Saturday musings

So today started with the chaos as an energetic 3 year old.

“Mummy it’s morning!!!”

I was on parenting duty this morning while the other half was working. Managed to get Lily out of her Frozen dress (currently to long to be practical) and into something she could wear while riding her bike. We went to a local park area for a walk with my parents.

We’re both working from home during the covid pandemic. It’s a new experience having to fit childcare around our daughter. We’ve always been lucky with involved parents and not had this issue before. Now I’m up at 5am on a weekday in order that my husband can work later in the day. He then tops up hours on a Saturday. It’s a long week. But we’re spilting the non work time to ensure we’re both getting some downtime.

I’m spending my down time working on a mix of things:

– Duolingo – got recommended this language app by a friend. I’ve started trying to learn some french again. Almost completed level 1.

– Paint by numbers – ordered some kits that came a month later from Hong Kong. Great quality and I’ve really enjoyed working on my first one. I have 3 more other kits to go.

– Crochet and knitting – my new 10 stitch blanket is making some progress. Each colour change represents 1 less ball in my stash.

Stash tally for used up balls of yarn during lockdown

– Crochet blanket = 3 aran balls

– 10 stitch = 8 balls of DK yarn so far…. (the tiny odd balls still count as a win!)

I’ll give you an update on some other bits I’ve made last in the week. Currently addicted to ‘Bones’ on Amazon Prime and want to watch some more this evening while doing some more knitting.

Happy knitting all

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Finished Object – Baby Cardi and WIP progress

Hi all!

Sorry I’ve been majorly quiet lately. Lily has done some serious growing and is not less baby and more toddler. Where on earth did the time go???? She’s also now found the stairs and 90% of the time refuses to nap unless its a power nap in the car. So I have zero blogging time because…

Any spare time is going into finishing ‘A Game of Life and Death’. This is the novel I penned while I was at uni. It has spent the last 5 years being occasionally dusted off for an attempt before being abandoned. What’s changed? My grandad wants to read it and has fuelled a new motivation to get it done – he’s also amazing and is proofreading for me. It’s now 2/3rds edited. Currently re-writing the final section – the original ending was not completely working with me. The plan is to publish through Amazon. So will update you when this is done!

 

Pattern? Stylecraft Lullaby 8912. Chosen because it was a longer cardi design – which I hadn’t seen in many baby patterns, the textured patterning and the adorable addition of the ears on the hood.

So what did I learn from this knit? Look more closely at the yardage when swapping for another yarn than the pattern suggest. I’m not kidding when I say I’ve probably got enough yarn to knit this cardi again – and I knitted the largest size!!! In addition, it was also the first time I’d knitted button holes – thanks Youtube! The instructions for them didn’t come across that easily for a beginner, but the video instructions helped make sense of it all.

What yarn was it? Stylecraft Special for Babies. Really lovely to knit with. This cardi hasn’t been washed yet, so not sure how well it’s going to wash. But it knitted up relatively quickly and feels lovely and soft. Will have to find another pretty pattern to finish off the rest of the stash.

Other WIPS on my needles:

• A SS draping cardi for me (for when I just need to zone out infront of the telly)
• A small gift for my cousin’s new baby
• A colourwork scarf that a friend’s claimed
• A dementia muff

These WIPs aren’t in my range of focus until the book is done. But I have found that doing some simple knitting before bed does help me settle. So I try and get about 30 minutes in before heading up for the night.

That’s my update currently. Any news from you guys? Please leave updates in the comments below!

Update – books and more yarn!

So been a bit manic this week. Trying to chill out and recharge a bit!

Thought I’d give you guys an update on what I’ve been up to.

1. Book I’ve finished = princess by Jean P. Sasson.

A book ghost written for a saudi princess that details the appaling treatment of womem in Saudi Arabia #equality

2. Book I’m giving up on = The draining lake. Arnaldur Indrodason.

Interesting concept of bodies being dug up. But I’m finding the writing style doesn’t suit me and the flow of the story is making this a ‘put me down and let me gather dust’.

3. Book about to start = Death note book 2 by Tsugumi Ohta. Graphic novel. Watched a lit of the anime and read book 1 before lily was born. Looking forward to watching the live action series on #netflix. Concept is a notebook and death gods that allow you to kill someone by writing someones name in a book.

What I’m knitting…

This ones a charity knit. It’s a dementia twiddle mitt over half way done. Been a fun knot as I’ve been able to go to town on textured yarn!

Ummm… Lily made me buy more yarn???? We came back with these 2 balls of grey james brett flutterby chunky and a pattern for a hooded blanket with ears! Cast it on at work last night. Really excited about this one. So fluffy!!

Also been editing A game of life and death. Hoping to get a few more chapters typed up and posted this weekend (3 day bank holiday weekend!!)

What’s on your needles this bamk holiday? Please share below!

Love to you all and happy knitting

Mrskirstyholl

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WIP progress – terribly simple shawl

Just a quick update today 🙂

Ball 2 out of 7 of the Terribly Simple Shawl is complete! Now up to size 5mm needles and it seems to be knitting up really nicely. These balls came with no label.

I’m interested to see how this shapes up after blocking….

That’s all from me today!

Love to you all and Happy knitting!

Mrskirstyholl

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New Wip – Socks 1/12

Hello all – my name is Kirsty and I am addicted to knitting….

So, in all fairness, I’ve started another WIP because I needed a change from the shawl (garter stitch gets boring after a while) and I have finished the first yarn ball.

This is currently on hiatus while I jump to my first sock knit of the year.

As it’s my first project on DPNs I thought it might be best to start off on something small and easyish.

In all honesty, it took me a good 6 rows in to actually get the hang of this. It took ripping the first attempt apart and restarting to work out what on earth I needed the 5th needle for. Once I got started though the length soon started adding up.

By about row 5 it was feeling a lot less awkward knitting with about a zillion needles. Getting used to it now.

So my main yarn is Crofter 4ply baby fair isle effect from Sidar Snuggly (super soft). The pattern also wants some contrasting yarn for the heel – so we’re swapping to Regia 4ply verigated for that. We’ll see how these go. They might be for Lily if they fit, or they’ll be donated if they don’t. I can use this knit though to work out how much larger Lily will need it to be.

We tried Lily on orange and lemon yesterday – each slice was quickly demolished. She is quickly becoming a citrus lover! Now just to try her on some lime…

Love to you all and happy knitting

MrsKirstyHoll

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Work in Progress Update – Pikachu

Just a quick update tonight 🙂 I just wanted to share with you my progress on the Pikachu I am crocheting from Sunshine Sugar n’ Cream Aran weight cotton yarn.

 

To be honest, it’s looking larger that I thought it would – which isn’t a bad thing. It will make the toy more substantial (it’s a Christmas present for Lily). The Sunshine yellow shade also looks fantastic – I’m also going to have to order some more off Amazon before I can progress any further though as this used up a lot more yarn than I thought I would.

The shaping of the body looks good. There is a distinctive head and body shape to it, which will hopefully become more pronounced as I add the features. Those are the next job when the yarn arrives!

That’s all from me at the minute. Trying to prep for the launch of Chapter one of my Novel tomorrow!

What are you all making at the moment? Would love to see your current favourite WIP – post in the comments below 🙂

Love to you all and happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

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W.I.P Pikachu (Crochet)

So the above just got frogged because I forgot to count stitches and ended up with twice as many as I needed. That was about 6 hours work (don’t judge 🙂 I’m new to crochet). So it was a rather heartbreaking realisation.

My first attempt at this adorable Pikachu was using this cotton yarn. Fairly good price on Amazon – although I did find it frayed really easily. I’m definitely not recommending it for beginners.

Personally, apart from finishing off the stash yarn, I won’t be using this again. DK weight but needs about 3.5mm hook to be even slightly usable. If anyone can suggest any recommended patterns for this I would welcome as I have a few balls of yellow, red and black to use up.

Now using this yarn:

Aran weight sugar n cream. Happy days. 3.00mm hook. It’s the same brand as I used for the dog and I should have started with it really.

This is where we are so far. Much more shaping this time! Definite progress

And from above…

This project seems to be a pick up and randomly put down type of in progress work. If I’m honest, I do find this rather frustrating. But it’s my own fault because I keep changing the bag it’s in – I was only able to get these photos by tidying my lounge and finding the last bag I took this to work in.

So locating it means I can hopefully make some progress on it this weekend while I’m curled up on the sofa recovering from the flu. Today I took my first sick day for 2 and a half years. Not a brag, just a general observation that I hate being sick and that I usually have a pretty good immune system.

Immune system – you have let me down. What’s really annoying is I’m going to miss my brother in laws stag do (a Total Wipeout style assault course).

Hopefully this might make some progress, we’re both off this weekend so I might get a chance to recharge.

Love to you all and Happy Knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

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WIP – Terribly Simple Shawl

So this is a super easy knit that I was inspired to do after seeing A Tangled Yarn’s blog post a few weeks ago. The pattern from Caitlin Ffrench got screen-shootted into my gallery and stored for a latter date.

I got bored and went rifling through my stash (mainly to see if I could justify buying more yarn – turn out that a no-go currently… damn). But what I did find was about 5 balls of cotton textured yarn which have little bobbles all the way through. Honestly, I only brought them because they were only 99p a ball…. Then I had no idea what to do with them…

…Until now.

I’m going to be honest, I love the effect it’s making – the textured yarn seems to match up really well with the lack of any interesting knitting pattern – but its so uncomfortable to knit with. This is a knit that needs to be done, as apposed to one to fall in love with. This is the first me knit I’ve done for a long time. It’s going to be my first shawl and I will take it to work with me – the aircon is freezing and it’d be nice to have an additional layer to hand to wrap around my shoulders!

The plan is to increase the size of the circular needles every 10cm or so to see what happens. Should also mean the long rows knit up a bit quicker!

That’s all from me for tonight. It’s been a long couple of days and I need to get some sleep!

Love to you all and happy Knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

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Wip – Julia’s house donation knit

This is the original pattern. 

I got asked to knit something for a raffle at work. Wanting to ensure I could get it together on time (deadline end of July) I thought I would play it safe as go for a scarf.

I’m knitting it out of some gorgeus yarn that I found for 50p a ball (I came home with 4 balls) in a charity shop. Punch – brushed chunky. It’s not a brand I’ve used before. But its such a pleasure to knit with. 

I’m currently trying to work out what to knit with the rest of the yarn. I’m thinking I might need a scarf for myself! Anyhow, let’s get this finished ASAP.

Love to you all and happy knitting

Mrskirstyholl 

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W.I.P update

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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