F.O. – Scrap yarn cot blanket

My knitting speed has definately increased. This is good news in light of my limited knitting time these days. 

So this was knitted with my favourite curcular needles – addi premium. Such a pleasure to knit with!

Luckily I finished knitting on a day with some glourious evening sunshine!

I’m so pleased with how this turned out. Really love the image and the mix of colours within it. I have used up some yarn balls… but not was many as I thought I would. So need to look and some other smaller projects for that…

What I really learnt with this project was colour changing. It wasn’t something I’d really done before. Initially I was just cutting off the ends with the intention of sewing in later.

Then as I went on I figured out that winding the yarn was much tidier and saved a lot of time. Will definately use this method on furture projects!

The final side of this was 1m x 1m plus a 5cm border on both ends. 

On a side note the border matches my nail polish…

I had originally hoped that a 4×4 ribbed border would have prevented the end curling. I think sticking with the same needles with the slightly thinner dk mucked up tension and so it curled anyway. 

But it still looks shiny  

This blanket will be a christmas present for Lily. She’ll have grown into it by then!

Now time for a crochet project  Already planned with yarn in the bag and pattern downloaded. So watch this space!

Love to you all and happy yarning!

Mrskirstyholl (and Lily)

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W.I.P update - Harry Potter Scrap Yarn Blanket

Hi all! 

For reasons I’m not going to share, I’ve ended up having a lot of knitting time this week – Lilys fine just incase you were starting to worry!

But what that does mean is that I’ve finished the picture on Lily’s blanket! I’ve still got at least another 20cm of knitting and the border to go. But this last bit should be pretty quick. 

I’m really pleased with how its turned out. Slightly edited the design to make the top of the head rounder. That’s the additional stitches in dark blue in the pic below at the one end for the top few rows. 

So off to continue knitting. Will get the colour finished and border done for the top end. Then will pick up stitches to extend colour and do border for the bottom. So nearlly there!!!

Hopefully the next one for this blanket will be a finished object post… 

Love to you all and happy knitting!

Mrskirstyholl

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Inspiration Update!

Ummm… so I went onto Pinterest earlier….

Found this circular pattern! How awesome is this? Knitted as well – which wasn’t something I would have thought you could do!

Idea is that you can do it in different yarns and different needle sizes depending on what you want to make (rugs, table mats, blankets etc)!

I may also have pinned about a million different Pokemon Crochet ideas…

Ummm…. Really need some new yarn? Honestly I’m going to have some space for it once I finish this scrap yarn blanket….

Off to actually knit something…

Love to you all and Happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

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W.I.P Progress Report - Scrap Yarn Harry Potter Blanket

Made some good progress on the blanket over the last few days. Stocking stitch is making this a pretty quick knit.

The blanket is twice as wide as this – mainly wanted to show you the picture progress. 

You’ll also see that it’s rolling up at the bottow. Thinking of countering by picking up a cable stitch or ribbed stitch border. It’ll also help extend the length a bit. 

For the first few lines I was cutting and rejoining. But finding the tension remains more consistent when I’ve been weaving the colour in with the black. Also has the benefit of being less ends to weave in  (complete win!!) 

That’s all from me for now… off to stare at my yarn collection…

Love to you all and happy knitting!

Mrskirstyholl

F.O. Crochet Alien number 2!

So my second go at the little guy was definately better than my first! This one was done ‘all in one’ as it were. 

Lily sugar and cream cotton yarn is so lovely to crochet with!

The plan is to send this little guy and his friends to their new home tomorrow 

Love to you all and happy knitting!

Mrskirstyholl

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Christchurch Food Festival 2017

So last Sunday we went on a family outing to Christchurch in Dorset on the south coast of the uk to a Food festival.

Now we were expecting a tiny little festival with about 10 stalls. In contrast to these not so great expectations, we’ve been out for over 3 hours (I thought I’d get started while Dan was changing Lily’s nappy!) and we’ve still not found all the stalls yet!

It took until 5pm to finish getting around all the stalls. We are now significantly poorer. But came back with some fantastic vinegar’s, liqueurs, cheeses, coffee and cakes – as well as eating some amazing seafood!

First stop was a very yummy and healthy breakfast at James and White bar and Kitchen in Christchurch highstreet. Salmon, egg and watercress.

Vinegars

So these lime and chilly vinegar and blackberry and basil vinegar have apparently been featured on the BBC by James Martin. Now the lady on the stand told me that in London it is a ‘thing’ to drink these mixed with sparkling water. I’m not a fan of sparkling water – so no thanks.

We also brought some absolutely yummy gainers from Gillys – Apple,  Blonde and Rose. I mixed the Rose with Lime and chilly with a salad during the week for lunch. So yummy!!!
Cheeses

Omg these cheeses were beautiful. We got one of each cheese and I’ve had the honey one in sandwiches and salads this week.  Seriously in love.

We also came home with a beautiful selection of cheddar! The Jalapeno one has been used in burritos and tacos this week. An amazing addition.

Cakes

Now I didn’t buy any of these. But they look stunning.

I am obsessed with the Apprentice and spotted last year’s winner Alana Spencer selling some of her cakes. After managing to blurt out a rather star struck ‘Congratulations’ I came home with a salty caramel slice and some rocky road (officially my new favourite cake).

Meats

So we did come home with some sausages from the Giggly Pig. Dan choose these ones.

The Italian ones (flavoured with Oregano) were eaten with mash and tasted amazing.

The Bacon flavoured ones (yes you did read that currently) were finished off in Breakfast burritos this morning.

The Hop flavoured ones have gone in the freezer for another day. But they’re flavoured with the same stuff that you make beer from. So that should be exciting.

Snacks

Some chilly stuffed olives, feta, garlic cloves and sundried tomatoes came home and got mixed in salads for a couple of days. Actual heaven.

Fudge: Chocolate orange and a bar of Baileys.

Bread

Sundried tomato and basil bread. Dan missed out on this as I ate it up for dinner at work.

Drinks

We tried some very yummy spiced Mohitos – essentially a normal mohito with some ginger ale.

We also come back with – Apple Liquor (made in a local Orchard – Liberty fields), Gooseberry Gin (Kent – Nip from the Hip), Wild strawberry Liquor (the Wiltshire Liquer company), Blood Orange Liquor (the Wiltshire Liquer company)a bottle of Honey Blonde Beer (Downton Brewery) . Yummy! Very much looking forward to making our way through these over the coming months.

I also came back with 250g of coffee from the Dorset Coffee company. French Vanilla – OMG it is so good!!

Apologies if I have forgotten anything. But it was a very long day and we did buy rather a lot – but at least I won’t need to do much food shopping for a few weeks!

Love to you all and Happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

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F.O. Crochet Doggy

Definately got the crochet bug… and definately have the blisters to prove it. 

Yes I’ve ordered a comfy grip 3.00mm hook from the local wool shop. I may have also come out with the equivalent 2.00mm hook, 2.5mm hook and a ball of Sidar variagated cotton prints DK…. 

O… and an order from wool warehouse turned up today. Cotton yarn from sugar n cream in lots of colours!! (Secret?).

So my crochet project this week was a little doggie. It was part of a freebie set from a mag… but I couldn’t cope with the acrylic. It kept fraying. So we now have a multicoloured doggie!

He sits up and everything! This little guy will start the collection of crochet designs I plan on making for Lily (I may have brought a pattern for a large cuddly unicorn for Lily….)

The aran weight cotton with a 3.00mm hook seems great for reducing holes. Although it is difficult to turn a cotton make inside out. I also recommend stuffing as you go because the lack of elasticity makes it really hard with stuffing at the end. 

Using the rest of the ball to make another alien to donate  Off to crochet while Lily has (finally) fallen asleep in my lap! Once the alien is done I get going on the scrap yarn blanket!

Love to you all and happy knitting 

MrsKirstyHoll

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F.O Premmi baby blanket

So after about a month of on and off knitting the lavender blanket is done. It’s not perfect, but hopefully it’ll keep some else’s little fighter nice and toasty  

The ripple knit pattern was a new one for me. Definitely something I’d like to try in a shawl or something with some colour changes!

So this F.O is going to be donated on Monday. I’m off to get started on my next project!

Love to you all and happy knitting 

MrsKirstyHoll

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