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

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.

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.....).

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!!!!

Other post to arrive was the materials to block the squares in prep for sewing together.

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!

Will post again about the weekend later in the week - we brought some really cute stuff for Lily!!

Happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

xx

WIP Progress Report

Hay to all my lovely followers!

So this week has actually been super productive on the knitting front. I’ve had lots of lovely friends and family come to visit me this week and so I’ve managed to get a lot of knitting done!

This week we are totaling 6 squares (so catching up on my 2 square shortfall from last week) and 2 colour rows of the blanket.

The reason for my massive square catch up is I had a batch of 5 moss stitch squares to complete. Over the course of the week I have become – if I do say so myself – a pretty speedy moss stitch knitter. The first square took me about 6 hours to knit, while the 5th one took about half the time. I still think the stitch is seriously boring to do for any length of time, but the final affect is nice.

So I only have 21 squares to knit (according to my spreadsheet which was definitely a Godsend to the speedy completion of this project). Which means we are definitely on the final countdown to this first stage of my knitting journey. After we’ve sewn that together I can find something else to knit… (AKA start my aim of finishing 12 socks this year)

I’m hoping to get some serious blanket rows knitting done this afternoon and during this week. It’s really starting to gain some length now! It’s becoming a seriously awesome blanket and I am looking forward to seeing the final finished piece. Of course, I am especially looking forward to seeing Lily actually using the final finished piece!

Lily, on the other hand, is growing every day – can you believe she’s 6 weeks today? She’s now weighing in at a healthy 12ib (about 5.4kg). The health visitor came on Friday and was really pleased with her development. Lily can now hold her head up and almost has enough strength to sit up – we also have an ’emerging smile’ (so not just wind and this was witnessed by the Health Visitor). She’s also starting to pay attention to rattles and turning her head to see the direction of the sound. So it shouldn’t be long until she starts properly reacting to her toys (she has a lot).

Yarn Addict Signing off – I have a lot to get done this afternoon!

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Craft Ideas that I would love to try

*Bookmark this blog - I will be adding to it as I find new amazing projects throughout the internet* 

Crochet Ideas

DIY Crochet Flowers

This design is one of the reasons I would love to be able to Crochet. Such a beautiful pattern idea.

Can somebody please make one for me?

The pattern is here

Funky Up Your Wine Glasses

Name your wine glasses

Hate getting your wine glasses mixed up? Why not turn the base of each glass into a chalk board. Name each glass at your gathering and you shouldn't get so confused! 

All you need to do is get some of that paintable chalkboard stuff and dip your wine glass into it. I have some of this at home - so I will update when I have had a go at it. 

This idea was found on: listinspired.com






Sewing Projects

Butterfly Pot Holders

I love butterflies - we used them as a theme at our wedding. I'm also going through cheap oven gloves at a stupidly fast rate. So this project caught my attention.

The finished project looks beautiful!

This project was found on: diy.tag

Upcycle old denim into Storage Pouch

I have loads of old jeans at home that I plan on keeping for denim related projects....

This is a fab idea for a pouch. I have one of those wooden beds with a headboard. Because we have it pushed right up against the bed, I don't have enough space to be able to have a shelf or table beside the bed.

This idea is meant to be for a pouch to hang on your door. But it would be super useful for me to hang on the posts on my bed.

This idea was found on: listinspired.com

A denim Recycled Apron

This has two major positives - really easy craft project and refuses a set of jeans. What would you accessorise yours with?

Get the instructions here. 

Quilt & Blanket Ideas

Harry Potter Book Blanket

This super awesome design is by Happy Hooker and can be found on her blog here. It is a pretty funky idea and would be easy enough to knit. I'd probably do this without the numbers at the top...

Projects to use up old buttons

Button Bowl

If you are looking for a storage bowl or something a little different - take a look at this. Personally, I have hundreds of buttons at home I could use up. Alternatively, they are also really cheap to buy if you want a specific colour scheme.

I found the idea and you can find the instructions here.

Display Idea

Display memory box

I love keeping hold of tickets and passes from trips. It allows me to relive the moments when I rediscover the memory box.

This is a super cute idea that allows you to display and keep updating your frame.

This idea was found here.

Crafting and Homeware ideas from Social Media that work

*BOOK MARK THIS PAGE - I WILL UPDATE AS I FIND NEW IDEAS* 

I love Pinterest, It's an app on phone that streams hundreds of ideas to me every single day. Makes me feel like I'm being productive.... even if I don't do anything with them but pin them to one of my hundreds of boards.

In addition to this, there are a huge amount of Craft pages on Facebook I follow which offer me up hundreds of ideas. Some of which I love to have a go at and try out.

This is a blog that I will publish but keep updating with any ideas that I do actually implement and their actual effectiveness/awesomeness.





Craft

Quilting Projects

I am always on the lookout for amazing ideas to recreate. Eventually I had enough quilt ideas that I couldn't help but start a new project.

Follow Kirsty's board Quilt inspiration on Pinterest.



This was the pattern that caught my interest.

This pattern only works if you draw yourself out a line pattern to organise your fabrics. Trying to work this out freehand and sewing together isn't worth the time spend unpicking. Trust me. Here is the one I drew out:

I scribbled a name of each fabric cross I could make with the fabric I had onto here. It gave me the chance to ensure that the colours wouldn't clash. 

Ideally, I want this to have a decent thickness. So I'm going to double up some wadding between 2 white sheets. This will allow me to secure the wadding and have something secure to sew the patchwork too. I have another piece of fabric for the back that I brought on holiday in Portugal in June 2014. Any excess white fabric can be used as a border. 

Photo update 1

Currently it's looking like this - I'm slowly adding some length. It's going to be a double size quilt I think when it's finished. Which is exactly what I wanted :)

Apart from the shape there is absolutely no theme to this quilt! 

Easter Bunny (Knitted)

I saw this adorable pattern on my Facebook feed this week :) Now my husband has challenged me to knit 10 to hide around his safe-zone at Drone Airsoft. So that is my evenings sorted for the next week :)

Also has the perk that he is buying the wool and I get to knit something. So that is definitely a win.

Will update when I have completed them!

So this is my first attempt at a bunny. Colours were my husbands choice. 

This has given me a chance to work out the pattern.

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 white stitches. 

Black seems a little dark.... possibly also put a little too much stuffing inside.

UPDATE: All bunnies are now finished :)

Any thoughts on the colour scheme? 

Knitted Blanket

Having finished the bunnies, I found myself with lots of spare wool - and some cool ideas for colour combinations.

Recently I've found this idea for knitting a blanket on a set of circular needles.




This idea was from: purlbee.com
If you want to try this blanket pattern and have no wool - check out their website. She recommends so wool she describes as washable :)

The original pattern is for a child size blanket. But this comment discussion got me thinking.

Having now had some experience with knitting on larger needles I invested in some 7mm circular needles with 120cm length. I'm about 8 rows in and they are working really well for me.

You can buy them from amazon here. 

The chunky knit blanket lengthens a lot faster. Ideal if you are looking for a relatively short term project.

I'm creating an adult size blanket for the lounge. I cast on between 170-185 stitches (I didn't count and just kept casting on until it looked long enough.....). I'm hoping when I finish it will be a couple of meters wide.

Picture Update 1

Picture Update 2

Currently it's looking like this:

Home-wares + Improvement

Bathroom

I use mouthwash every single time I brush. So a plastic bottle of which ever mouthwash was on offer is always sat on the shelf above my sink. The only trouble is that it is not very pretty.

Then I saw this:

It's so simple and much more attractive than the current arrangement. I also remembers that I have a couple of beautiful and unused whisky decanters that I picked up for £1,99 in a charity shop. The pourers and shot glasses were brought off amazon. So I spent less than £5 extra and ended up with this: 

Much more attractive than a plastic mouthwash bottle.