it's House Cup time again!!!

yay! i'm FINALLY done with my finals for school, and not a moment too soon because the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup competition is on again ^.^

i didn't compete last term because i just had too many things going on in my life at the time, but now that school is done and i have nothing more to do this summer than look for a decent job i've finally got some time to participate again. the first month of competition actually fell on the month of all my finals, but somehow or another i actually managed to complete projects for it, so i thought i'd post a little picture montage for you all to see.

{Defense Against the Dark Arts homework}

for those of you who don't know what the HPKCHC is, it's a competition group on Ravelry where you're sorted into one of the 4 houses, just like in the Harry Potter books/movies. we have volunteer "Professors" who post fibre arts assignments in different magical disciplines and all the houses knit and crochet items to compete for points and the title of "House Cup Champions." I am a Ravenclaw, and there were some great assignments this first month. the one pictured above and below is my project for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

{AKA Clover Leaf Scarf}

i swear that the forces of darkness were actually working against me when i tried knitting this scarf, because i only managed to get halfway through the pattern before it disappeared from the Elann.com website! luckily, all my design experience really saved my butt, because i was able to reverse engineer the last half of it and it came out looking pretty good actually, considering this was my first time knitting on the bias.

{Dragon Scale Headband - made for Charms}

this next project is actually my very first project using my own handspun yarn! i was super excited about this one, some of you might recognize the yarn i used from my last post about spinning. it's one of the two yarns on my spindles that i posted a picture of. i modified a pattern for a dragonscale cuff because i wanted to use up all of the yarn i had spun and i think it came out looking pretty good. the silk in the yarn gives it a bit of a reptilian, scaley sheen in spots so it was the perfect yarn for this pattern.

{petite vache delaine - made for History of Magic}

and ofc, being the cow lover that i am, i couldn't resist the urge to make another tiny cow for one of my classes. this time i used a wool fingering weight yarn, in lieu of gold metallic embroidery thread i used for my original petite vache dorée. it also gave me a chance to test knit the pattern for this little cow (only took me about a year lol) so that i'll be able to post it in my pattern store on Ravelry soon. and this time around i even gave my little cow a tiny collar complete with bell!

{fire coming out of a monkey's head - Ancient Runes homework}

this project is probably my most abstract interpretation of an assignment so far. in Ancient Runes we were asked to create something inspired by a Norse Mythological Creature, or something inspired by Futhark Runes. i chose to do both, this little camera sock is inspired by the Norse Fire Giants, particularly Surtur, and by a Gorillaz song from which it takes it's name. the lyrics of the song describe a mountain called "Monkey" that spews forth fire to cleanse the world of the evils of greed and glutony, much like the Norse Fire Giants cleanse the world with fire after all the gods have died in the battle at Ragnarok.

the faire isle design is comprised almost entirely of the Futhark Rune "Kenaz" which looks very similar to one of these "<" this was also my first faire isle design (or maybe technically "faux" isle, since i used a variegated yarn to acheive the colorwork.) and it was very much needed because my poor camera has been sitting around my room naked and collecting dust since christmas.

{black + white =/= grey - a cowl for charms in June}

this last project is my first project for June classes, all the others i turned in in May. this is also my 2nd project using my own handspun yarn. i was lucky enough to get doubles of this sample in my April PhatFiber boxes, so i had enough yarn to make this cute lil cowl/cuff thingy. i used the pattern "Cashmere Cuff" by Jessica Vaughan, with a few modifications, and was able to use up exactly the 41.8 yards i had spun. i'm so glad that i've been able to use up the entire skein of my handspun yarns in the projects i've used them for. so much of my heart and soul goes into spinning them it would kill me to have just a few yards left over and nothing to do with them.

and speaking of handspun...

{colorchanging handspun - turquoise to black}

here is my latest spinning FO, a colorchanging merino wool yarn, single ply, and about fingering to sport/DK weight. this is the largest amount of yarn i've ever spun in a single skein and i'm quite proud of it. i even got the colors to distribute pretty evenly so there it's almost equal parts turquoise, black, and a mix of the two. i'll be using this loveliness to knit a Vertex shawl for the KAL in the PhatFiber group.

i think i might actually be starting to like spinning almost more than knitting! i say almost because knitting WITH yarn i've spun is definItely more fulfilling than just spinning or knitting with store bought yarn. i can't wait to see how this latest colorchanging yarn is going to knit up!

and on that note, i'm outta here for the night. i hope everyone is having a great beginning to their summer, and getting plenty of crafting time in. after all, if we didn't craft, we'd probably all go crazy right?

ttfn

~Carla

it's a bird! it's a plane! no it's....a tiny golden cow!!!!

yes thats right, a tiny golden cow, or petite vache dorée for those of you who speak a bit of french. this little heffer was made with golden DMC embroidery floss for Potions class in the HPKCHC. sadly, the competition ended yesterday ::cries:: and i didn't manage as many classes as last month, but it was still the most fun i've had on Ravelry so far. i'm still not sure if i'm going to participate next term or not because i have 3 or 4 designs that i'm trying to get finished.

here you can see the cow in the works, and you can also see how tiny the stitches are (and yes my dpns are golden too ^^)



i'm currently planning a black and white cow as well as a brown one and then the patterns for all 3 will be uploaded to Ravelry for sale under the name trois petites vaches (three little cows in english)


also, as promised in my last post here is the finished orion's belt choker:

it didn't turn out quite as flat or stable as i'd have liked, so when i get a chance i'm going to sew a fabric lining in the back and adjust the tie closure. i'm still not sure whether i'll make this pattern available or not as there didn't seem to be much interest in it in the HPKCHC. but i may still put it up here on my blog as a free pattern.

and finally some pics of my 2 biggest upcoming designs: Rowena sleeves and sycamore parasol

i featured these sleeves a few posts ago and as you can see they've grown considerably since then. i'll probably finish these up before starting on the sycamore parasol seen below:

this one was another attempted class project that i unfortunately didn't have time to finish (i seriously thought i'd be able to design and knit an entire parasol in just a few weeks? what was i thinking?)

this is probably the design i'm most excited about right now because it's the biggest and most complex thing i've undertaken so far.

and on that note, it's time for me to get clicking! check back with the blog for more pictures of my progress on my new designs and for information about when they will be released.


peace & love to all,

~petitevache

the vache lives!

the vache is back!!

and with a new HP inspired ravatar too ^^

i've been on hiatus for a few weeks due to the arrival of my husband. he'll be here for the next 2 months so i'm very excited to have him here.

but i have not completely forsaken my pursuits in knitting/crochet design. it's a new month which means new assignments for the HPKCHC and i created a new design for Astronomy, the orion's belt choker.

here are the peices just before blocking

there is a star eyelet pattern on both ends

and this is one of the stars upclose.

i'm just blocking it now so i should be blogging again soon with pics of the finished product!

the Rowena sleeves have, however, been pushed to the bottom of the list due to the necessity of getting my quidditch wristies done in time for the release of HBP. but im sure i'll be taking them up again very soon, i actually have the cable pattern all charted out already for it, it's just a matter of shaping and such.

well, 3:30 am, a good time for sleep >.<

ta ta for now

~petitevache

I've been recruited!!

today was a really great day for me because i was recruited by the Ravenclaw head of house in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup group on Ravelry ^^




i'm super excited about finally having a house, as thus far i've just been doing assignments for the fun of it. now i can finally earn some points for my house :)



in honor of my admission i decided to celebrate by designing something in my house colors, blue and bronze. i've been needing to take my designs to the next level so this time i'm doing something knitted with cables. i won't tell exactly what it is yet (although if you're part of the HPKCHC you probably can guess) but i will show you my guage swatch as it's being blocked :








this will be the most complex thing i've ever attempted designing, so i'm not sure it's going to turn out exactly as i imagine it, but i'm sure i'll learn a lot in the process. to find out what it is you'll just have to check back with my blog in a few days and see if i've gone public yet xD


i've also finished writting out the pattern for my Bertie Bott's bag and am currently in the process of testing it. I'm hoping to have it uploaded to Ravelry and in my patterns section here on the blog by sometime next week. i could still use more pattern testers though so if you're interested don't hesitate to email me at mellonninamarie at gmail dot com.

well that's all for today folks, goodnight and happy knitting ^-^

~petitevache

finished!

as you can probably tell from my pics, i do a lot of my designing in front of my computer....partly because i write my patterns out in word as i go and partly because i spend at least a few hours everyday talking to my husband online. we find it saves on the phone bill quite a bit if we mostly talk online, and neither of us are big phone people so it works out well that way, but i digress







my Herbology June assignment is officially complete! the Bertie Bott's bag will soon be available to download for free ^^ i've just got to finish writting it out and find a few testers to make sure the pattern is ok before i put it up in my store on Ravelry and in my patterns section here on the blog.







note to self; rainbow bobbles make me happy :)

new design idea

hi everyone, happy monday ^^

lol, as if that was something to celebate, 4 more work days til the weekend, but it's also another day down until my hubby come to visit from france so it makes me happy :)



i started work on my assignment for Herbology this month, the assignment is to make something with bobbles or nupps, and i got the idea to do something with rainbow colored bobbles. this is what i have so far:









it's only in the beginning stages but eventually it will be a little drawstring floo powder tote, or for use in the muggle world, probably a scrabble tile bag for my mom, or a dice/deck bag for myself.






i'm writing out the pattern as i go, and plan to do a knit version of the bag and possibly a few more small projects with the same rainbow bobble design, i'm quite fond of the rainbow bobbles ^^


also i started a Lion Cotton version of lucky stars in red and black for my friend Krystals birthday this weekend. if you're on Ravelry you may have seen my project "Krystals star gloves" also in red and black because they are her favorite colors. so far i like how it's turning out using cotton



i really do love this project, it's cute and simple and makes a great last minute gift (since i just remember her birthday was coming up this past weekend >.<)

and lastly, if anyone has any FO's using my patterns they'd like to showcase you can send me an email at mellonninamarie at gmail dot com. i'd be happy to show them off on my blog so that other followers can see what my projects look like using different yarns and colors.

that's about all for today folks, be sure to check my blog out because i'm going through a real creative spurt so i'll probably be posting a lot more new design ideas and possibly a new pattern this week.

have a good night everyone ^^/

~petitevache

busy day for me

for those of you who didn't find me through Ravelry you might not know about the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup. Some genius started this wonderful group on Ravelry where everyone is sorted into houses and compete for points by completing assignments in different disciplines.

the first pattern i added here, detanglers, was actually borne of an assignment for Muggle Studies, and for Charms i dreamt up this little tote, lucky stars:

this was my first attempt at illusion knitting, but i've made it my personal goal to design as many of my assingments as i can and not follow other peoples patterns. it took a while to get the star motif just how i wanted it but it was worth it in the end. i had this yarn just laying around in my stash and thought the colors looked very celestial, but i'm considering making my mom a scarf with the same colors/design because she's a huge Laker's fan.

i also added another pattern to my pattern section for sickles & knuts, my finished assignment for Transfiguration.

it's not a pattern i think many people will want to try because it's a bit hard on the hands, but if you've got a computer geek in your life you think might like this, it's available to download for free ^^

well i think i'll give my blog a rest for the day, so goodnight fellow knitters, keep on clickin!

~petitevache