Friday 31 March 2017

Work in Progress Update!

So I do appreciate that I haven't posted much this week! In all honesty, this week is my last week of maternity leave and it has absolutely flown by. Any spare moment where Lily has been asleep has been spent knitting furiously!
Star Wars Scarf
After being sat in a bag in my cupboard since we moved in, it is now fully knitted, blocked and ready to back. I'm going to see what fabric I have in my stash for this one... So I'll update you when I have some time to sew it on!
It's definitely more of a Lily size scarf.
Patchwork Art of Knitting Blanket
So totally on the final countdown with this WIP now (It's the Final Countdown!). So I'm super excited about the progress this week. It's really starting to look awesome. When I've finished writing this post I'm going to get on with the rest of the sewing  - all the squares are fully blocked :)
I have today borrowed a set of KnitPro 120cm 4mm circular needles from mum (we're both knitting obsessed) so I can pick up stitches for the border. I'm going to border in black DK and edge the border with some slightly thinner sparkly greeny DK from my stash.
Spare yarn blanket
In my excitement this week I'm also cast on the spare yarn blanket in an attempt to use up some of the yarn left from the patchwork blanket. I'm not joking when I say I have 2 gift boxes worth of spare yarn left....
Premmi baby blanket - Monday group
We knit for PremmieUK, with the yarn donated by a local funeral directors.
I'm knitting a Ripple design blanket for the first time in 4Ply. It's a really light weight blanket and looking really nice - although it's not particularly interesting to knit if I'm honest as it's only 2 lines.
Octopus for a Premmi - Facebook group
This is my practice octo. Trying to figure out how to make the tentacles curl!
Knitting with tiny needles (2.25mm) in cotton (which is a first for me). My hands ache, but it's for a good cause. Lily will probably be having this one, but it's a useful chance to practice and figure out the pattern. Currently my tension seems good and I'm not seeing any holes!
In another exciting update this week - I have new hair!! Yes, for my new look I've gone part red head. If I'm honest I keep forgetting about it and catching sight of it in the mirror!

That's all from me today!
Love to you all, Happy knitting!
MrsKirstyHoll
x

Tuesday 21 March 2017

Wip progress Knitting Project update

Hay guys, so this is going to be a slightly longer post. This has been an exciting week!
The last of the squares... 
So we are on the last stages of the patchwork blanket! After just over 2 years on this project I am seriously excited to be finishing it. Although, it has been a fantastic project for improving my knitting skills and confidence.
Here's a few of the final squares...
So these were meant to both be the same... but I had some spare wool. So I mixed the colours up a bit!
I also managed to knit this 2 little ladder squares... the pattern is so simple. But I really love the effect!
While knitting the last square I took the time to organise and lay out the knitted squares. I've then piled each long row together and in that order I can then block them on the foam pads I brought last week.
This is the last completed square!!! After 90 squares, this is the final one.... *drum roll please*
I've set out the foam pads and pins (serious useful by the way in terms of being able to vary the shape). The pins are also really sturdy.
To dampen the squares I soaked kitchen roll in water and then used candle holders to help flatten the squares. This picture is of the squares after they had been left for 12 hours. They still need to finish drying. But hopefully I should be able to start sewing tomorrow! Plan is to sew one line while the next row is blocking. There's only 9 rows and then I need to knit the border. The plan is to find some pretty yarn from the stash and pick up stitches for the border. Their wavy version is going to involve knitting separately and sewing on - which just seems far to much effort when I have so many other projects I want to get on with!
GIANT KNITTING
So one night last week (while Lily fell asleep on Daddy) I cast on the beginning of a blanket for her on those Giant Needles (24mm). I'm not entirely sure what pattern this blanket will end up being - I'm going to experiment a little as I go along - but it will be fun to see what happens.
Premature Baby Knits
So the background to this little number... I was knitting in the doctors surgery when a bloke struck up a conversation about me knitting and not looking at it. Then a lady next to him joined in. It turned out that she knitted at a local knit and natter group at the local Methodist church on a Monday morning (which fits in with my schedule when I go back to work as well - win!). They knit clothes and blankets for PremmieUK - with the baby yarn donated by a local funeral Directors.
This will be a new pattern to me, so will update as it emerges....
Star Wars scarf
This is the mysterious WIP that I started planning a good few years ago. I found the colour work sections in a blog years ago (sorry that I don't have the links) and put them together to make a colour work pattern for a scarf. Initially I attempted a sample square working on the short side sideways in 6mm. I found this too loose and the edging of the image wasn't great.
So the next attempt was longways down in 5.5mm needles. This was just that little bit tighter and the edging looked a lot better. I've already sorted out some circular needles that will allow me to knit long ways and work downwards. This should be a relatively quick knit I think and the spare black yarn will be needed for my scrap yarn blanket!
So I'm off to get some more knitting done while Lily gets some more sleep!
Here's another big grin :)
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Love to you all and happy knitting!
MrsKirstyHoll
x

Lily Shopping... Opps I did it again!

Does Lily need more clothes? No. But she has more anyway.
Mummy and Daddy went shopping again... To be fair we only go to Dronfield about once a year, so it was our first time taking advantage of their baby shops!
Our first stop was the adorable Tiny Tots Boutique (Dronfield). The owner was super lovely and super helpful. We brought Lily some beautiful outfits - although we were sensible and did buy bigger stuff. So she'll look adorable while she's learning to walk! I'm not going to say exactly how much we spent... but I will admit that by the time she's big enough to run through puddles I will not be spending this much!
6-12 months
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The light weight organic cotton will make this ideal for the summer
12 Months+
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I was about to pay... then I saw this dress and I couldn't leave without it!
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This was half price.... So it would have been rude to leave it behind....
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This dress is absolutely adorable. Enough said.
In an effort to then be slightly sensible in our financial decisions we then hit the local charity shops. These are up in the local civic centre and include a Banardos Children's shop (highly recommend!).
Mummy's purchase...
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Hoping to use this super chunky yarn to knit a miny blanket for Lily - using my super huge needles. So technically a Lily buy really...
Lily shopping
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Lily's first moneybox

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£2.49!! Size 12 - 18 months. Also a super colour
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£3.49. This red dress is also 12-18 months and is seriously cute.
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John Lewis dress are about £20 new. So for £2 this is an absolute bargin. Size 3-6 months - so Lily will pretty much fit this now.
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At £2.50 with the original label still on it, I couldn't leave this behind. I have a leather jacket with almost the same design... so when Lily fits this next year we'll match!
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I love Quentin Blake. 25p!
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£2.00. We have the Gruffulo equivalent of this book already. Love the sounds and story combo. Also really colourful - so ideal for kids!
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£2.99. The joys of co-sleeping? This is now hanging over my bed...
So that's a summary of our purchases for the weekend! Thankfully I don't get much time for shopping at the moment so I don't end up buying to much... Also back at work in April so I can then have less time and more money (for yarn food and bills and other stuff).
Anyhow... I'm off to see if my daughter has any space left in her wardrobe...
Love to you all
MrsKirstyHoll
x

Sunday 19 March 2017

Spotlight Sunday

So I read a lot of of blogs through the week. Especially now that I spend a lot of time trapped on the sofa by a sleeping Lily! A lot of these blog feature some amazing advice and inspirational ideas. In light of this I thought I would start a once a week feature to share these awesome posts with the rest of you - just in case you missed them...
What I do think would be really cool would be if this became a thing a lot of us could do. I love seeing where other people's inspiration comes from. Just a thought? #spotlightsunday
  1. Weighing out your Yarn - Dartmoor Yarns
Now this was a really good idea. Up until this point I've been going with the logic that if I have 3 times the length of yarn length left then I have enough to sneak in another yarny row. However, Dartmoor yarns have a much more accurate method to prevent games of yarny chicken - weighing out your yarn. If you know how much yarn you use per row then you can weigh the yarn after each row to see if you have enough left for another. 
So I'm off to buy a set of digital kitchen scales......
With my new cabling skills this post really caught my attention. So Karen managed to cable round the wrong way and managed to mess up her pattern but didn't notice until a lot later on. Wanting to avoid ripping out all her othewise beautiful knitting, she turned to our old friend Google and she found this post from Yarn Harlot. Basically there is a way of just ripping out the cabling without the surrounding knitting and using a DPN to reknit the pulled stitches correctly back up to the row you were working on!
Absolute genius.
One of my aims this year is to learn a lot more about sock knitting. So this toe-up free pattern post really caught my attention. I'm really interested in the different techniques of sock knitting as I know there are so many different ways of knitting them. 
Here's a link to the pattern - I'm adding it to my 2017 to knit list to.... That list is getting seriously long now...
Looking to treat yourself to some new patterns or yarn? Yarnbob has found some beautiful yarny beauties that also give to charity with every purchase. 
I do have a pattern in mind for this yarn...
Love is Love
This beautiful finished knit is a freebie pattern that you can find here. Night owl initially knitted this is 2014 and then it died in the wash... So, feeling inspired she's reknitted it in a slightly looser fit in Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky. It's now fully washable and looks absolutely stunning! 
Definitely a pattern for my To-Make List.... I have a feeling this list will be still in progress into next year!
So that's my list of posts that's really inspired me for this week. I'll see you all same time same place next week!
Love to you all and happy knitting
MrsKirstyHoll
x

Tuesday 14 March 2017

9 To Go! (Squares)

So we were away this weekend at my grandparents. They were meeting their newest great-granddaughter and so Lily got lots of cuddles and I managed to get some knitting done!
I managed to get 3 squares finished this weekend! Although I did pick the stocking stitch squares - so a couple of quick wins.
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One square looked a little bored so I did embellish with some cable knitting. It's actually pretty fun and I'm looking forward to doing some cable projects this year (you may have noticed a few have snuck onto my to make list for the year.....).
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I have 2.5 weeks until I go back to work. Hoping to get the last of them knitted before then!!
In some exciting news the fluffy wool for the rabbit jumpers turned up :) So I'm ready for them now. Its Sirdar snowflake DK and so fluffy!!!!
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Other post to arrive was the materials to block the squares in prep for sewing together.
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So in Lily news, she's been smiling now for a couple of weeks. But I finally caught a picture of a Lily sized grin this evening :) Grinning and attempting to stand are her new party tricks!! She's also trying to crawl and roll over. So soon there will be no stopping her!
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Will post again about the weekend later in the week - we brought some really cute stuff for Lily!!
Happy knitting!
MrsKirstyHoll
xx

Monday 6 March 2017

Yarny Heaven at the Knitting and Stitching Show

So on Sunday my very lovely mother and I went up to London (leaving my amazing hubby with Lily for the day). In London was yarn heaven. 
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The Olympia Stadium in Kensington played host this weekend to the Knitting and Stitching Show. To me, it was like walking into a huge candy store and it was a beautiful experience. 
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Inside the two large exhibition halls it filled were a wide range of exhibitors. There was stands full of beautiful fabric, stunning yarn, beading accessories, embroidery bits and pretty much most everything a knitter could dream of owning. So pretty much everything for every beautiful one of you.
We arrived - due to a weird route up on the trains - about 30 minutes earlier than planned. This was great as it gave us a bit of time to have a nosy around some of the artwork that was in display.  
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These jumpers were really beautiful knits and I loved the concept of using your knits as artwork. Unfortunately I couldn't find the plaque that told me the knitter - so if anyone knows who to credit please let me know! An extension of this could be to frame the images if the style of jumper isn't to your tastes? 
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Slighting annoyingly I forgot to make a note of the very clever artist of this piece. But I really wanted to share it as it was one of a favourite pieces on display at the show. Its a fully stitched piece and looks absolutely stunning.
Another beautiful bit of knitting was in aid of the Louise Hamilton Trust (charity number 1106129) Hospice Appeal. Their aim is to raise £3 million to build a 10 bed hospice. There was an enchanted wood, a beautiful garden, a fish pond and a carousel. While they did have donation boxes by the displays you can donate a £1 by texting EKXS31 to 70070. 
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The garden was seriously impressive. If you are after a size reference, the centre flower bed was over meter wide. Overall, I thought the entire scene was the most amazing knit. 
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In contrast, the fishpond was a much smaller knit - although no less impressive. To create the effect of the fish being underwater they have been covered with a blue glittery netting. 
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The final piece, the carousel was also rather beautiful.
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This wasn't the only campaign running at the event. Innocent smoothies were also there to get knitters knitting for their Big Knit for Age UK. Unfortunately we were a bit short on time - so I brought a pattern home with me. It will be another good scrap yarn pattern and I have a local shop where I can drop my hats to. 
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The next part of are journey through yarny heaven was into the cable knitting masterclass we'd pre-booked (an extra £16 each on top of the £13 entry ticket). This was run by the lovely Monica Russel - who very kindly agreed to take a selfie with me for this blog post. 
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It was a really fantastic class. I had never even tried cable knitting before and now (even through I need some serious practice) I actually feel confident enough to pick up a cable knitting pattern to have a serious go. She provided 3 patterns for us to work from which covered 3 different styles - which gave us a really broad overview on the topic. 
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I will admit that the blue one was actually meant to be a fountain pattern... I got distracted by chatting to a lovely lady visiting from Pennsylvania and didn't read the pattern properly.... But it was so lovely to meet fellow knitters! By the end of the class I'd brought Monica's book 20 to Make - Knitted Snoods. The book is full of beautiful designs with a huge range of techniques. She also very kindly signed it for me. (Here the link for Amazon)
knitted snoods book
My first purchase of the day was a pair of serious huge wooden needles (24mm x 700mm type of huge) from Rachel John. I've seen this sort of size needles all over the internet, but never been able to find them. At some point it will be awesome to be able to knit a rug of a blanket using them. They were also selling yarn to go with them on the stand - but there was no way I was getting that much yarn home by train! It will be fun to figure that out later...
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Although my feeling is that they might get used a a pair of lightsabers by my husband and child when she gets a bit older.... Hopefully I'll get to use them to actually knit something before then. It's going to be fun trying to figure out how to logistically knit with something that big!
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My next buy was some actual yarn this time. The Trim Wool Shop caught my attention with some gorgeous multi-coloured wool and an amazing design for a spiral hat that they had designed. I came away from the stand £8 poorer, but happily gripping my new yarn purchase (Katia's Azteca colour 7842).
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My other yarny purchase was from Masami Yokoyama of the Euro Japan Trading Co. It features a ball of UK Alpaca Worsted Spun Hand Knit Yarn in Lavender and a Japanese pattern for a baby cape. It's a beautiful pattern and it's a different style of knitting that I have not tried before. So I'm really looking forward to giving this a go.   
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As my regular readers are aware, I do have a number of already yarn equipped projects planned for the year. So I decided to be a little bit sensible and buy some patterns on their own - with the idea of buying more yarn when I've made some headway with my other planned projects. I came back with some beautiful projects. 
From Mrs Moon I came away with a beautiful project book which has some beautiful knits for babies. She also has some stunning crochet designs as well. 
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However, some of my favourite patterns where some really classical designs from Purl Alpaca Designs. I came away with patterns for the little grey dress for Lily and the brown dress for me. The plan is to make them in the same colour so we eventually match... It will look adorable. 
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 Now, although I was actually pretty restrained and did not buy much yarn... I did do some research into the yarns available. Now I am starting to progress in my knitting, I want to be able to knit beautiful final pieces with some lovely wool. However, with that comes a price tag and I want to be able to justify that. 
One company I was really looking forward to seeing was Wool and the Gang. I've seen a lot of their yarns on Instagram and was pretty tempted. Slightly disappointingly, I really wasn't that impressed with the feel of their chunky yarn. It just didn't sit right with me - although the colours are beautiful. However, what really did impress me was their yarn made with recycled denim - somewhere between cotton and DK weight. The amount of denim varies depending on the mix with cotton. But it is so soft and I would love to knit something in this. 
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I also got to have a feel of the yarn from Stitch and Story - it's so soft and seriously beautiful in terms of the range of colours. Their example knits were also beautiful.
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If you're after some shiny/sparkly but beautiful yarn I recommend Debonnaire Yarns. The yarn knits up amazingly. However, it's not cheap and that's the reason why I have not come home with about 6 millions balls of it. To expensive for an impulse buy, but well worth it if you want to knit a beautiful shawl or cardigan. In all seriousness, I did fall in love with this yarn. 
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 The other yarn that now hold a special place in my 'must have' list is from Yarn Telier. All the Cashmere yarns are so beautifully soft and are available online . At about £25 a ball I really need to have my heart set on a project. But when I do, it will be completely amazingly perfect. 
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So overall I did not actually come home with that much yarn - surprisingly. But I came home feeling so inspired and more informed about what I could do with this amazing hobby that is knitting. My project list has definitely grown and I will update the To make list when I have some time. 
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Thanks for reading and I seriously recommend the Knitting and Stitching Show for those of you who love knitting. 
Love to you all, Mummy Brain Signing off,
MrsKirstyHoll
x

Thursday 2 March 2017

Charity Shops finds for Lily

So on Tuesday (as part of my new get fit routine), I pushed Lily up the our local shop parade. Mainly with the aim of a Coffee once I reached my destination – a much required prize after the huge hill I needed to walk up to get there!
Julia’s house has recently opened up a charity shop on the parade up there. It looks fantastic and has a great range of clothes up there. I’ve already got myself a dress and Lily has had plenty from there when it opened the other week. But I was particularly pleased with my haul on Tuesday. So I thought I would share it with you all – as I am a seriously big believer in charity shops for baby clothes. It’s a really great way of cheaply buying practically new clothes for hardly any money.
3-6 Months
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This dress will look adorable with a long sleeved baby grow underneath!
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These dungarees are made from some really nice thick denim. I was so surprised with the price and I’m hoping she’ll get some decent wear from them as they look huge!!
6-9 months
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For a £1 this dress was an absolute bargin! I think it’s adorable and will look super cute with a set of white leggings.
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Both of our parents have dogs. So this was a T-shirt I couldn’t resist – especially as it still has the original price tag on it. It’s amazing how many baby clothes still have the original price tags on.
9-12 months
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Both my husband and I love dinosaurs. So this was not going to be left behind. It will be autumn by the time Lily fits this. Which will be ideal and so she’ll hopefully get some decent use from it ðŸ™‚
On the other hand, here is a super cute picture of Lily in a Darth Vader onesie that we got from Mothercare . The annoying thing is that I paid about £10 and I doubt she’ll get more than a month’s wear out of it!
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But she did look awesome at our under one’s group on Wednesday!
Not got much knitting done this week. I’m pretty sure we have gremlins in our house that produce washing. I swear I have spent every moment Lily has been asleep either washing up of doing laundry! It’s seriously starting to drive me nuts!!!
FYI – I really hate housework, but if I don’t then my house looks like its been hit by a (baby sized) bomb!
I’m off to the knitting and stitching show on Sunday. So keep an eye on my Instagram for updates from that and I’ll post my review of the show (with pictures of yarny goodness) early next week.
Hopefully I’ll get some knitting done on the train ride up to London!
Mummy brain signing off
MrsKirstyHoll
x