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!