today is the day!

Hi, folks! Thanks to all of you who have joined! We are so excited about this and happy to have you all participate in this swap. There is still some time left for those of you who are interested but have not joined yet. The deadline for signing up is midnight tonight.

We've sent out some invites to the blog that weren't used, so if you signed up but don't see your name on the sidebar, please do not hesitate to email us with a link to use for you. Drop us a line at potholderswap2009@gmail.com so we can update the swapper list with your name and link.

Regarding fiber, we are specifying wool or cotton only please. The reason being that cotton ignites at about 410º Fahrenheit, and wool ignites at an even higher temperature and has excellent insulating properties, which is a quality one would want in a functional potholder. Cotton potholders and hot pads can be thrown in the wash where as wool might require a little bit more special attention. For more particulars regarding the pros and cons of what fibers to use for potholders, please see this discussion here. For this swap, however, we need you to use wool or cotton only please.

We'll have more info regarding the swap details with you soon.

hello folks! welcome to the swap blog!

Hi everyone! Welcome to our little swap blog here. Some of you may know us from Flickr and may have reached us from the swap group over there. Thanks for dropping in! Lately, we have become just slightly obsessed with crochet, and what better way to learn about crochet than to start with fun simple projects that are both pretty and functional? Hot pads and pot holders are a great way to learn the techniques as well as play with color and create something that can function as a practical object and as art. That's not even to mention the kitschy fun to be had with it!

We'd love to have you join our swap. To participate, please email us at potholderswap2009@gmail.com. Deadline to enter the swap is 3/21/09.

Now for the rules. They're pretty basic, so here goes....

RULES FOR THE SWAP:

- hot pads/ pot holders must be crocheted
- each member will crochet 5 hot pads/ pot holders in the same pattern. Different colors are okay. (You can choose whatever pattern you want to work with and vary the colors between them, as long as you crochet 5 hot pads/ pot holders in that same pattern.)
- each pad/holder must be tagged with maker, fiber content, and care instructions
- wool or cotton yarns only please- no synthetics, for safety reasons
- if you have a wool allergy please let us know so you will receive cotton hot pads only
- each pad/holder must be between 6 - 12 inches in diameter
- US swappers., you must include a USPS Priority stamp for return postage with your potholders. Non-US residents are welcome, we'll just need to work out how you pay for return postage with you.
- have fun with this!

We're thinking that 2 months should be enough time for everyone to finish their hot pads/ pot holders, but we'll post an official deadline and details as to where to mail them shortly, once we have all our swappers.

For now, there are a few wonderful resources for pot holder patterns, such as Crochet Pattern Central and the Crochet & Crafts Link Index, as well as an inspiration group we started on Flickr.

Take a button!