

Night all,

Heidi :)

Hoo are you?

I found a lovely post on Night Owl Crafting, a random questions about me called "Hoo are you?"
So, in the spirit of sharing, here are my answers... I don't for a moment think that the majority of the readers who travel on this little blogger road of mine, will feel the earth move when reading this post, but, as I said before, there may the odd owl who enjoys a bit of distanced gossip... :)

1. Are you married/single/in a relationship?

♥Married♥..... yup! fortunately to my best friend....
My husband's name is Gerry, and we met at a huge general hospital here in Johannesburg, while I was doing my medical internship. Gerry was, at the time, a registrar in Internal Medicine (he was busy with his specialization rotation), and was given the onerous task of supervising my first official forays into the quagmire of patient care.

Of course, the romance blossomed in typical "General Hospital "style ;) , and after approximately 3 months of having been together (around a hundred and twenty hours of working together a week...yes, those were tough days, my friends....), decided that we should get married... Life and exams intervened, and 2 years passed before we eventually got married in 1995. By then , I was also in a specializing post, and although we did have a honeymoon, our lives consisted for a long time, of stumbling from one exam to the next in a kind of round-robin hell.... Thankfully, Gerry's last set of exams took place in 2006, and he is now an Intensivist (this is a doctor, who is a specialist in Intensive Care Medicine).

Although we sometimes drive each other crazy, and are capable of quite spectacular fights (both being somewhat passionate beings...), we are very happily married.

2. What do you do for a living? Do you enjoy it?

As noted above, I am a medical doctor by training, but prefer to think of myself as "the accidental tourist".... joking...
Seriously.... my walk through medicine has been interesting, and varied. I spent several years in a specialist training post, but gave birth to my oldest daughter shortly before my final exams, and once she made her presence felt in this world (as opposed to the over-crowded neighbourhood of the liver and the bladder), I couldn't go back to work and leave her with someone else... This resulted in some serious financial difficulties, as Gerry was till working in a government hospital post and earning the odd peanut here and there...
Somehow, though, we managed and I became a stay at home mommy. Best thing I ever did!
Over the years, as the girls started going to nursery school, and then school, I have worked part time in medicine, in a big variety of fields...I have spent some time in HIV medicine, Accident and Emergency medicine, a bit of Aesthetic medicine, and more recently, I am working part time in the ICU with Gerry.

I have also run various small businesses over the years, including embroidery, photography, artist bears design and making, digital scrapbooking, to mention a few. I am very easily bored and find I have to change creative outlets often. The longest lasting crafty type thing that I have stuck to , is knitting, crochet and sewing. I KNIT EVERY DAY FOLKS! Love it...love it....love it!

Other than that, I organize our lives (Gerry has a hectic practice and the admin of running our lives is virtually a full time task...), ferry kids around, do homework, meet with my friends at our knitting group once a week and generally plot and scheme what our next month will hold.

3. In what state do you live? Where were you born and raised?

Born and raised in sweet 'ol Gauteng, in South Africa. (For you folks across the big blue...Gauteng is one of South Africa's provinces /States).

4. Do you have children? If so, how many? If not, do you want them?

Yes! Two daughters aged 10 and 13. We absolutely adore them and probably spoil them far too much....it's a weakness :{ .......

5. Who is your favourite blogger to follow, and why?

Oh man, that's hard! If you take a look at my bloglist , you'll see quite a diversity in terms of type of blogs...I love the knitting and crocheting blogs, and I also enjoy the not so often listed kind of stuff, like the Marginal Revolution, and the Adventure blogs... I love antique jewellery, so I check in daily at The Three Graces :)

There is so much creativity and goodness out there, it's difficult to choose....


Right...so in a nutshell...there it is!

Tomorrow...a tutorial :)

Lo♥
Heidi :)

Eskimimi's fabulousness personified giveaway...

Ok, folks... some serious goodness to enjoy today...

One of my favourites: blogger/designer extraordinaire, and all round technically perfect knitter, Mimi, is having an amazing giveaway and offer on all her patterns. Needles afire! this girl's stuff is beautiful and her blog inspirational, so have a look... after all...she with the mostest stash wins...

Have a good one !
Lo♥
Heidi :)

Joburg on foot...

I needed to go into Johannesburg today, to finalize some admin that had been sitting on the back burner, and thought I would take some pics to show you all... I have had many requests to include some daily life details and a bit about South Africa, so here it is :)

I live in a town just outside of Johannesburg (which is locally referred to in short ...as "Joburg" by South Africans). Joburg is a really big place, ringed by a network of highways, which have recently (...and when I say recently...I mean it feels like forever, but in reality has been around 2 years) been undergoing an upgrading. This has resulted in the most awesome traffic issues, with lane closures, concrete barriers and the ever present long haul trucks blocking a lot of the flow of traffic. As a result, it is a seriously huge emotional undertaking to drive into Joburg in a car...and if at all possible, should be avoided.

But wait... not all is doom and gloom because ...(drum roll please...er...or rather Vuvusela blasts)...we now have the beginnings of a public transport system!!!!! Yes, I kid you not! The Gautrain is a newly built train that at this point , transports passengers from the Oliver Tambo International Airport, to Sandton, and back again. Sandton is a very up market area of Joburg, and also the business heart of the area. So, Yours Truly, drives to the nearest parking area, jumps on the Gautrain and withing 12 minutes...can walk through the heart of Sandton!

So, some pics...


Joburg is said to be one of the "greenest "cities, and everywhere you look , you will find mature trees, planted beddings and flowers. Businesses have gone to a lot of trouble to keep their garden bits well tended and thriving, and in this area (at least), the road is a pleasure to walk along.

In the pic on the right, are the much maligned "mini bus taxis". They congregate in what are termed "taxi ranks", and although (begrudgingly conceded...) a necessity, due to our non existent public transport system, they are the scourge on the roads of South Africa.

A South African mini bus taxi is the only object in the known universe, that can fly along a potholed excuse of a road, at Mach 2, and make a midair right angled turn, cross 5 lanes of peak hour traffic, to pick up a stray passenger, all while keeping only two of the four unroadworthy wheels in contact with terra firma. A South African mini bus taxi driver, is the only person in the known universe, who can control this beast , using a ratcheting spanner to manipulate the long sticky thingy that would normally hold a steering wheel, all the while eating a big mac with one hand and talking on his cell with the other...

Rules of the road are purely a figment of the collective imagination, and a mini bus meant to carry 15 passengers, with a bit of ingenuity and a strong arm, can easily be made to transport 40 people...

No, I do not lie, ask any South African.... the average South African commuter scoffs in the face of war, pestilence, famine, nuclear anihilation, and the sky falling on his head...he has been in a mini bus taxi... and has survived to ride again tomorrow....

...ask any South African...they will tell you :)



I walked from the Gautrain terminal to the place I had my appointment, taking the pics above on my merry way, and then went to the Nelson Mandela Square. This is essentially part of a shopping mall, with a large open air area where kids can run and play and parents and families sit and enjoy a meal. The main feature, is a massive bronze statue of Mr Nelson Mandela, and this is a huge tourist attraction, as was evidenced below, by the scores of people waiting to have their pic taken standing in front of the statue... Mr Mandela has been in hospital this past weekend, and I am pleased to say, the reports are that he is doing much better and is happy to be home :)


In the pic on the right, in the far distance, in front of the arched window, if you look closely, you can see the statue of Madiba. I spent a lovely hour browsing through all the books in Exclusive Books (a very, very well stocked chain of bookstores here in SA), and bought some beautiful books on the Renaissance (my oldest daughter is studying the Renaissance in history at the moment), and some ...yes , you guessed :) KNITTING books! Yeah baby! ...who needs food and water, shelter and clothing when you have the biggest stash and the biggest library!

On the crafting front, I have been knitting some fingerless mittens for my oldest daughter. If I can twist her arm to model for me, I will post some pics. I have also been doggedly working on the hexagon blanket for my little one. I must have been on another planet when I calculated that I would need 300 odd hexagons...it seems that the number is going to end up being closer to 600! I have been using Rowan's handknit cotton and I must confess...I didn't think it would be so heavy! Oh well...she is a big , strong girl...

Right, time to sign out...
Have a good one folks!
Lo♥
Heidi :)

Hello again...

Hi everyone :)

After a very long absence...and with a fresh approach, I am blogging again :)
I will hopefully post something tomorrow...thank you to everyone who has been visiting .....much ♥♥♥ to you all!

Sleep tight,

Lots of Love
Heidi♥