F.O Baby hat

So I was pleased as punch when I found this pattern in a Julia’s house charity shop about a month ago – a complete bargin at 50p! I’ve had a huge ball of this lovely white aran yarn in my stash for years with no idea what to do with it. So this also became a stash project to – so total win on this one!

It was a really nice knit – and I also learnt the LT stitch which cause a really cool twist that runs up the hat. The only problem was the decrease at the end which involved knitting in pattern. Had to get some help from the lovely ladies in the knitting circle!

The pom pom was my first make with the maker I brought from the knitting and stitching show (see the multipom frame in the picture below). It was by far the fastest pom pom I have ever made. The concept of a scrap yarn pompom rug for Lilly’s room is looking more likely (but definitely not until after we stop eating things!) as I don’ think it will take a horrendous amount of time to make the required pom poms.

So the hat is about size 6-9 months (Lily has a large head). Although it does fit Lily, this one is going to be donated. The next project out of this yarn will be the matching cardigon. I love the cross over front – the other patterns I picked up on the day had a similar design.

That’s all for the minute. Will try and find some time to update you on my current wips! I have been knitting and attempting the crochet…

Love to you all and happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

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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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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. Octopus for a premmie (Knitted)

After about a month I’ve finally finished knitting an octopus. It’s the first toy thing I’ve successfully knitted  – which does make me pleased with how much my technical skills have increased.

It seriously hurt my hands though (lots of breaks did increase the time this project took)! Tiny lace circular needles and high tension to avoid holes were a must for this project – although this did mean I had to use a crochet hook and double crochet to bind off the tentacles.

Not very curly tentacles. But otherwise I am pretty pleased with it. The plan is to move onto the flat crochet makes as they seem quicker to produce. Also the crochet seems to give more curls!

Once I’ve made about 4 or 5 tentacle friends I’ll send them off to a coordinator to be cuddled by babies in NICUs in the UK.

Sorry for the short post. I’m frantically trying to get my purple premmi blanket finished because it’s been a WIP for a while and I would like to get it donated a week Monday ideally! Then I have my spare yarn blanket WIP to finish – although I’ll slip a mini octo project in the middle of those. So a few stash projects in progress.

Love to you all and happy knitting this bank holiday!!!

Mrskirstyholl

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F.O – Knitting Patchwork Blanket

So in some big news – Drum roll please – I’ve finished the patchwork blanket. All the knitting, the sewing and cutting.

After 2 years, this project is finally done.

So after 2 years, 90 squares, a pregnancy and a baby… it’s all done!

This project came at a perfect time in my life. I saw the advertising for the Art of Knitting magazine at a time in my life where I wanted to get back into knitting, but didn’t know quiet where to start. So I started one square at a time.

Since starting this project, I’ve knitted hats, knitted a jumper, a blanket for Lily. It’s been a skill that has helped keep me sane for the last couple of years and really helps keep me balanced. I love how it’s improved my quality of life and I love the people I’ve met both on and offline because of knitting.

So love to you all

Happy knitting!

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F.O – My first Crochet Project

Hello all 🙂

So this blog is pretty much Lily pictures and finished objects for a while. Now I’m back at work, my spare time is very limited. However, the spare time is being spent learning to crochet and some knitting – when I’m not cuddling Lily. I’m managing to fit in yarn related projects during my work breaks!

So in the last couple of months I’ve started to get my head around crochet – inspired mainly the Octopus for a Preemie facebook group. I have been trying to figure it out on and off for ages and it’s finally starting to click!

It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty proud of it. It’s not going to pass muster because there are some holes in the legs – going to use a smaller hook for them next time. But I’m hoping I can use this skill to help premature babies.

It’s my first time using cotton yarn – Patron DK – and it’s really lovely! The purple colour is solid, but the pink is variegated and really nice to use.

Essentially this skills is another excuse to buy yarn – although the hubby will be told it’s a way to use up my stash… what they don’t know?

Love to you all, I spent the day cuddling Lily and we had a lovely family picnic!

Happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

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Stitch markers

Hay guys;

So I’m back to work this week, so not promising much in terms of blogging or knitting. Any knitting time I now have is during my dinner break and I’m also figuring out crochet. So not a lot of wip progress at the moment!

But I did get some time to make myself some new stitchmarkers over the weekend. They still need the jump rings soldering shut, but otherwise they’re done 🙂

Step one was amazon shopping. I brought a multipack of different sized jewellery clasps and a mixed pack of pendants.

Step two was the design. I found the tiny seed beeds in my stash if goodies at home. The marker felt likw it needed a pop of colour. I picked the largest pendants for the largest markers and so on.

Step three was join it all together and digout a storage box.

Large set

Medium set

Miny set

These were a super quick and easy make. I’ve been fonding the plastic ones seem to snap after a couple of outings. So hoping these will last a bit longer!

Thats all from me today

Love to you all and happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

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