xmas in october and 2 giveaways!

time for a picture-heavy post!

i've been a huge fan of PhatFiber for a few years now, but for some reason it never occured to me to blog about the awesome weekly giveaways here :: scratches head ::

this week there is some awesome fiber up for grabs like this gorgeous loose cashmere/tussah silk fiber package from none other than my fav indy dyer Girl Meets Spindle:

{ click here for your chance to win! }

or if you're more into the cool colors there's a BFL/Silk hankie package being given away by Fun House Fibers:

{ cliquez ici pour votre chance a gagner! }

pardon my french folks, i just hate typing the exact same thing under 2 different pics. if you don't speak french that says the same thing thats under the first pic xD

and now on to my very own XMAS IN OCTOBER!!!!

and why is it xmas in october you ask? well because i got 2 TOTALLY AMAZING packages in the mail today.

this first package came from Zebisis Designs on Etsy. this was my first time ordering from Zebisis but i've seen her richly saturated fibers all over ravelry. much like Girl Meets Spindle, Zebisis specializes in mostly Luxury fibers but also handmade spindles and also takes the time to package her fiber in a wonderfully aesthetically pleasing way. this stuff was pricey, i'll be honest, but when i felt how soft it was it was worth every last penny. not only did i get the fiber i paid for but she also sent me a full 2.3 oz "sample" of some gorgeous hand dyed silk brick, and some matching mohair locks!

{ 4oz 50/50 Merino Silk roving in "Moody Rainbow" }

{ 2.3oz "sample" of Mulberry silk brick }

unfortunately i have a mohair allergy so i didn't wanna take the locks out to photograph them lest they make my fingers burn :( but i assure you they are equally as lovely

and in box #2 i got my swap package for the Legends of the Underworld swap on ravelry! my swap partner Hygieia really spoiled me rotten, just look at the size of this box!

{ sunglasses are there for reference only, they were not part of the package xD }

when i opened up the box it was just filled to the brim with individually wrapped goodies ^-^

{ all the lovely packages}

i feel so incredibly spoiled, there was just too much goodness to list all of it here. pretty much everything was skully themed, from the bandaids to the stitch markers to the craft supplies, even skully tissues and duct tape!

{ the loot }

but aside from all the skully goodness there were also a couple awesome little gifts she had her brother bring me from Japan because she knew that i love things from foreign countries. i honestly can't even list everything i got here cuz it would just be too much but as you can see from the pic i am one happy camper ^.^

i hope everyone's had a great week, i'm going to have a few spinning fiber reviews coming up soon including the ramie and banana fibers from my last post so be on the lookout for my next blog post!

~carla

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

Grand Opening Giveaway!!

(rainbow detanglers)

Happy Monday everyone ^^/

after much hard work, and many days of sewing, knitting, taking pictures and uploading them my Etsy shop is now open for business :)

(a techo-geek jewelry cove from my shop)

i don't even have half the stuff i made uploaded to my shop yet because it can be a bit time consuming typing out descriptions and uploading pictures to Etsy, so i'll probably be adding new merchandise daily for at least the next week.

(heart to heart notions-to-go tote)

one of the items i'm most proud of are these "notions-to-go" totes like the one above and the one featured in my last post. these babies are handknit, then the lining is machince sewn and hand sewn into the knit tote ::whew:: they take a lot of work, but i just LOVE the finished product.

so this means i should have time to do a wbdt this week. i'm going to try to get that Cable Chart Tutorial up finally since i've been promising it for 2 weeks now, but i may not have time. but don't fret, there WILL be a wbdt this week, even if it's not the Tutorial.

and now, as promised, it's time for another...

petite vache designs' super awesome free giveaway!!!

i'll be giving away a 2 sets of detanglers, one set of 3 grey with wood star buttons, and one set of 3 rainbow with plastic buttons from my shop as seen below:

(if you win the rainbow detanglers, you can pick which colors you'd like)

the drawing will be held a week from today, and there are 3 ways to enter:

1. follow my blog (if you're already a follower, you're already entered!)




2. leave me a comment on this post telling me what you think of my new shop.




3. blog about my Etsy shop and giveaway on your blog, and let me know about it in my comments section

email me at mellonninamarie at gmail dot com so that i'll have your email address to contact you if you win.

good luck with the contest everyone, and wish me luck on my new business venture :)

~Carla

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

free pattern giveaway!!

hi everyone ^^/

there's been a slight change of plans since my last instalment a few days ago. i took a few days off from working on my Rowena sleeves to FINALLY do the tech editing for knock off that i've been meaning to do for some time now. if you follow my blog then you'll remember that i submitted the pattern for knock off to Knitty.com's Winter 09 issue. unfortunately, Knitty didn't have room for it in their Winter issue so i decided to self publish the pattern on Ravelry. 3 months later, the pattern is finally up for sale, and it's my first official pattern for sale on Ravelry or anywhere else. if you're interested in purchasing the pattern you can follow the link under the picture below, or the link in my "patterns for sale" section to the right.

knock off

so far this pattern is only for sale on Ravelry, but i've been thinking of opening up an Etsy shop to sell my patterns and various other FO's.

but if you aren't a member of Ravelry and you still really REALLY want this pattern never fear! it's time for...

petite vache designs' 1st evar super awesome free pattern givaway!!!!!!

you heard me right folks, to celebrate my first pattern for sale on Ravelry i'll be giving away 2 count 'em 2 copies of the pattern for knock off. all you have to do is

• follow my blog (if you don't already)
• leave me a comment telling me what you think of knock off
• leave your email address in the comment section below, or if you prefer you can also email me at mellonninamarie AT gmail DOT com

i'll be announcing the winners 1 week from today (next thursday) and emailing the pattern in PDF format. be advised, though, only those who follow my blog AND leave a comment will be entered into the drawing, and only one entry per person please.

if this first giveaway is a success i may make a habit of doing one of these every time i premier a pattern, but you'll just have to follow my blog to find out ;)

well that's it for today folks, i'll be returning to my work on Rowena sleeves and hopefully have the pattern finished for them by next week. as always, i'll be blogging to keep everyone updated on my progress. don't forget to start following my blog and leave me a comment to win your free copy of knock off and have a great weekend everyone ^-^

~teh vache