little strawberry

I recently decided that I would start up a potholder wall in my kitchen again. Sometime last year, I took all my potholders down and the wall has stayed empty ever since. I don't even remember why I took them down, I've missed looking at. To get myself started again, I made this cute little strawberry.


I used this Pear Trivet pattern to make it. I flipped it upside down and sewed three leaves to the top. It was a very quick pattern, I finished this in about 30 minutes, including the steam blocking. I decided to make it only a single layer, I thought a second layer might hide the lace look too much. Since it's for my wall, it doesn't need a second layer. I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton scents in strawberry for this, so not only does it look like a strawberry, it smells like one too.

I'm excited to get my wall filled up again!

weekending

This weekend I plan on adding more squares to Colour Punch. It feels like it should be bigger than it is right now, it's 25 squares big so far, which isn't too bad I guess. I've been sewing in the ends often, so there are none that need sewing right now, that's a huge bonus, there will be no leaving this sitting in the closet because of too many ends. I think I can still manage to get this done in time for summer. I have a lot of cotton left to use up!


Yesterday I said I needed to get pictures of my owl potholders that I never shared and I actually remembered to do it. Here they are! They hang in my front "hall" area. When I took apart my granny hoot tea cozy, I made them backs, so they could actually be taken off the wall and used since they are double thick. But, I like them hanging as decoration more, so they'll probably just stay on the wall. The pattern for this can be found here.

potholder swap 2013

I made potholders! I haven't done made any since May last year and I never even blogged what they looked like! I turned my Granny Hoot tea cozy into two potholders, if you wanted to know. I should take a picture of them, they're the only potholders I have hanging in the house anymore. Although, I'm thinking of changing that again.

I kept seeing pretty potholders popping up in my ravelry feed for the potholder swap held on ravelry. I participated in the swap in 2011 (still love those!) but skipped it last year. I decided after seeing all the pretty potholders to join in again this year! They're only asking for three this time, which made finishing super fast and easy!


I used the Spiral Coaster/Potholder pattern, the same pattern I used to make these coasters. I am in love with them! It was really hard to pack them up and send them off, I wanted to keep them for myself.

I used Bernat Handicrafter cottons and a size G hook. They ended up being almost 8 inches, right in the size requirements!


For the backs, I reversed the colours. I love the way it looks, I attempted to get a picture of how cool the effect is. Not the best picture, the potholders are nice and thick.


There's still time to join in the swap, you have until April 1st to get the potholders in! Now I need to make one of these for myself!

shop open!

It's Friday morning, so that means the potholders are up for sale in my shop, go have a peek!

ready to go!

I'm finally ready to get the potholders up for sale! I'm excited and a little nervous about selling but I'm going for it finally.

Visit the shop right here. The potholders will go up Friday morning! I hope that you'll check it out!

Eventually, I'll be adding some baby blankets too. I've got a few here that have been ready to go for some time.

lizzie slippers

Have you seen Lisa's newest pattern over at Good Knits? It's called Lizzie and they are the cutest slippers ever. I immediately started a pair after I saw the pattern, I'm super happy with how they turned out! They are so cute and comfy, I most definitely will need another pair.

I followed the pattern exactly and they fit my feet perfectly, I'm a size 9/9.5. From looking at the other projects on ravelry, if you have smaller feet, you might want to take out a row or two on the sole. The pattern is free, so give it a go!

One last thing before I sign off, I posted this picture on my instagram a couple weeks ago and mentioned I was thinking about selling some of my potholders. There's been interest, so I'm going to be doing it soon! I'll be listing them on bigcartel next month sometime, I need to pretty that place up first. I'll post here with the exact date soon!



Have a great weekend!

swap potholders

I did another small swap on ravelry. This one was a Thanksgiving Swap in the Vanna's Choice group, we were supposed to send 3 hotpads to our partner.


I made one of my favorite kinds of potholders using the granny mandala pattern. This one is my favorite out of the set, it was really hard to give up!


I made a hexagon potholder also, this is always a fun one to make. I think I need to start using a bigger hook though, this one turned out a little small. I've had emails a few times about how to put this kind of potholder together, so I took some pictures while I was making this one, I'll be posting it next week sometime!


My partner said she had a blue kitchen, so I made her a blue potholder, hopefully it works with her kitchen! I used the scalloped potholder pattern for this one but changed the edging, I made picots at the top of each fpdc. I really like how it worked out.


I also sent along a dishcloth to match the blue potholder, I sent the blue one that was supposed to go out for the Annual Dishcloth Swap. I managed to forget to actually mail the package, so I missed out on that fun.

ps: the 500 follower giveaway is coming up this weekend!

kitchen set swap

I can finally share what I was up to using these colors! I had a lot of fun crocheting this kitchen set, I used Bernat Handicrafter cottons in indigo, softly taupe, robin's egg and pale yellow. I wasn't entirely sure how well it would all work but I really like how it turned out in the end. I sent a potholder, dishcloth, scrubbie, dishtowel and a set of coasters.


I used the Stir Me Up potholder pattern. To edge it, I used a crab stitch, it's a pretty neat stitch, it was my first time using it.


For the towel I used this pattern, I added a few extra rows to make it a bit longer.


This Stitchy Scrubbie pattern is in Crochet Today magazine, I wanted to make it when I first spotted it, so I was glad for a good excuse to make it. I think it's super cute!


I decided to make a set of coasters using each color from the color scheme. I think it was a nice addition to the set!

I didn't take a solo picture of the dishcloth, I used a ripple stitch pattern from my Crochet Adorned book, nice and simple. I had a fun time putting together this set!

sharing at:
Today's Creative Blog

flower potholder

Lack of posting this week was due to my crappy computer but I've got a spiffy new one, so I can get to posting again! If I can get everything working properly again, I have crochet to share next week and something fun too!



I made this potholder way back in March but never shared it because it was to be a Pay It Forward gift. I sent this to Mandi. I've still got 2 more to get sent out and I'm working on those! Watch your mailboxes soon Michelle and Lovestitch!

I made this potholder using this great pattern on ravelry, Flower Potholders. I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in pilgrim peach and burgandy, I like the combo!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

2011 potholder swap received!

Yesterday I got some really great mail, my package from the 2011 Potholder Swap came in!


I got great potholders, I'm so glad I decided to join the swap this year.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day this year. My kids let me sleep in, then woke me up by jumping on me and screaming "Happy Mother's Day!" They were very excited about it.

I saw my mom the night before when we went to a Ladies Night, so I gave her a present then. This is what I made for her.


I used the Blooming Granny square pattern and backed it with a solid square. After I made the square, I wasn't so sure I was going to end up liking it. I didn't like it at all until I finished it, now I really like it! And my mom likes it too, so that's good. Also, I think I need a blooming granny potholder for my wall now too.

I used a size 4 hook and all cotton yarn to make it. The brown is Sugar'n Cream and the rest are Bernat cottons.

linked at:
Today's Creative Blog

a fanciful flower

I just finished this potholder yesterday, it's called Fanciful Flower Potholder. Claudia shares her free pattern right here. I wanted to make this potholder as soon as she posted her first pictures last year, I'm so glad she made the pattern free. It was fast to crochet, so fast, I might even make another today.

I added a vintage button to the center that used to be on this keychain. I like how it looks on this potholder. I'm trying to think of a good name for this one, but I'm no good at naming pieces. If you have any good ideas for names, please share!

For the most part I used my Bernat cottons, I used prairie pink, hot pink and burgandy. The brown is Sugar & Cream.

spring time mandala potholder (giveaway!)

** GIVEAWAY CLOSED **


It's been a long time coming but I finally have a giveaway for you! It's been quite some time since I've had one, probably well over a year. I've gotten a lot of new followers over the past year, it's been so great to chat with other crocheters and discover new blogs. I really like to read all the comments I get every time I post, I am really shocked every time someone new visits. So, finally I have a little thank you.

As you probably already know, if you've been visiting for awhile, I like (love) to make granny mandala potholders! I whipped one up to giveaway here on the blog.


I'm calling this one the 'spring time potholder', it feels very springy to me.

Want it? Leave me a comment on this post along with a way to get in touch with you if you win, no extra hoops to jump through. I'll randomly choose a winner on Monday, May 9th. This giveaway is open for anyone worldwide.

african flower potholder

I made this potholder not too long ago, I'm not sure how I've managed to not make one of these before. This pattern can be found at Alice's blog. It uses the fun african flower pattern, which you can find in the comments here and Alice's mandala pattern, which I love!
I went with purples and cream for this potholder, I really love how it turned out. It's hanging up with the rest of my potholders in my kitchen. (someday I will get a photo of them all together!)

March potholders

March is the last month for the potholder swap that I've been participating in all year on ravelry. I'm probably going to take a break from the swaps for a bit to focus on other projects that need to get done. Here are the potholders I made for the last member of the month.

This is the first potholder I've made using black. I like it and if I ever get more black cotton, I'll probably make more potholders with it. I used the super simple hexagon pattern to make this one, I love that pattern, it really is super simple!


The black is by Lily Sugar'n Cream. For the center I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton in cream and a variegated grey/white mix.

I also made a second potholder to send along as a surprise because she had said how much she liked the ones I made before. It's the Tried to Look Pretty potholder.


I used cream and a new color I spotted while shopping called mod blue. So far I've only found two "mod" colors, I hope I find more because I really like them. Both colors are Bernat Handicrafter cotton.

the 2011 potholders

First, I want to thank you all for all the sweet comments I've been receiving about the potholders for the 2011 swap! I had a request to show the backs of the potholders, so here they are;



The backs are just a simple circle, the stripe of color is what I joined the front to the back with. I've been making the backs a lot more simple lately, I used to mix up the color more but I like to look at the fronts more. I still like the way the backs turned out with these though. Simple is good.



Now they're all tagged and packed up to be sent out. I really liked putting the tags on these, I found them really cute. So cute, I barely wanted to pack them up!

Have a great weekend everyone! I will hopefully be resting and getting rid of sickness again.

2011 Potholder Swap

I finally got around to getting pictures of the potholders I made for the 2011 Potholder Swap. Of course I made some mandala potholders, they really are my favorite to make! I had a lot of fun putting colors together. There may be some duplicates made in the future!

blue:


yellow:


pink:


green:


purple:

I've seen a couple other people on ravelry making mandalas for the swap as well, I love to see all the different color combinations people come up with! I hope I end up with one of them when I get my potholders.

log cabin potholder

This is the potholder I made for February's MOM in my raverly swap group. I used this pattern to make it, it's the same pattern I used to make my stash buster blanket. It was perfect to use up some of the smaller bits of cotton left over from other potholders. For the edging I used a picot... yes, again.

I like how this one turned out, it was another one that was difficult to part with.

birthday potholders

It was my sister's birthday on Friday and she asked me to make her potholders as a present. So, I did. I made two vintage kitchen trivets from the book Crochet Adorned. I used lavender and mod green for the fronts and both backs are in pale yellow.

a few potholders

I have a couple potholders I can finally share now that they have been received. These are from the 12 month potholder swap on ravelry that I'm a part of.


This is the potholder I sent to January's MOM. I got the idea for this one from this potholder and I've seen a few floating around on flickr. It's a super easy one to make, just make 4 solid squares and stitch them together. I love the way this one turned out, the colors together are really nice.


This one is called Vintage Kitchen Trivet, it's from the book Crochet Adorned. This is another fun pattern, I love how the back color peeks through! I've already got plans to make one for myself soon. I made this as an extra to send to a swap partner who didn't receive all the potholders she was supposed on her month. I looked on her ravelry page before making this to figure out what colors to use and I ended up picking her two favorites! It was well received, it makes me very happy when I can make someone else's day.