Finished!! Potholder Swap 2010!

Finished!!  My potholders for the Potholder Swap 2010! are finally done, crocheted, ends woven in, wet blocked, and pictures taken, they’re ready to be packed up and mailed of to Massachusetts to be sorted and sent to their destinations around the country, or world.  Last year of the five potholders I received, two were from Europe!  I’ve been following the progress of the participates on both the Flickr group and the Ravelry group and have been impressed by all the patterns chosen and the color choices everyone has been making.  The Swap has also been a wonderful way for those that are new to crocheting.  I learned when I was in the 6th grade and made a matching lime green vest and tam (I wish I could find them and post a picture of them because they’re just day-glow bright), but I crochet only occasionally — knitting is my main addiction.  These round little projects have been so much fun to make and I believe that I’m going to have to make a couple of these colorways for myself.

Just as with knitting, the crochet potholders didn’t feel completely done until they were wet blocked.  I’m a firm believer in wet blocking — totally immersing the knit or crocheted fabric in water until it is thoroughly saturated, gently squeezing out any excess water, then laying it flat to dry, pinning if necessary to shape it correctly.  The picot edging had a tendency to curl up and the loop at the top wanted to twist a bit, so every picot, plus the loop was pinned in place while the potholder was wet.  Because it’s been raining here for days, I set up two fans to help with the drying (you can see the black fan in the upper right corner).  To me, spraying my crocheting or knitting with water only slightly affects the outer fibers and blocking with a steam iron only flattens the fibers like a pancake with no loft to the fibers.  Wet blocking gives a more finished look — things look “hand-made” not “home-made” — there’s an enormous difference.

So here’s the lowdown — I used the pattern called “Snail Shell” on page 158 from the book “Crochet Stitch Motifs” .  I used a size C crochet hook and Tahki Cotton Classic yarn.  Since I had a lot of crochet to do and was going to be using a fairly small hook, I decided to try Clover’s Soft Touch crochet hooks and am totally sold on them.  The body of the hook is plastic with an added rubbery cushion where your thumb rest, which is great because I have a tendency to clench my hook like a fiend!  FYI — I found mine on E-bay as a set of six for around $25, including shipping.

I’ll post the potholders I receive in return as soon as I get them!  I can’t wait!!!