A quick update on my projects DONE!

Crazy quilt tooth-fairy pillow for granddaughter ;) yippee I got it done!

a toesy cozy for my niece who broke her leg flying a kit in wearing flip flops instead of sneakers. ouch.

just plain warm socks - 2 strands Patons stretchy sock yarn

Shur'tugal socks pattern from Ravelry! Used Deborah Norville Serenitiy sock yarn

I'm stuck on the directions for the heel of my September Sock... Help!

First I'd like to God Bless the families in San Bruno, Calif. where there was a huge gas explosion that demolished and leveled their neighborhood and most likely several people have died. oh those poor people, my heart goes out to them.   Somebody in B.I.G trouble at that gas company for lack of follow-up  and poor residential communication.  3 weeks of lingering gas smell is a LONG time and for company to show up only once during is very bad.

Back in the late 90's our town's gas plant had a huge gas explosion in the middle of the night except it was two miles out in the country from our town. We were extremely lucky that our fireman were able to cap it off before our whole town exploded.

ok, I need some help here.  Below photo shows the part of the directions I find a bit confusing.  Am I correct in interpreting that these directions instruct one to FIRST do the next four rounds of both the heel & the instep on their perspective needles as in same manner as one would do a leg, (the stitch pattern is nearly same as leg patter except for the minor changes in stitch combinations).  ??  ... THAN, do the heel flap ... than turn heel.... than do the gusset pick-up  between these two sections ???

I guess I'm just not used to those four rounds being included under the heel category of sock patterns. They really feel like they belong to part of the leg instructions instead.   

The next paragraph shows three rounds that DO seem like the heel flap, even tho it's not labeled "heel flap".  Guess I'm just used to very literal directions. Hope I've got this figured correctly.  If so, than this was a nice exercise in broadening my horizons!

I tried to contact the pattern author at the website but am not able to find an email link.     So If anyone out there wouldn't mind giving me their two cents on this question I'd be most grateful !

Shur'tugal heel directions

Shur'tugal gusset instructions

Close-up of heel - gusset - instep for Shur'tugal sock

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• Last Night's San Bruno Explosion Destroyed 50 Homes, 1 Dead (businessinsider.com)

Ack !   a spider !

Look at this creepy nite-time surprise I walked into out my back door .   ack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The very first step out the door too. I literally walked into it. yup, face first. than I fell back on my bum all freaked out.  This was one BIG spider too.  I still get shivers and feel the sticky web on my face when I think about it.

On a much nicer note..... here is a peek at my September Socks that I'm working on.  This is that twisted stitch pattern called Shur'tugal socks that I found on ravelry. I finally have a rhythm down now with this stitch and it is fun to do!

The pattern is a bit hard to discern in the photo because the socks are in such a relaxed state right now.  As you can see from the photo I'm using Deborah Norville's  Serenity sock wool in her Amethyst coloway.  I'm still learning about how the striping patterns of variegated wool plays out. I would have thought these particular grey stripes would have been somewhat skinnier than what they are, but I still like it.  I am wondering do ALL self-striping wool work out to have their stripes be on the diagonal?  Is the only way a person can get good horizontal stripes is to use two different colors wool and to start & stop with each color ??

Well, I'm off to do some more on these socks while I listen to some more podcasts.  I've been listening to Crafternoon Tea with Grannyg and CogKNITive all week !    Stop in and have a good listen with these ladies ;)       In one of Dr. Gemma's earlier CogKNITive podcasts... episode 14 or something... she talks about how Knitting is good brain exercise for warding off  Dementia because using both hands simultaneously works both sides of your brain.  I thought that was so cool to know as I had never heard that before. This really interested me as  1.) my mum had dementia and 2.) it's always great to have a good reason to knit!   [Growing up I remember hearing aunts & uncles during their talks go... psst, so & so has the big "C" ya know.]  Well people...  I'm more scared of it than of cancer i think. I know that sounds terrible. I am sorry too for everyone who is sick with either, but dementia scares me to death. So to learn more I did some googling on the subject ... found sorta a bucket-list of twenty things a person should consider making habit even as early as in their 30's & 40's it says.... w o w      oh, and... get your vitamin D levels checked !  It's real important they are finding out.

Get this. research shows that ... The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.        

Twisted Stitches

Shur'tugal ~ a Ravelry Socktopus Pattern

 I'm learning some new stitches for my pair of September socks - the Right Twist & Left Twist stitches.  Seems a bit tricky so I found a YouTube video that perfectly shows how to do these stitches that are given in the Shur'tugal Socks Pattern.  I found this Socktopus Pattern at Ravelry.  It is offered as a free Ravelry PDF dL'.  It was originally published in Socktopus DesignsThe Inside Loop, Autumn 2008       These socks are awesomely beautiful !  Wish I had the two-tone aqua & gold color yarn that she used but I don't.  Instead when we go to town this weekend I think I'm gonna get some of Deborah Norville's Serenity sock yarn from Hobby Lobby.  I hope my socks turn out as good as these look!

Anywho... here is the video...  Cirilia Rose from the Berroco Design Team demonstrates twisted stitches.  I watch some other videos but I liked Cirilia's best. She does a really wonderful job in this video. Her work stays entirely on-screen, the pace is just perfect and her speech is clear, there is NO distracting background music and the resolution is very clear. I give her a Ten on the thumbs-up scale !

Youtube ~ Twisted Stitches by Cirilia Rose from the Berroco Design

Also I found written diagrams of this stitch.