potholders galore!

I spent all day at Adrian's today with Maryse, Stacie, and Cheryl sorting potholders for this year's Great Potholder Swap. Dude. Just, dude. There were so many gorgeous potholders! Thanks to everyone who participated! You folks really outdid yourselves this year! And thank you all for the chocolates and other delicious snacky treats. We are all about the snacky treats. You guys rock!

And huge thanks to Adrian for being the hostess with the mostest! As always, she was beyond fabulously hospitable with tons of food and drink and presents. She is truly the sweetest, and her mailperson is wonderful for coming to pick up all those packages on Monday. We had a little over a hundred packages total. It was such a great afternoon hanging out with friends, laughing and eating tons of cheese while admiring some super-awesome crochet. Perhaps we'll do it again next year.... We'll see about that next year, though. For now, we are pooped! Hope you all love your potholders. I will post about the ones I got in the swap tomorrow or Monday.

mojo's back in town

pattern: February Baby Sweater, from the Knitter's Almanac
designer: Elizabeth Zimmermann
yarn: fingering weight Pigeonroof Studios in Venetian, handspun for me by Danielle
needles: Addi Turbos #2
modifications: instead of the gull stitch the pattern calls for, I used straight-up vanilla stockinette to better show-off the striations made by the handspun

If you're going to ease back into knitting after not knitting for months, it's good to start with a small and satisfying project. (Seriously, how sad is that? Months, people! I have not knit for months, and I don't know why. Or rather, I have an inkling why, and it has to do with performance anxiety and my own neurosis, but let's save that for another day... or better yet, for a therapist.) I love this wee sweater. I kinda wish I had enough handspun to knit one in my size because that would be fabulous.

In a way, this teeny sweater feels like a collaboration since several people had their hands in this in small (and one huge) ways. Thanks to Stacie for the buttons, to Diana for the inspiration to go with a bunch of different buttons and use the stockinette instead of the gull stitch pattern, and last but not least, to Danielle for spinning this yarn for me. For some reason, I thought I had blogged about our swap when it happened, but I guess I didn't. Back in February, I made this elephant for Danielle, and she in turn spun some yarn for me and made me an adorable little knitting pouch. Thanks again, Danielle! I had been wondering what to make with this lovely handspun, and this just seemed like the perfect project for it. I love it when knitting comes together like that!

holy potholders batman!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going to visit Adrian in idyllic Shelburne Falls to sort through the potholders for the potholder swap, and holy cow! Did the swappers bring it, or what?!

We had some Pimm's and cheese and got sorting. Maryse was there as well, and with her help we were able to sort and package everything super-fast. It was such a pleasure to see everyone's fabulous handiwork in person, and so many folks were super-sweet and included extra potholers as presents for us. Thanks to all the swappers for making this so much fun!

And how lucky did I get? Adrian and Maryse each made me a lovely potholder. (I'll post photos of them tomorrow.) It occurs to me now that with everything that was going on last week, I never got a chance to post about the potholders I made. Besides, the gray and low light situation (what with all the rain) would have made for crap photos. I was able to take this shot on Friday, however:

The one on the bottom right is back-side-up. I wanted one side to be kinda kitschy and the other to be kinda clean and contemporary. I have to admit, though, I don't think that crochet is my forté. I am simultaneously looking forward to finishing that scarf I started a few months ago and cringing at the thought of having to crochet 30 more squares. We'll see how that goes....

In the meanwhile, hooray for swaps!

practice makes... something, right?

The other day, after getting my hair cut, I went to Porter Square books and got a couple of crochet motif books to use in addition to my tiny collection of Japanese crochet books in finding the perfect motif for a potholder. I am nearly overwhelmed by the possibilities now! The Beyond the Square book in and of itself is amazing, and I highly recommend it. The Interweave book rounds it out nicely, though, presenting a plethora of motifs not included in Beyond the Square. I decided to start with motif #49 from Beyond the Square:


The end result is this:

Yep, I've got a fluffy coaster! Or a pretty little star-shaped wall ornament. Either way, I've got a lot of learning and practicing to do, and thankfully my yarn is here (at last) so I can get right into it:

I am starting out with some Cascade 220 in Coral, Pear, Anis (hehheh), Ruby, Charcoal, and Black, but depending on how that works out I may end up using cotton. I am still kinda up in the air about that. The deadline for the swap is May 31, so I've got a little bit of time to work with here (as long as I use it right). Right now, however, I feel the urgent need to finish this sock. There's a whole story with this one, but I will get to that in my next post:

hot pads! and potholders - the swap

Photo by Adrian of hello yarn, 2009, used with permission.

Like several other folks, I have been bitten by the crochet bug - and BAD! I have become a little obsessed, in fact, and my mini-muffler continues to grow, as well as my collection of crochet books and patterns on ravelry. When Maryse linked to this amazing collection of potholders, what we all had to do became crystal clear, and so Adrian and I present to you the hot pads! and potholders swap. If you'd like to join us in the swap, email us at potholderswap2009@gmail.com. The deadline to enter the swap is this Saturday, March 21, 2009. All the rules and info, as well as links to free potholder and hot pad patterns, can be found over at the swap blog. Hope you can join us!

Oh, and please grab an adorable button designed by Adrian!