Thank you!

Thank you to Jenny, Bertha, Javalulu, [no name tag] and Cathy for the potholders! They arrived while I was on vacation. Now they are well installed in my kitchen.

As for my own potholders, I know who has received three of them. I'm curious to know who received the last two?

Also blogged here. (And if you want to read my blog, try the Google Oversetter (= Translator) to the right. It makes funny english, but it might give you an idea...). It has been so much fun to participate in this swap, thank you and good bye!

Finally they're here!

Thank you to Annepålandet, colorandtexture, carrie, Julia Vesper and PoMo Golightly for making such beauties! I love them all.



Special thanks to our awesome hosts of this swap!

Beautiful

received potholders
Originally uploaded by bridget_pics

Thanks to (clockwise, from top) Nova, Wendy G., Bertha, deadkat, and Meg. I love them all!
And thanks to Adrian and Maritza for organizing and the others who helped them ship everything out - it was a lot of fun.
Bridget

I feel bad for you...

...because I am certain that the potholders I received are way better than yours.

No, seriously. I love them a lot. But all kidding aside, thank you to the hostesses and all the lovely potholder makers. This was so, so much fun!

Hot Pad Heaven!

This has been one of the best swaps ever. It was fun, creative and a treat to have 5 wonderful creations from five different people. The pads are from Nova, Bridget, Aimee, Jenny and Nann (I think). Thank you each one and to Adrian, Maritza, and Maryse!

Margene

my beautiful potholders

These were waiting for me when I got home last night. I love them all! Thanks so much everybody, and especially thanks to the organizers, what a great swap this has been!

Center: Debbie L
Top left: Elizabeth
Top right: Priscilla
Lower left: Lacey
Lower right: no tag :(

Thanks, ladies, for all your hard work.

the mail's here!

Here are the hot pads + potholders I received in the mail! I think they're all beautiful and have been gazing at them since they arrived. Thank you to fellow swappers Tiffany, Abbey, Scott, Tatiana, and Jenna! I had so much fun participating in this exchange - it was absolutely worth my efforts!

I forgot to put my name on the tags I sent out, so if you get a piece which has a linen backing with a rose embroidered on it, that's from me, Annri - enjoy!

Thank you Adrian + Maritza for the great hot pads! and potholders swap!

what a treat!

Look at these georgeous potholders I got in the mail from the swap. I feel completely spoiled! What amazing little jewels!

From left to right: Ardian, Reve, Maritza, Dawn, and Erin

Thanks ladies! And a special shout out to Adrian and Maritza for putting this wonderful swap together.

Loveliness Abounds

I got mine!!



They're so sweet! I love all of them; the large cotton one on the bottom right will go beautifully with my new kitchen and the rest are going to see lots of use, too!

Thanks to Sherie, Lacey, Celiae, Tiffany, and Karen--you all did such lovely work.

Also, thanks to Adrian and Maritza for putting this all together! You guys rock!!

PS: Who got mine? I'm dying to know. :)

Love them!

Wow! This swap has been so much fun; I loved seeing all the beautiful potholders everyone made. More info and better photos are available in my blog post.

I was lucky to receive these wonderful hotpads (from left to right, top to bottom) made by: Beth (buhnuh on Ravelry), Lynda (littleloops on Ravelry), maryse, Dawn, and Reve (on Ravelry). Thank you!!


Many thanks to everyone for making this enjoyable, and especially to our coordinators and helpers, Adrian, Maritza, and Maryse! : )

Thanks Everyone!

I got my hotpads and love them all! Thank you for such a fun swap, these really brighten my kitchen.

Talented ladies clockwise from top left: wendy g., emilee, deadkat,emily & bridget

Truly touched,

jennifer (jennyknits on rav)

Hot Pad Love!

I got my hot pads last night - how wonderful and beautiful they all are. I love, love, love them.

Clockwise, from top left, these wonderful beauties were crocheted by: Leila R, Emilee, Denise R, Angi, and the center one by Debbie C. Thank you all for your delightful work - these will bring much joy to my home.

This was my first swap, of any kind, and I learned a lot, and really enjoyed doing it. I hope all of the other swappers enjoy what they made and received.

And, again thank you so much to Adrian and Maritza for organizing this, and to Adrian, Maritza and Maryse for the swapping and packing of all these delights to over 100 of us participating in this swap!

So, what's next? :-)

I got my potholders!

Woohoo-they're awesome! Thank you Adrian and Maritza-what a lot of work but what a lot of fun!


















Angharad

Got 'em

I got my potholders yesterday, and they're great! This was such a fun swap, and I'm so happy to have been a part of it. :)

My potholders came from Stacie, Susan, Amy, and two others that didn't have names on them. :(
I'd love to know if I have one of yours, though!

My Computer is Acting Up

I have ended the previous post 3 or 4 times, and I keep getting an "HTML error" message, refusing to print it with that post, and so I am posting again separately to wrap up what I had to say:

Oooops! So, if you get a mystery PH (variegated yellow with green stripes and a daffodil), that would be me (smiling sheepishly). So sorry.
And to my mystery PH swapper (who made the pretty tan, brown, and olive green one in the pic above), leave a comment so I can properly thank you.
And a proper thank you to Birdsong, Donna, Melissa W., and Sue! They are soooo lovely, and I know I will smile every time one of them catches my eye in the kitchen, and again when they protect my hands and counters and tabletop.
I hope everyone gets their pkg. soon. Mine only had to travel from Mass. to Maine, so that's why so quick. I can't wait now for the posts sharing all the lovely PHs.
WendyBee

Lucky Me! PotHolder Delivery has Arrived!

Oh My! I have been trying to control my impatience waiting for this package to arrive. So I told myself to put it out of my mind 'til at least Friday, and lo and behold, they came today. And to think they sat in my mailbox for a few hours only about 30 yards away! What a delight of patterns and colors. They are all cotton (as I sent cotton). All are double-layered. All had labels or tags of some kind, with fiber content, care instructions. 4 of the 5 identified the crocheter by name, website, or e-mail. I haven't been able to identify #5. (yet)

This was my first-ever swap of any kind. I guess I've learned a little bit by this experience. What I learned was that I shouldn't have agonized so much over choosing a pattern and materials. I lost a lot of time and ended up rushing at the last minute. Wasn't able to take pictures, (was putting the last stitches in as my husband drove me to the first of two post offices). I think it was probably spelled out for me somewhere, but I didn't get the message that I should label my entries.

Five loves at first sight!

I received my five exchange potholders, and I absolutely love them!


Beautiful creations from Maritza, Pam, Reve, Beverly, and Maryse!

More details and pictures on my blog!

P.S. If you received one of my potholders, I'd love to know! I know the orange/red/teal one ended up with Beverly, but what about the other four?!?

They're Here!

What a fun mail day! I was thrilled to open my package and find such a pretty array of potholders!

Thank you to (from top left to right) Erin, Kathy, Lynda, Javalulu, and Susann...and of course to our fabulous hostesses!

Beverly

Potholders, potholders and more potholders!

want to know what close to 500 potholders look like?

imagine 3 times more than what you see here.

anyway, i hope you all had a great time making your potholders and that you'll be happy with the ones you receive in return.

Thank you!

Wow! You guys rock! I couldn't believe my eyes when we were done opening all the packages at Adrian's yesterday. There were potholders everywhere!

It was great seeing all of your handiwork in person. Thank you all again for participating in this swap! You've all made it a lot of fun.

The Swap

Maritza, Maryse, and I got together to swap all the potholders yesterday and wow, 500-ish potholders is a lot! After opening all the packages and admiring all the potholders for a good while, we got down to the business of sorting them by fiber (cottons got cottons and wools got wools) and started swapping and packing.




There were so many amazing potholders of all varieties. Many thanks to all who participated in the swap. Special thanks for following our instructions about envelopes and postage so well. You really made it all quite painless!

I'm going to be taking down the names on all the packages so that if something got lost in the mail either getting here or getting back to you, we'll at least know. The US potholders will ship back to you tomorrow. Non-US swappers, I'll be figuring postage and emailing you tomorrow. Thanks, everyone!

Maryse and Maritza, post photos!

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

I'll be heading out to Adrian's to help her and Maritza distribute potholders. I hear they're gorgeous!

Good work people!

Here are the potholders I made for the Swap! I am happy with the way they turned out and that they are done in time! I'm the type who will take full advantage of a deadline extention, a procrastinator of epic history. "Good under pressure" is what some folks call it. wink, wink! They'll start their journey to Swap headquarters later this morning. Thank you to Adrian + Maritza + all my fellow swappers for this challenging and fun opportunity!

(Don't worry, there are 5!) I finished last week, but the extra few days were very welcome due to moving and traveling at the end of the month.

I learned SO MUCH with this swap -- the only things I've crochet before are amigurumi. So I learned: double crochet, triple crochet, folded triple crochet, standing stitches, puff stitches, bobble stitches, turning chains, working in rounds instead of spirals, and working around the posts of stitches. Whew!

It was fun to pick a pattern. I had a hard time settling on one at first. Hexagons have a lot of corners to keep track of, and most of the squares I found were either hole-y in the corners or ruffled once I got to 5 rounds. I ended up using a scalloped pattern from Ravelry. I was worried that it would be too unoriginal, but my husband pointed out that anything with lots of projects probably turns out pretty well! So I gave it my own little twist by using bobbles and triple-crochets around the post of the stitch two rows below in the fourth round becuase I LOVE BOBBLES AND PUFF STITCHES!!! Ahem.

Then I made two more potholders for us. And I might make two more as part of a wedding present. But I might take a little break first.

Everybody's crocheting is so beautiful -- I can't wait to see what I get in the mail!

Finished!

My potholders are packaged and on their way to Shelburne Falls! I really enjoyed this return to crochet. I spent a lot of time swatching, trying out color combinations and new stitches. I'm a little concerned that the outer round may be too open, but I'm hoping the double thickness will ensure that these will be functional.

Enjoy! I cannot wait to see what arrives in my mailbox!

Beverly

My Contributions!

I fear they aren't nearly as nice as some of the gorgeous ones I've seen on here, but I am proud of them. The swirly ones allowed me to learn a technique I'd been curious about; now I am about to make some for myself! (I want to felt some, too--I bet the pattern would look super cool!)

This was a great stash-buster. All of my yarns came from my stash, and it feels nice to have used up so many half-balls and stuff. The potholders are double-sided, except for the marled pink one, which has two strands held together.

Now all I have to do is tag 'em, pack 'em up, and send 'em out! SO GLAD the deadline was extended. I was killing myself on the last one. :)

Hi, all! This is Adrian, but I'm posting for Robyn (check sidebar for link).

This is the first swap I have taken part in. It has been great fun watching as the group tested out different patterns, chose their colours, etc if not a little scary – who knew there could be performance anxiety for crochet! As I started to test out some problems I realised that I had a problem. My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was younger, but I lived in Australia then. All the patterns I tried didn’t look right and it took me a while to realise that the same terms mean two different stitches in Australian and American patterns! I finally settled on my Pattern (Felted Colourful Coasters from the Coats and Clark website). I added a few rounds and skipped the felting. I was going to crochet a plain back but liked the concentric circles on the back so they may be better suited as hot pads for your table than to take hot pots out of the oven. I had a lot of fun and can’t wait to see what pot holders come my way!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I sent out my 5 potholders on Friday.



I decided to use wool, and to make each of them into a little piece of art. Each one is unique in size and color. I only used the same yarn on 2 of them. The pattern, of course, is Pretty Petals Potholder.

You can see closeups of all 5 potholders here in my Flickr set.

Thank you so much to Adrian and Maritza for organizing this swap. I usually knit, and crochet is very new to me. This swap reminded me of when I was a new knitter and every little knitted bit was very exciting. I was so happy to feel that way about crochet, because I was never really "into" it before. I can't wait to see the potholder collection that will come to me.

Colorful Willow

Following Hillary and Color & Texture, I decided to use the Willow pattern from 200 Crochet Blocks for my potholders. I crocheted them using Tahki Cotton Classic. I absolutely love the way they came out!


Many more photos and details on my blog. Thanks to Adrian and Maritza for hosting this swap!

Finished!

Five hot pads done! (Actually more, counting the test patterns and the test of the final selection, but who's counting?) All in the same pattern, but two different yarns. The jewel tones are done in Mirasol T'ika (Peruvian cotton yarn); the pastel ones are done in Tahki's Cotton Classic. I liked working with both - smooth, silky and soft.

The fronts are done in the American Beauty pattern (from "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton), but I also crocheted a back to provide more padding and protection for use as a hot pad (I do not recommend using this as a pot holder). The backs are done in the knot stitch pattern (one is off-set, the other four are aligned) from “Textured Crochet” by Helen Jordan. The fronts and backs were then single crocheted together, and a shell stitch edging added (from "Encyclopedia of Crochet" by Donna Kooler).

I really had fun doing these! Thank you Adrian and Maritza. Tomorrow I take them to the post office for mailing. I look forward to receiving our swap - from the pictures I have seen here, they all look amazing!

deadline now June 8th

Hey swappers!

As we approach our deadline of the 31st, we hear that some folks might need just a little more time. Being as we are getting together on the 13th of June to sort through the potholders and put together all the packages, we thought it would be a good idea to extend the deadline to the 8th. Please have your potholders & hot pads sent to us by June 8th. Can't wait to see all of your wonderful work in person!

all done!

I'm happy to say that I managed to finish up my potholders for the swap and get them in the mail last Friday. Phew!





I had to borrow Adrian's idea of displaying her potholders on the clothesline - her photos looked so great!

These were crocheted with DK weight mercerized cotton yarn and a D hook. The back sides are completely different color combinations than the front sides.

This is the snail shell motif from the book Crochet Stitch Motifs - It's an interweave knits harmony guide book. The pattern is on pg 158.

I had so much fun with this swap and I can't wait to see what treats I get in the mail - thanks so much Adrian and Maritza!

Hot Pads!

 

I have a stack of these booklets that I found at a thrift store. They feature lots of projects using various needlecrafts, and almost always have a crochet feature. I thought there would surely be a potholder pattern, and I wasn't disappointed! This is the pattern:

Here are mine!

I used Elann Sonata yarn. Original size was 9.5 inches across, but then I washed them and they shrunk to about 8 inches. They are pretty squishy!

Fuzzy...

Whew, done! Thanks to my crafty sister, Rebekah, for teaching me how to crochet. And a certain lovely ferret for the use of her fancy camera :-)

I used the Scalloped Potholder pattern (here on Ravelry). I spun the top layer out of rainbow dyed wool locks - looked like a clown massacre in my living room post-carding / pre-spinning - and used some odds and ends from the stash for the bottom layer (including Noro wool/angora, and another handspun... merino I think).

Fun!

Bottle Cap Hot Pads by Dawn

Thank God we had two months to finish these potholders! I had a small collection of bottle caps that I started with,but soon ran out of. I enlisted my husband and friends to save theirs for me. Now, that I've finished using them, my husband doesn't know what to do with his. To him, it now seems a waste to throw them away.

I used every minute of it working on these darlings. I would crochet in the car, at the kids Doctor appointments, during knit nights, watching movies, and everywhere in between. Even once I finally got all 95 caps covered, I still had to sew them all together! : )

All the work aside, I absolutely love the way they turned out. They are very sturdy and they stay put when you set them down. (I find very important when you trying to put a pot on it.) Being crochet thread, I know they will last a lifetime with proper care.


So, to those of you who receive my lovelies, take care, enjoy, and know that a lot of love and hard work went into these.

Done!

These were done a while ago, but I got distracted by life and forgot to post themThe pattern is an adaptation of the Wool Eater Blanket which I was introduced to by my good friend and fellow Home-skills and Domestic Arts Diva Sara, aka Chicken Betty.
The yarn is Blue Sky Dyed Cotton. I really enjoyed doing this project. I have not had a hook in my hands in ages, and this was really a joy for me. Crochet is my first love. They could not get me to knit, but I was all over the hook and the shuttle (tatting!).
Adrian, you are awesome, and thanks for letting me play along!
(also I swear the orange is not that neon in person. Honest.)

Willow Potholders

Cross-posted to my blog.

I've finished my potholders. These have actually been finished since April 28th and I'm finally getting around to blogging them now. Sheesh! Busy isn't the word.



Anyway, I've already discussed the many things I love about this project. I enjoyed picking the pattern and working out the kinks. I enjoyed enhancing my crochet skilz. I really enjoyed seeing the finished product turn out exactly the way I hoped it would.

The only thing I'd change is the colors I selected. I like the colors and in most cases they worked out well. I'm not embarrassed by the results at all. I just think that with a bit more planning (as opposed to dropping a bunch of random "pretty" yarns in my virtual cart) may have made the results even more satisfying. It's not even a matter of color as much as it's about the shades. More contrast would be good.



I suspect that I'll make more of these because I'd like a few for our house. That's probably just my new excuse to make more of these. Initially I thought I'd make a few extra to send off but life got in the way.

Meanwhile I need to get these labeled and shipped out. I hope their new owners like them.

And I'm Done!

Finally. I feel as if i've spent the past year crocheting potholder. I know that's not the case but between the potholders for the swap and the practice ones i made before, i think i've got at least 15 potholders under my belt. But i'm finally done.

i really like these and kind of don't want to send them off. (and yes there are 7. i was kind of on a color binge and couldn't stop). anyway, this pattern is my own. i used an old vintage potholder that i had picked up at flea market as inspiration. i hope to write up the pattern and post it on ravelry in the next week or so. sorry, not in time for the swap. but you should be almost done by now anyway.

Potholders for the Swap

Woot! I'm done! Between practicing my crochet and trying to settle on a pattern for the swap, I must have made 10 potholders, so when it came time to do my 5, I was kind of sick of them. Great behavior for one of the hosts, right?

It turns out this pattern is super fun and I started a 6th last night, just because there was one more color combination that I needed to do.

Pattern: Old-Fashioned Potholders by Cathy Irish (rav link)
Yarn: a mix of Tahki Cotton Classic and Elann Sonata, 66 grams per potholder
Size: 8" across
Hook: 2.5mm
Extras: plastic drapery rings

Verdict: AWESOME! This is a totally simple pattern that lends itself to stripes and fun color combinations.

These potholders have 2 identical sides and are crocheted together on the last round.

White plastic drapery rings are used for the loops. When I got to the end of the joining/ last round, I did single crochet around the plastic rings and slip stitched through the first stitch.

These are heavy duty potholders. There's no chance a finger could poke through and be burned.

The Swap:
I hope you're all enjoying yourselves. The potholders have been arriving in waves. Mr. HelloYarn just came home from the post office and yelled up that he'd just picked up a ton more. I can't wait to go down and see them!

Ta da!

Potholders are finished and ready to mail. I used a pattern called "Classic Kitchen Potholders" that was in a little Leisure Arts pamphlet I've had for ages. It's basically a round granny square with a solid back. The yarn is Coats Creme de la Creme, which I really liked working with. I chose six colors - a light/medium and a dark in blue/green/pink.
Whew - this was fun and I can't wait to see what I get! Thanks Adrian and Maritza!
Bridget
Yarmouth, Maine