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

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

sew...

yeah i know, not the most inventive title, but at least its relevant to my newfound love of sewing ^-^

the story goes:
my mom gave me a sewing machine for christmas last year in hopes that i would finally learn how to use one. until now i've been sewing everything by hand which translated into me not doing a whole lot of sewing. but my mom is pretty handy with a sewing machine, she used to sew all our halloween costumes by hand; and these were highly extravagant costumes. one year my brother was the Energizer Bunny, and she sewed a brother-sized bunny suit, without following a pattern mind you, out of this really really thick, furry pink fabric.

so a few weeks ago i finally asked her to show me the ins and outs of machine sewing and as my first project sewed this poorly constructed little practice purse:

my main reason for finally wanting to learn machine sewing was because i had this grand idea to make a handmade project bag and circular needle holder for my swap partner Sarah for our 10$ Swap on Ravelry. it was a perilous journey, complete with many stops, starts, ripped seams and re-sews. but in the end perseverence prevailed and i did manage to complete both patterns i found in the original Stitch n' Bitch book by Debbie Stoller.

the bag (yes that;s my hubby's arm holding it ^^):

the needle holder:

they both involved the use of iron on transfer paper for the patch on the bag and the numbers on the needle holder, which complicated things a bit more. when trying to sew the patch onto the bag the presser foot on my machine caught on the stickiness of the iron on patch and kinda ripped up a little peice of the design, and while trying to iron on the velcro for the needle holder i damn near transfered the numbers to my ironing board >.<

but all in all i'm glad i finally learned, and managed to make myself this cute little cover for my knitting journal below:

i'm not completely thrilled with the finished project, i'm thinking about ripping up the pocket and making one out of solid black fabric to have a little contrast and make it easier to see. also, it almost didn't fit on my journal so i may rip out the flap seams so i can add a bit more of an allowance. but all in all i'm still mighty proud of my accomplishments to date. considering i haven't sewed anything by machine since i was in Jr. High home ec, i think my projects so far are not too shabby.

and speaking of swapping, my swap package arrived last monday!!!!!

the theme of the swap was "all one color" and as you can see my favoritest color is GREEN!!!

i got a wonderful green (in more ways than one) tote, some cute froggy paper clips, honey-ginseng green tea, assorted green apple candies, green tea lotion, a green graph paper notebook that i'll probably need since i'm taking math this semester (yuck!) this really delicious looking home-made chip dip, and some beautiful stitchmarkers and hand-dyed yarn that Sarah dyed herself! color me spoiled xD

thanks again to Sarah from The Student Knitter for sending me such a lovely swap package. i've already used the stitch markers and marveled at their loveliness :)

oh yeah and on a last note, i am STILL working on my submission to Knitcircus Magazine, which was origianally due the 15th, but the deadline was pushed back to September 1st. since i had some extra time i decided to test knit the pattern and boy am i glad i did because i found a few really big problems with it that i've been able to correct. but it's got to be done before tuesday so be on the lookout for a new post with details on the finished pattern.

nighty-night knitters

~tehvache