Oliver Boliver

On the needles...

It's a lovely long bank holiday coming up and I'd planned to do some 'me' knitting. (Me knitting = selfish knitting = happy wife and mother - you know how these things are!) I've been mulling over knitting myself a cardigan of some sort over the last few weeks and these were the hot favourites.....

Cropped Cardigan by Amy O'Neill Houck

 

 

Wispy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Both of which I love and the yarns suggested are scrumptious. However I'd probably need to add some length to both as I'm no where near as skinny as the models and I'm under no illusions that if I knit them as is I'd look like a fish on a bicycle! So, wanting some easy-peasy-just-follow-the-pattern knitting I came across this through my mis-spent time on Twitter....

 

Layering Shrug by Juju Vail

Isn't it gorgeous? The best thing is that it's knitted using a DK weight yarn and 4mm needles so it should whizz off the needles! I'd planned to make it in the same colours as I love the muted colours of charcoal and beige but unfortunately Loop have all sold out of these colours.

 
Image courtesy of Loop

However the beauty of the internet shone through yesterday and whilst googling the yarn, BC Garn's Allino I came across 2 German LYS's. The first, unfortunately, had sold out of the colours I wanted but the second Woll Werkstatt not only had it in stock but confirmed shipping today! Yippee!

The only problem is that because of the lovely long bank holiday weekend and there being nill post on Friday I'm not going to be able to start until next week! Oh well, at least I can knit my way through the flipping Royal Wedding!

Happy knitting and have a lovely bank holiday- whatever you're getting up to!

Pen x

Easter Crafting

Ollie and I got busy with some acryllic paints over the weekend for the annual Easter Egg competition held at his nursery. It was lovely to spend some one to one time with him especially as he loves painting and glueing so much! Mr C took them in to nursery this morning so fingers crossed the judges like the results!

 
 

They were really easy to make and reminded me of making similar painted eggs with my mum when I was little. Although if truth be told she had a lot less patience for arts and crafts - bless her!

Things you'll need

~ a hard boiled egg
~ acryllic paints
~ card
~ pva glue
~ stick on goo goo/googly eyes
~ yarn (to make pompoms)
~ toilet/kitchen paper rolls
~ scissors
~ paint brush

So after laying down the Appointments section of the Sunday Times on to the kitchen table we:

1. Painted the eggs and left them to dry. You may need more than one coat.
2. Painted some card on both sides in various colours for beaks, wings and ears and left them to dry. You can cut the various shapes out later. Much easier and a lot less messy!
3. Cut the toilet rolls into 2 inch lengths and cut a grassy edge into one side. (see picture) Paint the tubes and leave to dry.
4. Cut out your various wing, beak, tail and mouth shapes and glue in place.
5. Make pompoms (if using) and glue in place.
6. Glue eyes in place
7. Leave to dry and then stand back and admire!

It took about an hour or so from boiling the eggs to finishing which was just within my and my 3 yr olds attention span!

What crafty projects are you doing for Easter?

Pen x

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Confession Time - ok ok I glued the eyes/wings/tails in place, but Ollie did put the glue on the eyes etc and he was happy for Mummy to do the placing of them on the eggs! So I guess that's ok???

 

Getting Organised

I've been meaning to sort out a page containing pictures of my patterns for a while. It's one of those jobs that I never quite get round to doing. However, today I sat myself down with a big mug of coffee and got organised. If you take a look at the Navigation Bar at the top of the blog you will see a new title "Pattern Collections". Click on that link and it will take you through to a visual index of my designs, including my free patterns too. I've added links to the pattern names and that will take you through to the pattern (in case of the free ones) or to oliverboliver.com where you can read more about the pattern and purchase them.

It's definitely a lot easier that trawling through the blog entries to find what you are looking for and I rather like all those little eyes looking out at you from the computer screen!

Enjoy!

 

AWOL with Vomit Socks

Did you think I was ever coming back? I did wonder the same thing myself. Blogging has been taking a back seat over the last few weeks whilst I've had my mind on other things. I've been busily crocheting blankets for a lovely lady in Australia, dealing with a nasty case of mastitis (too much information, I know!), poorly children and pattern submissions. For a while I found myself coming backwards looking very bleary eyed and cursing crochet. However, fingers crossed that I am now back and making time for my blog.

Remember my birthday post a few weeks ago when I started some 'me' knitting? I finally managed to finish a pair of socks for Mr C which I'd been tackling in every spare moment, whilst not crocheting like a woman possessed. I knitted these socks waiting for the school gates to open, at the doctor's surgery, even queuing in the post office (well not really but you get the picture). Slowly but slowly, they began to take shape and I carefully grafted them together last weekend. I handed them over to Mr C and without blinking christened them his "vomit socks".  On the plus side he says they're the best fitting socks I've ever made him and hasn't taken them off since (save for washing and even then they have to be wrestled off his feet). So as a knitter of unsolicited gifts I've learned to take my compliments where I find them.

 

A big thankyou to Lina over at Linaloo for introducing me to this particular brand of sock yarn although it seems I didn't manage to get the same colourway as her. Lina's are considerably less vomit inducing. I don't think my sock drawer will ever be the same again.

The Malabrigo Twist is still sat waiting patiently whilst my Addi Click tips arrive. I'd bought some 5.5mm tips specially but when I swatched the yarn I realised that I needed some bigger needles. So, back into the bag and wait a few more days. I can't describe how excited I am to be soon knitting with this yarn. It's almost so good that I could just to leave it as a hand wound ball so that I can keep touching it in a yarn fetishist way. Ooooooo.....purrrrrrrrrrr! I've so far resisted the temptation to start anyway in the vain hope that the swatch is lying. Maybe I can just knit a bit looser; swatches do lie after all! Who am I kidding?

April's toy pattern is currently on my needles and should be available in a few weeks once it's been checked and I've got my bum into gear and produced a nice neat pattern. I'm thinking I may be able to do this one both knitted flat and in the round. A little treat for all you seaming haters! I'll see how things pan out and keep you updated. Wouldn't it be great to be able to please all of the people all of the time?!

In the meantime, I am just tickled pink by Cheezombie's latest pattern published in Knitty. I think I'm going to have to spawn a few Flappy Flounder's this weekend.

 
Image courtesy of Knitty.com and Cheezombie

I have mentioned in my monthly newsletter that I will be doing a giveaway this month....more about that next week, I think.

In the meantime, a gratuitous baby picture of Zac who is looking very pleased with his crocheted blanket.

 

Hoping you have a great weekend and get lots of knitting done in the sun!

Pen x