wbdt pre-empted

ok, so i know i promised everyone a spectacular weekly budding designers tip last week about making your own cable charts. and i know i failed to deliver but i have a really good excuse xD

(a set of alpaca detanglers i'll be selling in my Etsy Shop)

i've been hard at work preparing for the opening of my Etsy shop which will FINALLY BE OPENING this Friday come rain or come shine!!!

i'm super excited about this new venture and since i've been so focused on it i didn't get a chance to do the wbdt last week :(

but fear not! since my shop will be officially open on friday i'll have the whole weekend to get the wbdt up for this week.

until then though, here's a little picture preview of one of the items i'll be selling in my shop: lucky stars notions-to-go totes.

i'll be blogging throughout the week with new pics of my Etsy merchandise and might even throw in a free giveaway in there somewhere ^.^ so be sure to check back with the blog all week for those updates.

i hope everyone is having a splendidly crafty week like myself :)

~Carla

have a heart (or two)

Hey fellow designers and knitters ^^/

i hope everyone is having a great weekend, the vache has been busy to say the least, and i found an exciting new opportunity for designers that i'll be talking about in just a moment, but first...


i know right now you're thinking "what is that, the pink brick road?" (yes it's bad joke day here at petite vache designs.) what it actually is, is a cool artsy-fartsy closeup shot of my newest design "heart to heart."





i fell in love with illusion knitting when i designed lucky stars, and with valentine's day quickly approaching i decided to write up a heart illusion chart so i can knit up some valentine's themed totes for the impending Etsy shop ^-^ i've decided to do one or two other charts and then combine them with the chart for lucky stars to create a one-tote-4-ways kinda pattern. the basic tote structure will be the same but it will have interchangeable illusion designs you can mix and match. and of course, i will be knitting up a few of each design for the shop so that anyone who either can't knit, or doesn't want to take the time can own one.


i've also decided to knit up some detanglers and modem cord change bowls for the shop as well, since those are my two most popular designs on Ravelry. but i really think my main focus is going to be on my knit totes, i've got some really awesome ideas for other tote designs (non-illusion) and i'll probably end up slipping a fabric lining into each of them for durability. i have a thing for cute little purses and totes, and in fact i still use my original lucky stars as a little first-aid kit in my purse complete with band-aids, neosporin, midol, hand sanitizer and antihistamines (petite vache haz allergies.) even without a fabric lining it's still held up wonderfully being knocked around in my purse for the last 6 months or so.

a pic of my lucky stars i took 2 minutes ago

i could really use some feedback on my ideas though, and for that i've added yet another new feature to my blog, the dreaded "reaction buttons" ::gasp!:: at the bottom of each post you'll find three options just like in the screenshot below:

if you like one of my designs you can click the "me wantee!!" button, if you're unimpressed click "meh" and if i ever say anything funny (hey, it could happen) i've added the "lol" button just incase. so feel free to let the vache know if you approve of the newest design heart to heart by clicking "me wantee!!" or "meh." teh vache appreciates constructive critisism :)

and now, fellow designers, lets talk about JoAnn Crafts new design contest "save the planet, one project at a time." clicking that link will take you to Joann.com's info page about the contest. all you have to do is design and knit (or crochet) something using one of 3 Red Heart Eco yarns. i'm really excited about this contest because my sycamore parasol is knit using Eco Ways, so it's a great excuse to finally finish that design. luckily i have until the end of March to get it done because i'm swamped right now with preparations for the Etsy shop. but the winners in each category will win 1000$ and 500$ Jo-Ann gift cards AND be featured in "Crochet Today" Magazine....free design exposure anyone?

i only hope i can finish my design in time to enter, i'll keep everyone posted on the status of the contest if i do end up entering, and really i'd be a fool not to. :P

well folks, that's about all for today. i'd like to thank and welcome all my new followers (petite vache welcomes you too ^^) and i hope everyone has a lovely and relaxing Sunday, back to work tomorrow :<

peace and love to all,

~Carla Cappi

we have a winner! (and another free giveaway!)

hello again everyone ^^/




it's been a busy week for me and i've got some really exciting news, but i'll talk more about that in a sec. first i'm happy to announce that Cary from Serenity Farms has won my first ever free pattern giveaway!!




i've sent her a free copy of the pattern for my newest design knock off just for following my blog and leaving me a comment. it's just that easy ^^ i've decided to do a free pattern giveaway everytime i release a new pattern, and there could be more giveaways of a different kind in the future because....


::drumroll::


i'm planning on opening up my very own Etsy shop soon to sell my patterns and handknit items! right now i'm in the process of finishing up a few designs and building up a good stock of items knit from my patterns and sometime very soon they will be on Etsy for purchase. soon you'll be able to own your very own lucky stars just like the one below:










it's only in the planning stages at this point, but i may also be collaborating with a very good friend of mine who paints and makes lovely jewelry. be sure to check back with the blog in the following weeks to find out more details on the shop, and to watch out for possible random free giveaways...hehe


you may have also noticed some changes to my blog layout recently. my darling husband helped me out a lot with my new header (i'm not very tech savvy, but i'm slowly catching up with the times :p) some other new things you might see are:

• a labels section to make my blog more easily searchable
• a country counter so everyone can see how many ppl from each country around the world visits
• a link to my Ravelry designer page

basically i've been having a great time pimping out my blog xD


and last but not least, i'd like to direct everyone over to Jenny's blog on knitting where you can win a FREE skein of this luscious yarn seen below:

this lovely Swedish yarn is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon and comes in a 100 gram skein with a generous 440 meters ( thats 481 yards for us americans :p)

i don't know Jenny personally, but she's a good friend of my friend Sarah over at The Student Knitter, and any friend of Sarah's is a friend of mine, hehe. why not head over to Jenny's blog and show some support for her 100th post by entering her giveaway :)

and on that note it's time for this little vache to go and finish the planning of the new Etsy shop. have a great weekend everyone

~teh vache

new pattern!!

you like my new Ravatar? i only had the Ravenclaw one up for like a day but i couldn't say no to a cute kitten



happy tuesday evening everyone ^^/



i'm sitting here enjoying the gazpacho i just finished making and i realized i forgot to annouce the arrival of the newest edition to my pattern section :O







the pattern for tiny bobbles, formerly known as the Bertie Bott's bag, is finally in my pattern store. once again noobyknitter from Ravelry tested this pattern for me and helped me work out the kinks, so thanks again nooby for being my test crocheter :)


i also finally finished Krystals birthday gift, although i have to say i wasn't crazy about the cotton yarn for this pattern. the cotton made the tote a bit more rigid, which i think some people would prefer, but i like the softness and stretchiness of the one i made in purple and yellow much better.










and last but not least i'm excited to announce that my mystery project is in fact a pair of cabled sleeves which i have dubbed Rowena sleeves. i had originally planned them to be my "wristwarmers" for quidditch, but upon reading the rules i now know that there are very specific patterns i have to follow for that. so now i'm making them just for fun and because it's great design practice.




i've made quite a bit more progress since these pictures so i suspect i'll be finished with the first one soon, so be on the lookout for pics ^^ (and with better lighting next time so you can see the true color of the yarn >.< )



a th-th-th-that's all for tonight folks....

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