Vintage Crochet Pic

So, are you digging that cool crochet hat I'm wearing? That is me, thanking my cousin for the doll she gave me on my 4th birthday. You may notice that my arm is broken and tucked up inside my dress. There is a vital lesson here. Don't jump on the sofa!

I am sure that the hat was made by my grandma as a gift to me. It's amazing how everything old is new again. That hat looks like something my daughter would wear (albeit in a different color!)

Of course, we should all take a moment to revere that orange/gold shag rug. It goes quite well with the orange ottoman in the background. And yes, there was a club chair that matched that.

I plan on photographing my grandmother's afghans soon and posting them here so that everyon can see the amazing works of art she created. I am so glad she shared that art with me.

ETA: In case you were wondering...1972!

Wanna Swap Potholders?

I have started a Potholder Swap on Ravelry. If you are not a member of Ravelry, you will need to join. (It's free.) Here's how it works.

(LINK to the swap)
This swap is for lovers of the crochet potholder. It requires either a 6 month or one year commitment, where members will crochet ONE potholder per month.
This swap will place you in a group of either 6 or 12 members. When a group has enough members, a “Featured Member” will be chosen for the month. Each member of the group will then crochet a potholder for the “Featured Member” and send it to them. The next moth, a different “Featured Member” will be selected and they will then be the lucky recipient of either 5 or 11 beautiful potholders.

This group will accept members year round and signups will proceed on a rolling basis. As soon as one group fills up, they will begin swapping and a new group will begin.

To sign up for the swap, please post in the “I Want Potholders” discussion thread within the group's forum.

This is going to be really fun! And, you have the opportunity to receive potholders from members all over the globe.

Potholder Treasure

I got my 5 potholders from the 2010 Potholder Swap on Ravelry. Wow! What beautiful works of art these lovelies are!

My heartfelt thanks to the ladies who poured their hearts into makiing gorgeous potholders and the admins who ran the swap. All that hard work is greatly appreciated!

Old Denim/ New Projects

These denim coasters are an "Earth Day" craft that I did for the Red River Family Magazine website. The tutorial is here. It's all about repurposing what you already have lying around the house.

And while the pouch on the RRFM site has just a button for decoration, I took this pouch a bit further and added fabric and trim to the flap using fabric glue. I already have a 12 year old eyeing it to carry around in her purse.

Using the back pockets of men's jeans, this is big enough to hold a cell phone, lip gloss, cash-- it might be good to carry hygiene items in your purse. The possibilities are endless! With pockets from women's or kids jeans, it would make a great coin purse.

Miss Butters Gets Her Crochet On

het,Last night I caught Buttercup snoozing with her head buried in 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match. I like to think she was dreaming of having opposable thumbs so that she could create some beautiful blocks.

Dishcloths: The Swap

I signed up to be in a Dishcloth Swap on Ravelry. My partner for the swap is a fan of purple, so here are the dishcoths I made in all their grape-y goodness!

This is the Open Ridge Dishcloth by Betsey Sennott. It's a quick crochet and works up nicely.

The other cloth was made using the Interlocking Shells stitch from the new book, The Harmony Guides: Basic Crochet Stitches: 250 Stitches to Crochet. I LOVE this book. So many cool stitches that I never even knew existed. This one is a little more time consuming to make because of the yarn changes, but worth it. I edged it by working single crochet all the way around, then a round of ch 3 sk 2 sc and slst into the 3rd sc. And, finally, I worked 5 dc in each ch 3 sp.

They are now ready to wing their way to Wendy in Australia. I hope she enjoys them!

These were made in Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton Solids, #250 Amethyst and #262 Mulberry.

Slipper Love!

I am so excited with how cute the Mary Jane slippers came out! The pattern called for an H hook, which was making them waaaayy to big. That may have had something to do with the cotton yarn. I used Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Hot Blue instead of the wool that the original pattern used, because seriously, who wants wool slippers in Oklahoma in the spring? Ugh! Anyhoo, I went down to a G hook and that seemed to be a better fit.

I found the adorable matching buttons at Jo-Ann for $1.25 each, so with the $1.89 skein of yarn, I made these for about $4.50. They weren't very time consuming, especially after you got past the crochet in the round part.

Zoe wanted to know who they were for. I told her whoever they fit. They actually fit both of us bigfoots (sz. 9-10) and I'm not sure how you would downsize them although a different yarn and hook size would definitely make a difference.