Monday 20 July 2015

W.I.P. - Knitted Patchwork Blanket - Square 17

I love this Port Banff rib effect. It's visually interesting and I love the layers it creates.
Definitely planning to use this pattern in as many project variations as I can find!
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This is the final finished square -->
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Now for square 17. Double moss stitch.
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I really like this pattern and have seen a few examples this week of this being used with a chunkier knit in a cowl. It's a really simple concept but can look really effective. Although, I would like to try it out in different wool weights.
Time to get started:
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Yarn addict signing off

MrsKirstyHoll
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Friday 10 July 2015

WIP – Patchwork Quilt - Anniversary Weekend Knitathon

Update on the knitting project ðŸ™‚
For those who don’t know, this knitting project is a learning exercise from the Art of Knitting Magazine. With every issue I get a ball of wall and a pattern to knit a square – there are loads of other patterns as well, but will get to them later. I started off at issue 1 only being able to garter stitch – and slowly progressing from there ðŸ™‚
Picture from thestitchsharer.com
Picture from thestitchsharer.com
Another mini project finished! Let me present you to my completed square 11.
Square 11 completed. Moss Stitch. With some accidental alterations at the end.
Square 11 completed. Moss Stitch. With some accidental alterations at the end.
Not entirely sure what happened in the last couple of rows. Accidentally lost concentration and it became more of a ribbed style. Opps. But I think the 2 patterns combo really well and it’s thankfully at the edge so you wont see it much when it’s sewn into the blanket. Lesson: I am not a perfectionist. I like to learn lots quickly rather than slaving away over the one thing. But I will end up redoing this pattern again at some point (lesson – do this pattern in one sitting!).
The colour did grow on me. But I don’t foresee me choosing ever to buy this colour for any project unless requested for a gift project. Just to be completely clear.
My husband and I have gone away for the weekend to the Hilton in Reading. Really friendly staff and great food – we’re going to check out the spa facilities later! Last night we tried their cocktail menu. It’s all made from scratch by bar guys that know what they are doing. The long island iced tea and the mohito were both beautiful!
So I have had a very productive day. I’ve managed to make it down to the hotel gym this morning for a 30 minute run on the treadmill (although the cooked brekki that followed balanced out calories). The we’ve also managed  to make it down the the pool for a 30 minute swim.
In addition, I’ve also managed to finish off my 12th square. I love the pattern. It’s so simple to knit and looks really cute. Possible might look better in a colour other than white. But I’m sure this will be done at some point in the project.
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So now I can get started on square 13.
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It doesn’t show up that well in this picture, but the stripes are a bright blue and bright pink. So its going to look very vibrant.
I am loving the bright colour combo. I’m also starting to really love the stocking stitch.
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I love the chequerboard stitch. It just looks awesome! Saw some great ideas of using this stitch on a larger scale for a blanket. Hmmm… project ideas…
Anyway, back to this project. This is the finished square 14
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Looks cute in grey. Would love to try this in colour changing wool or with slightly chunkier wool.
So made a start of square 15.
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Felt very pleased to get so close to catching up. Then this happened….
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Suddenly I’m 4 squares behind again…. O well… knitting time!!
Finished square 15 ðŸ™‚
“Mock Rib Gartef Stitch Stripe Square”
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I love this pattern. It’s  a beautiful combination of textures. It’s also not too difficult to knit. The biggy is making sure you start the P1, K1, P1…etc pattern on the right side ðŸ™‚
Now onto the rest of the piled backlog of squares….
Square 16 – Port Banff rib square (White)
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I like this pattern too. Much easier to knit as well. Only 2 rows repeated.
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Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Finished Objects – Knitted Bunnies

I saw this adorable pattern on my Facebook feed ðŸ™‚ My husband then challenged me to knit 10 to hide around his safe-zone at Drone Airsoft.
The perk that he is buying the wool and I get to knit something. So that is definitely a win.
Instructions from Joso and Sew
I’m using double knit wool with 3mm needles. 35 stitches across. 62 rows. Knit stitch. Finished with a 2.5cm pom-pom. Then sewed on eyes an nose with stitches.
This is the complete collection of bunnies. All camo themed colour coordinated. It’s a great exercise for improving tension and practice in changing colour.

Any thoughts on the colour scheme?
There was a lot of remaining wool left, so I used the colour combos I had planned to inspire the chunky blanket I’ve been knitting.
See the resemblance?
The Camo Themes Knitted Blanket
The Camo Themed Knitted Blanket

Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Tuesday 7 July 2015

WIP – Sewing Project – PATCHWORK Quilt

This is a project I started early 2014.
I’ve always fancied having a go at putting a quilt together. I’ve not done any sewing really since I was 13 – year 9 textiles class – so definitely out of practice!
Not quite sure where to start, I started collection designs on a Pinterest board. Then I eventually found this one and suddenly it all fell into place.
Cross quilt patterns
However, rather than being separated by white crosses, all of the crosses will be patterned. My thought was that this would be the best way of mixing the pattern fabric as individual squares might look a bit overwhelming.
Here is a quick sample of some of the fabrics that are going into my quilt. I’ve got a mix of fabrics I have brought and some that have been donated by friends and family for the project. The plan is to mix the block coloured fabric with the ones that have more white in the design.

Work so far…I have started sewing them into crosses and used a large white sheet to formulate my design. The plan is to use the sheet as an extra layer below the patched side between the stuffing. I’m hoping this will secure the patched design.
Fabric Samples
Samples of completed crosses
For the back of the quilt I have a red piece of fabric with a printed image of the Hindu God. I brought it in Portugal as I wanted something in the blanket to remind me of the holiday. It will also give me the perk of a reversible quilt! I’ll give you a sneak preview of it further into creation – so watch this space!
January progress…
So post Christmas work on the blanket has progressed from pieces to some of the crosses of the fabric actually sewn together! Originally I had began the design sewing together using invisible plastic thread. During this stage I discovered that that was not my best plan as some of that stitching is coming apart. So I am now using white cotton thread and make small repair stitches where necessary.
So here is a photo of my progress so far! I’ve given up on pinning them onto the sheet. This was manly because I was being an bit impatient. I really needed to see some progress to get my motivation going on this project.

Some of the more eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that my attempt at free wheeling this without a pattern needs more focus. The bottom cross with with flowers needs to be unstiched and moved across and up one square. Apparently spending a bit of time doing a line drawing pattern could be a good move.
Here it is (feel free to copy if you want to try the composition yourself. The squares are 13″ x 13″ inches.
Since I put the line drawing together, the blanket has progressed significantly.
Projects Update - Patchwork quilt
Projects Update – Patchwork quilt

Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Sunday 5 July 2015

F.O. – Cosy Cowl Scarf

My Sunday was suddenly planned. With the arrival of the 10mm needles and my chunky emerald wool (which had turned out the week before) I suddenly had all the ingredients to make my cowl scarf. Having never done any chunky knitting before this was pretty exciting. On Sunday I managed to finished about half the rows.  I was feeling really pleased with my colour choice!
The issue I was starting to find on Monday morning was that the needles were about half the length I needed to cope easily with 150 stitches. Highly recommend longer needs (min 40cm) for attempting this chunky knit! We had a few holes in the finished piece as I didn’t notice when I dropped stitches. But I am rather proud of it!
I’ve brought myself a long pair of 10mm needles. So planning another cowl scarf – although colour and design have yet to be decided ðŸ™‚
Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x


Saturday 4 July 2015

F.O. – That Black Scarf

For those of you who don’t know – this has been a rather epic long project for me. 
It was originally started life with the intention of being a christmas present for my husband 3 1/2 years ago. At that point I had no idea about size of wool in relation to needle size.
“I’ll just knit a scarf and that will be really easy,” I thought to myself.
What I didn’t twig onto for a while (at which point I was too stubbon to restart) was that knitting with chunky wool on 2 3/4 needles is actually a form of self punishment.
Stitch: garter
Needle size: 2 3/4
Length: 75 inches (14 rows of 50 stitches per inch).
Stitches: 52500
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Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Friday 3 July 2015

F.O – Pin cushion tutorial – Vintage Milk Jug

Seriously love this Pin Cushion idea from House of NicNax.
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I’m in the process of buying my first home. This home will have a second bedroom which will mean – for the first time  ever – that I have a permanent crafting space. So a beautiful pin cushion is suddenly an awesome (and very practical) idea.
My first thought is that this idea would work awesomely in a vintage style teacup. So I hit the charity shops in the hunt for an odd one.
Finally spotted (by my mother in law) is this seriously cute vintage milk jug.
I will continue to hunt for a vintage 1920’s teacup. But I’m loving this alternative.
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I then had a hunt through my fabric stash – I’ve got a bit now due to my fabric patchwork project.
What do you think?
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This was a really simple make. I literally managed to finish it in an hour.
The first thing I did was get measuring the jug. From that I could work out what size I needed the fabric to be.
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I then got out my needle and thread and threaded around the edge.
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Then pulled it tight…
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Then I stuffed it full of cushion stuffing (my mother in law handily had one in the cupboard for that exact purpose).
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The finished project (the second finished one for the week so I’m doing pretty well ðŸ™‚ )
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The original also had a button… but I thought it would look a bit much?
What do you think?
Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Thursday 2 July 2015

Charity shop finds

So I had some really cute finds in charity shops last week ðŸ™‚ Just thought I’d share….
1. Milk jug. £1.49
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I brought this for a project – it’s now been turned into a pin cushion….
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2. Hat. £2.99
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I nearlly walked out of this charity shop… then spotted it on the way out.
I really couldn’t help myself. I am totally in love with this hat.
3. Needles. 50p per pair. 25p per single double point / cable needle
I’m still in the process of building up my knitting ‘tool kit’ so any cheap needles are always welcome. I was very pleased to find all of these over a couple of days.
16 double point. Mix of 2.75mm, mix of 3.00mm and 3.25mm.
1 x 3.0mm cable
1 x 6.00mm cable
1 x 6.00mm needle pair
1 x 6.50mm needle pair
1 x 7.00mm needle pair
1 x 9.00mm needle pair.
This week has been a bit of a win!
🙂
Yarn Addict Signing off

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Wednesday 1 July 2015

F.O. – Ribbed Wrist Warmers.

Original pattern – from art of knitting
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Image of the Original Design from Art of Knitting
Originally the plan was to just knit this cute pair of handwarmer and be done….
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Close Up of the Pre-pattern instructions from Art of Knitting
Take 1 – Pretty much following the pattern
Because I had the DK in red I thought I would have a go with that. It gave me a  chance to check to see if this pattern in standard fit my hand. I have pretty large hands and really long fingers!
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Front of the Glove
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Back of the Glove
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Side of the glove
For me, this pattern is a little bit long and a little bit loose around the hand.
The thumb hole needs to be a little bit shorter.
While at work I started thinking patterns could make this a little more visually interesting and fit more snug to my hand.
So I opened my notebook…
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So suddenly this has become a little bit of a development project…
Take 2 –  Full length ribs – Which I deemed awesome enough to knit a pair for
So initially I thought I would try out this ribbing idea.
I decided to go with a 2 x 2 ribbed pattern. Casted on 44 stitches again as that seems to fit well around my arm.
Row 1: k2, p2 etc
Row 2: k2, p2 etc
Row 1
Row 2.
Row 5: k2, p2 etc.
Row 6: p2, k2 etc.
Currently its looks like this:
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Going to make it slightly longer than the first one as well. About another 3 inches long (about where the pen line is on my hand).
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This pattern seems to be currently progressing well. Although slightly concerned that it might not be wide enough….
The most difficult bit is the ribs around the thumb. Currently producing mixed results….
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Opps… will attempt a fix with a needle later on that hole…
Managed to get the first wrist warmer done in a night. I got slightly focused/addicted…
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A slight hole. But I did repair this with a needles and some matching wool. So you can barely see it now.
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I learnt a lot from doing that first one. Felt really proud of myself for getting it finished! I need to work on the thumb and keeping the tension when increasing the stitches.
Glove 2
Didn’t do a rib around the bottom on this one. Although that should be included in future replicas as it stops it rolling.
All ribs 2 x 2. Like the second version better where the rib encircles the thumb instead of following it up. Looks a lot neater. I then also added ribbing around the thumb when I got to the point of just knitting the length of the thumb (rather than knitting rows to increase stitches). It sits tighter to my thumb and is a lot more practical as it finishes just below the joint.
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I’m really pleased with the ribbing pattern. It just looks really cool. I also have plans to knit a scarf to match. So 3 guesses what everyone in my family is getting for christmas this year…. I’ve found my speed and accuracy has really increased over the course of the 2 gloves and the second one came together really fast.
The wool for the next incarnation of the gloves with the self striping wool is here. But I am going to have to put knitting on hiatus for a week as I need to finish a book I promised I review for a friend. Unfortunately it’s now yet an audiobook so it’s not a chore I can double up.
Yarn Addict Signing off
MrsKirstyHoll
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