the Tour de Fleece, Phat Fiber, and shop updates

The Tour de Fleece is almost over!!!!

and i'm just now getting around to blogging about it lol.  I chose a hard road this TDF by trying to spin a fingering weight 3 ply yarn on my spindle.  it took me the first 16 or so days of tour just to do the spinning alone and it's going to take me a good 3 days just to do the plying!  here's a pic of me spinning out by the pool at my friends house 4th of July weekend

{ pool spinning time }

I should be finished with the plying by tomorrow so i'll get some pics up of what may be my 1 and only finished yarn of the tour this year.  after this one i doubt i'll be spinning this thin for a while, it's been a real test of my patience and endurance  ::whew::

in other news i've contributed to the Phat Fiber box 2 more months:  May and July.  i had to skip June because during May i was finishing up spring semester at Cal State Long Beach and just didn't have time to dye.

May's theme was "Superheroes" and i've been enamored of Gambit from the X-Men since i was a kid so i chose this pic as my inspiration:

{ the one and only Gambit <3 br="">

and here's a pic of the samples i sent in, hand carded roving buns ^.^ they're a mix of Corriedale, Superwash merino, Merino, Faux Cashmere, Milk fiber and Firestar.  

{ Gambit samples }

 since i missed the June box who's theme was "Villains" i decided to make my July samples a mix of that theme and the "Under the Sea" July theme and came up with one of my favorite Disney villains, Ursula

 { Bitch be fabulous }

I really like the way the fiber came out, so much so i might just save one of the full size braids to spin up myself!

 { Ursula samples and full size braids }

The theme for the month of August is "Entomology" and i have to admit i'm having a hard time coming up with inspiration for it.  not sure if i'll be contributing this month if i can't come up with something soon, so i guess we'll just see how that plays out.

In the mean time i have been working on a new item for my shop that i'm really excited about, my new "Sox Box" bag sets :D

{ the first Sox Box bag set }

I've had this idea floating around in my head for some time and just recently decided to get to work executing it.  The sets are made up of one of my original itty bitty boxxy bags for notions and a new cubic box bag that's perfect for knitting socks.  the little bag still snuggles perfectly in the bigger bag like my original Big n lil box bag sets, but this new design is a bit more compact so it can easily hang off your arm for sock knitting on the go.

{ a perfect fit for sock knitting projects }

I found this adorable owl fabric and bought a bunch of it so i made 3 of these Sox Box sets and have enough to make up 2 of my Big n lil sets i'll be sewing up this week.

but that's not all!!  I've also started dyeing a new "European Vacation" series inspired by beautiful pictures from different European countries, but i'll tell you all about that in my next blog post.  for now i bid you all adieu and wish you happy knitting/spinning/crocheting/crafting :)

~carla

katydids and fingerless mitts

i had really hoped to be blogging again sooner but this year has been a tough year for me health wise. i injured my back at the end of last year and it seems to be having a hard time healing because i re-injured it again a few weeks ago and was actually laid out on my bed for a week :(

but fortunately i'm feeling better so i can finally stand to sit in my computer chair long enough to get a blog post done ^.^

so what is a katydid?

i was tending to my garden a few weeks ago, accompanied by my friend Dave, when suddenly he points to some flowers and say "what is that?" i took a close look at it and i honestly had no clue what it was, i'd never seen one before, but it looked like some kind of grasshopper.

so we got on google and did some research to find that this little guy is a Katydid. i have to admit i had no idea what a Katydid was, i'd never heard of them or seen one, but there are 2 of them that seem to have taken up residence in my garden now. i see them back there almost every day now, chewing on those bright yellow flowers ^.^

on to knitting news, i'm glad to announce that i've finally finished knitting my Doomsday Mitts:

i designed these mitts especially for this gorgeous gradient yarn i spun because i wanted to be able to make the cuffs as long as i could go and waste as little of my yarn as possible. it was a bit of a challenge designing top down gloves, most knitters would know that gloves are almost exclusively worked from the cuff down to the fingers. the thumb gusset had to be cast on instead of bound off so i had to scour the internet for techniques to acheive that.

i'm really excited for how they've turned out and now i just have to wait until it gets cold enough for me to actually wear them, hehe. i also need to try to remember HOW i knit them so i can write the pattern out (oops, i probably should have been doing that as i went ::facepalm::)

i've also been slowly plugging away at spinning up some absolutely devine cotton fibre i got from Girl Meets Spindle.

{ Girl Meets Spindle 100% Pima Cotton - Nebula }

anyone who's ever spun with cotton can tell you just how frustrating it is to spin with, but this stuff is really not so bad. i'd be lying if i said i hadn't heard my spindle drop more often than when spinning wool, but not nearly as much as other cotton i've tried.

i'm actually done with the spinning now and have moved on to plying so i should have some FO pics of this yarn very soon. i can't wait to get it plied and skeined up, just look at those colors!

and i leave you all today with this awesome reflection i saw on my wall about a week ago. as far as i can tell the sun was being reflected off a van window outside and in through my sliding glass door. there are some poorly manicured bushes in the path of the beam that projected this really cool image. it took me a while to figure out where it was coming from, but now i just hope that van will park there again sometime so i can see it again ^.^

happy labor day weekend everyone, and happy knitting/spinning too!

~carla

JL Yarns Bamboo Spica review (and an FO and new design)

{never take FO pics when you're having a bad hair day xD}

you know, it's really hard to take a picture of your own back. as you can see from the photo above of my finished Ribbed Lace Bolero. i blogged about this project in one of my last few posts and it's finally finished! i'm not sure if i like it 100%, i was hoping it wouldn't slouch quite so much in the back, but i'm also not sure i have the heart to rip it back and reknit it now that it's finished. i'm sure some of you know what i'm talking about ^.^

i've been away from my blog for a little while, partly due to being really busy with school and work, and partly due to being really busy with a new design i'm working on. and i know what you're going to say, "but Carla, you said you weren't going to start any new designs before you finished your WIP busting crusade." and trust me, that is still a priority for me, but i've had this design in my head for some time now and i felt compelled to get it out and onto my needles. especially since i just got 8 balls of Bamboo Spica from Julia's Yarns in color #304, and i've been dying to try out so i could post a review of it here on the blog.

Bamboo Spica is a 100% bamboo yarn, chained not plied, which i think makes it FAR less splitty than some of the other bamboo yarns i've used (i'm lookin at you Natrually Caron Spa >.>) usually splittiness is the #1 complaint for bamboo yarns, so that already puts this particular yarn ahead of the pack in my opinion.

this is also an incredibly soft Bamboo yarn, for the price i paid for it i wasn't expecting it to have such softness and such a lovely sheen and drape. and i think my favorite thing about this yarn is how well it blocks. i've never done a lace project with bamboo yarn, so i never really paid much attention to blocking bamboo, but for my current design in the works, blocking is a BIG issue. so i knit up a swatch in the lace pattern and blocked it before endeavoring to cast on:

{here's the lace pattern before blocking}

{and here's my blocked swatch}

as you can see from the pics above, this yarn blocks incredibly well. the lace has totally opened up, and even the section at the top that was knit in rib kept it blocked dimensions! i was really impressed with the blockability of this yarn, which makes it perfect for this new design. so with this yarn blocking makes a HUGE difference. if, say, you're knitting something in stockinette with it, but you're not quite getting the right gauge, you could definItely block this to stretch it to fit the guage you need as long as there's not too big a difference.

those are the positives, now about the color...

once again, the colors were true to the colors represented on the JL yarns website, but if you've been over there and checked out the color selection, you'll see that they don't have too many options. i personally didn't like most of the colors they had, they don't have any solids at all, and even this seemingly solid bluish-green i have is subtly variegated.

but the WORST thing about this particular colorway is that it stains your hands, and if you're working with bamboo needles like i am, it stains them too! the staining on my hands is very slight, and washes away easily, but the staining on my needles is a bit more dramatic. i'm going to have to soak my FO well and really try to get all that excess dye out of it before i attempt to wear it. i don't know if all of the colors stain like this, maybe it's just this particular color. if anyone else tries this yarn in a different colorway be sure to let me know if you had the same problem with staining.

however, i did get 50 gram balls of this yarn for just under $2.40 a ball (in a bag of 8), which is pretty cheap for a 100% bamboo yarn. so i can put up with a little hand and needle staining for such a great deal.

Overall, i give this yarn a positive rating. for me, the value pricing makes up for the other shortcomings, but if you're the kind of person that really hates stainy yarn, then this might not be the yarn for you. but it is very soft, very blockable, and has a gorgeous drape that i'm guessing is going to look really great in my new design. on a scale from 1 to 10 i give this yarn:

Quality Relative to Price: 9

Overall Quality Unrelated to Price: 7

Color: 4 (for staining and limited color options)

Ease of Use: 8 (for minimal splittiness)

bottom line, as with the JL Vinca, you get what you pay for. whenever you find a small yarn company that produces commercial yarn, it's probably not going to have the same quality as a bigger label such as Rowan, or Classic Elite. you just have to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether the cons would put you off so much as to not want to use it.

all of the yarns i ordered during my big yarn binge a few weeks ago have now arrived, and i'm going to be slowly trickling in the reviews as i use them. my next review will be a double review of 2 of the Pierrot yarns i ordered and have used, Zakka and Cotton Neat. now that i've finished the projects i was working on with them i'll be able to do a pretty comprehensive review of both.

which leaves only one thing, my new design. i'm sure you could figure out from the pictures of my swatches above that it's a lace project, with a picot edge. this is a very exciting design for me because it's my first attempt at designing a garment. i don't want to give away too much now, so i'll leave you with a picture of my progress so far

{mystery design in Bamboo Spica}

have a great weekend everyone ^^/

a new design, a new winner, and a wbdt

happy monday everyone ^^/

today is a great day. i'm debuting a new design, naming a new winner in my giveaway, and i arrived home from work today to see a lovely BIG box sitting on my doorstep which could only mean 1 thing....new yarn!!!!!

i know my blog has been ominously silent all last week, and that's because i was slaving away at my newest design purls interrupted. if you follow my blog this is that new revolutionary design i promised a picture preview of. this has been my most changed design from the original concept, as you can see from the picture progression below:

in my very first test knit the silk yarn i used just wasn't working for me so i switched to acrylic

i thought the acrylic would make the cables pop up a bit more, but i still wasn't satisfied. at this point i got the brilliant idea of using a contrasting color to knit the cables, and also using Knit Picks yarn so i could submit this design to the Independant Designers Program

{the final version}

ah the evolution of a design... and to think this design started out as me trying to find a way to cable with purls (which i've discovered is completely possible, but just doesn't look all that great.)

i hope you all like my new design, and wish me luck with my submission to Knit Picks. i'll be crossing my fingers until i hear back from them ^.^

and on another note, i was unable to get ahold of one of the winners for my petite vache designs super awesome free giveaway, so i'm pleased to annouce a new winner:

Cindy!!!!

you've won a set of rainbow detanglers :)

i'll be emailing you just incase you don't make it by my blog this week so we can work out the details of which colors you'd like.

and now it's time for another Weekly Budding Designers Tip!!

{the newest members of my yarn family xD}

as budding designers we are artists, and yarn is our medium, and if you're anything like me you need a LOT of yarn to fill the demand for your designs. but yarn support is not always available, especially if you're not designing something specifically for a certain company or magazine. if you do a lot of freelance design then you really need to check out LittleKnits.com.

my recent order was for 13 skeins of Ella Rae Classic (100% wool) AND 2 jumbo balls of Opal sock yarn which, as you can see from the picture bellow, is 150gms and 420m per skein!!

this is a grand total of 3440m or well over 3700yds of gorgous yarn. the MSRP on these yarns would have put my order at over 120$ but i got everything for just a little under 70$ including shipping!

so my best tip to budding designers out there is to bargain shop for your yarn, and always check LittleKnits first because they have some of the most amazing deals i've seen on the net

well it's time for me to go and put the finishing touches on my purls interrupted pattern so i can get it submitted to Knit Picks asap. thanks for stoping by my blog and have a great week everyone :)

~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

new beginnings

i know it's a rarity for me to be blogging 2 days in a row but i just found a new and exciting opportunity yesterday and i couldn't resist the temptation.


KnitPicks has aparently launched a new partnership that will allow freelance designers to be published on the KnitPicks site. honestly, it's about time one of these yarn companies caught on. i've seen so many awesome up and coming designers on ravelry who have all been submitting to the same Magazines for months and months and the magazines just can't accomodate the influx of awesome patterns they are receiving. the way i see it, this is a win-win scenario both for designers and for KnitPicks. the designers get some much needed exposure, and KnitPicks gets a bunch more business, if only from the scores of novice designers like me who will now be designing almost exclusively in KnitPicks yarn for the chance of being published on such a well knowns and reputable site.


as a result of this new and exciting opportunity my new years resolutions plans have changed slightly. i decided my the next WIP i conquer should be one of my own design so i can get something to send to KnitPicks ASAP. so instead of working on that scarf and pair of socks i talked about yesterday, last night i dusted off my Rowena sleeves that sadly hadn't been touched in almost half a year, and began trying to figure out where in the pattern i left off. to my dismay i couldn't quite figure it out and since i wanted to test the pattern anyways i frogged all my lovely progress on the first sleeve and commenced re-knitting. i must have been really excited last night because i got almost as much done on it as i had before from a few weeks of work on it.


here's a pic of my progress before frogging:









and the progress i made last night after starting from scratch:








this pic was taken rather hastily so i didn't have time to pin in out like in the picture before but you can see if you follow the cable pattern that i only had about 3 or 4" to go and i would have been at the point i was pre-frog.


luckily the pattern for these little beauties is all but done at this point. the hardest part is going to be finding a program to write out the cable chart and doing the tech editing so i can make it as professional-looking as possible before sending it to KnitPicks.


i'll probably be working on these for another 4 hrs tonight and maybe i'll even have the first sleeve finished by tomorrow


::crosses fingers::


if i do i'll come back with pictures and blog for a 3rd day in a row!!!!!!


ttfn ^^/


~capn' vache

Louis Vuitton ain't got nothin on me!

it's been almost a month since my last post here, and a lot has happened since then, so i figured it was time for some new design updates:


i'm not really into "high fashion" at all. but i came across this crafting site where i stumbled upon a tutorial for a paper-chain necklace and discovered that aparently they're all the rage in Louis Vuitton's fall fashion line. this sparked an idea in my head to make a knitted version to submit to Knitty.com because they're into unique patterns and i was just sure no one had ever done something like this with knitting before. below you can see my "Knock Off" of the Louis Vuitton necklaces (and yes, it's actually named "Knock Off" hehe)




i only had 3 days to plan, knit, and write out the pattern for this little beauty, and it wasn't easy, but i did manage to get it done in time to submit it. sadly, Knitty did not accept my pattern for their Winter '09 issue, and i had this wonderful plan to submit it to Knit.1 magazine. sadly, again, i was informed that Vogue Knitting is not going to be publishing anymore issues of Knit.1 any time soon...gah!




so since my best laid plans have all been dashed i've decided to just self publish the pattern on Ravelry and charge 50 cents to a dollar for the pattern. i know it's a really simple pattern, but i did develop a technique that some people might not really think of to keep it sturdy. so i'm just going to put it out there to see if i get any bites, and if not then i'll just make it free. it should be up as soon as i can get the tech editing done, so watch out for it in my Ravelry Pattern Store sometime within the next week!

on another design note, i also submitted the design for my eyelet gloves that i renamed "raspberry bliss" to Knitcircus Magazine. I got a really nice email back from the editor over there who said that she couldn't use it for the Winter '09 issue, but if i were to add a cuff to it she'd consider it for the Spring '10 issue. so it's back to the drawing board for raspberry bliss...i already know exactly what kind of cuff i'm going to add and will be working on it for submission by January 1st 2010.

all in all not a bad response for my first design submissions. i was really pleased by the response to my designs, the editors of both publications were very encouraging. it's inspired me to keep on designing, and hopefully my next submission will be accepted :)

hope everyone has a great day, and keep on clickin!

~petitevache

Knitcircus here i come!!

so it's official....

i'm going to be submitting my first pattern to a magazine, Knitcircus, for publication!! i'm really excited about it, even if my pattern doesn't get picked getting my first rejection letter/email will be like my formal entry into the world of designing. i really think i have a decent chance though, since i'm utilizing a technique for this pattern that i've not seen used anywhere before. i can't say too much about it though, i don't wanna give away all my secrets! but i'm sure the observant knitters eye might be able to guess at it ;)

the design is called ladylike and it's a pair of delicate eyelet gloves pictured below:

it's funny because the inspiration for these came to me one night a few months ago just as i was lying down to go to sleep. i've seen a lot of bulky fingerless gloves (and knit quite a few pairs) so i wanted to design something that would be dainty, well fitted, virtually cuffless and cute enough to be part of an ensemble, not just something to keep your hands warm. i was also inspired quite a bit by vintage design, i love that women used to wear gloves frequently, not just for warmth, but for fashion as well. i think we need to bring gloves back in style and i'm doing my part to help them make a comeback ^^

owing to the fact that i live in southern california and it doesn't get very cold here i also wanted to design something that i could wear comfortably in virtually all seasons, thus ladylike was born. knit in Crystal Palace Yarns PandaSilk (52% bamboo, 43% machine washable merino wool, 5% combed silk,) they are designed to stretch a bit to accomodate multiple hand sizes so the pattern is only writen in one size. also, so that they would be perfectly fitted at the bottom without the use of boring old ribbing i knit a slit into the bottom of the glove to which i attached a simple button and crocheted loop closure pictured below:

open

and closed



i'm a big fan of fingerless gloves, i think it's the one individual item i've knit the most of. i'm i've actually got a pair of them on the needles that i'm knitting for my husband that have been pushed to the back burner while i finish up ladylike. the deadline is fast approaching for submissions, i only have 3 more days yikes! if anyone has any comments on my gloves, whether or not they think they are Knitting Magazine-worthy, please don't hesitate to leave a comment on this post. any feedback from the knitting community would be greatly appreciated :)

but in the midst of all the designing work i'm excited to be joining my first swap evar the "10 $ swap" !!!! my swapartner and i have so much in common i think it's going to make for a really cool swapping experience. AND she dies her own yarn so i'm hoping she just might send me some of her handdyed as part of my swap package ::crosses fingers::
i've never had the pleasure of knitting with handdyed yarn so it would be a real treat.

she blogs about her dyeing exploits on her blog here so go check out her lovely collection :)

well i've gotta go get knitting for this swap, i'm making her something special in one of her favorite colors, i hope she likes it ^^ (i can't say what it is here because she's currently stalking my blog to get ideas for HER swap package, so you'll just have to come back to my blog once the swap is done to find out what it is >:) ::devious smirk:: )

adieu

~tehvache

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....

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

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

it begins...

so i woke up this morning and i said to myself "it's friday, good day to start a knitting blog."

no, actually i'm starting this blog out of necessity because i need a place to show my designs. i never really intended to start trying to become a knit/crochet designer, but i can't say it's something i never thought about. i love creating knew things with yarn, and sharing my creations with other people. so it appears this shall be my forum for that :)

welcome to the beginning of my blog, and of my experience as a designer ^^

for my first design i give you the detanglers!!

(PDF can be downloaded by clicking the "detanglers" link in the "my free patterns" section)


















cord detanglers


materials:
Brown Sheep Company Wildfoote, color – Rock ‘N Roll (any scraps of a fingering weight yarn will do)
Size B1(2.25mm) crochet hook

guage: 8sc x 8 rows = 1”

notes: pattern is written for a small cord size, adjustments for larger sizes are written in ( )

body:
ch 18 (22, 26)

row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across, turn – 17 (21, 25) sc

row 2: ch 3 (counts as first opening) , skip first 2 sc, *sc in next 2 sc, ch 2 * repeat from * to * 3
(4, 5) times, sc in next 3 sc, ch 1, turn

row 3: sc in next 3 sc, *2 sc in next ch. 2 hole, sc in next 2 sc* repeat from * to * 3 (4, 5) times , 2 sc in next hole, ch 1 do not turn

border:
sc in side of last sc completed on row 3 (place marker to mark begin. of rnd) sc in first opening, 3 sc in last sc

working in bottom of chains sc in 15 (19, 23) sc across. 3 sc in last sc, sc in side of next sc, 3sc in next sc.

sc in next 15 (19, 23) sc, 2 sc in last sc, join to first sc of border with sl st, fasten off and weave in ends

button:
ch 3, 2 sc in 1st chain, sc in loop formed by 1st sc

sew button into place across from first opening