Birthday Potholders 3.0

Hey girls,

it's that time of the year again: tomorrow's my Mom's Birthday! If you've been following my blog for a little longer, you know that I especially like crocheting things for my Mom, and in the past two years I've been giving her potholders for her birthday (as an extra to the main present, of course). So I thought, why not make it a tradition? And there was this potholder pattern I wanted to try anyway...  Here's what I've made:

These are so-called "Tried to look pretty potholders" by Karoline Lovald (there's a link to the free pattern on Ravelry). I like the name, and I like the style - and I think they do look pretty! :)

That's it for today, I wish you all a lovely week-end - oh: and if you like Granny Squares (making them, showing them, looking at them...) then please check out the new Theme-Party over at The Crochet Boulevard!

See you all soon,

Birthday Potholders

Exactly one year ago I've written a blog-post with the same title as today, Birthday Potholders. It's my Mom's birthday again, and I've made a new pair of potholders for her:

Do you like the colors? Okay, me neither :) But at least the colors fit into my Mom's kitchen from the 1970s, and this time the potholders are definitely not meant for decorating the walls, but indeed for using them. My Mom really liked them and she was quite surprised, because she thought she'd only get the blouse that I've bought for her when we were birthday-shopping last week-end.

The potholders are made with the same pattern I've used for my own potholders a few weeks ago. The original pattern can be found on Tintin luomukset.

And now I hop over to The Crochet Boulevard to share my link. It's Free Topic Friday again - wanna come over and link your crochet, too?

Have a great week-end!

 

A New Pair of Potholders

Actually the headline of this blog-post should be "I've actually made something I've pinned on Pinterest" :) Sometimes I think, that the more ideas I pin to my crochet-board, the less likely it is, that I really make anything - you probably know what I mean. However, I knew that it was different when I've pinned those gorgeous potholders a while ago: I fell in love with this unique pattern immediately and they went right to the top of my to-do-at-once-list.

You can find the english version of the free pattern on Tintin luomukset (a finnish blog), and also check out the pattern page on Ravelry and find pictures of more potholders by other Ravelry members in the projects-section. Thank you Tintti for sharing this amazing pattern!!

It took a while until I had figured out how to work the backside with the contrasting yarn, but after I had completed the first row and knew how it was done, it was all easy-peasy. This was definitely not the last pair of potholders I've made with this pattern (especially since my Mom has already inspected my stash and suggested some color-combos that would fit into her kitchen).

And now from potholders to pillows: the current collection at The Crochet Boulevard is still open for you to share your crochet pillows with us, and there's still plenty of time to vote for the next topic. You'd rather like to share something else that you've crocheted lately? No problem, there'll be another Free Topic Link-party next week-end, don't miss that!

Thanks for your visit in k-town today,
have a great week everyone!

 

Gifts for the Girls

Thank God it's Friday!! :)

Another working week has gone by, Germany has won the quarter-final match against Greece just a few minutes ago, and is now in the semi-finals of the Euro Cup. Our next match will either be against England or Italy, so in any case it'll be a tough battle. The match will be on Thursday night, which is really a pity, because right then we'll be sitting in the plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, and I don't think that they have live television on board. Maybe I'll wear my fanshirt during the flight, that's the least I can do for our boys :)

It's really not long until our vacations now, but don't worry, this isn't the farewell-post yet. What I wanted to show you today are the gifts I've made for John's Mom and his sister:

Some weeks ago, I've asked for your opinion whether I should make little crochet gifts for them or not, and most of you said I should. I think/hope that they'll appreciate the handmade gift, even if they're not much into crochet (which I'm not sure about, maybe they'll love it?)

So, here's what I made for John's Mom:

I've made two of those little potholder dresses that I had already made for my Mom on Mother's Day. Here are a few more pictures (I've discovered a new software, PhotoScape, and I love making those gorgeous mosaics with just a few clicks):

The crucial thing about these dresses is to pick the right button :)

For John's sister I've made a crochet covered stone:

I don't think that she's the type to collect handmade potholders or dishcloths, so I've picked this decorative item. I still think that crochet stones are quite unusual and unique, and you don't have to be a crochet maniac to love those stones.

I wanted this stone to be one of my best stones ever and so I've put a lot of time and effort in it, doing and re-doing the closing net lots of time until I liked the result. For the center motif I've used the starburst hotpad pattern, which I had already used for one of my stones before. It takes some time to make it and to weave in all those ends (it's made of five separate pieces that have to be joined), but I think it's worth the effort. I've attached the tiniest little flower button to the middle and really love how it turned out!

I'll let you know how the girls liked the gifts!

There are still a few more motifs for the Challenge that I want to post before I leave, and maybe some of you would like to join us on our vacation, so I will post the link to our travel diary next time.

Have a great week-end everybody!

 

Giveaway Winner and a Second Chance!

Thank you all for participating in my Blogiversary-Giveaway! And - we have a winner! The one who was closest to the length of the flower garland (the giveaway prize) was Sam Findlay with her guess of 280cm! Congratulations, Sam!! (I'll be writing you an e-mail, soon!)

Now you might want to know the real length of the garland, but I can't tell you... yet! Because - everyone who has played along in this game (and hasn't won yet) will have another chance for a second guess (and another prize of course)! Let's have a look at the player list:

Susana, Soleil, laydilyke, Crystal Rose Cottage, Angel, Debi Y., Connie, Hazel, Angela, Madeleine, Kepanie, Gill, tintocktap, Gladys Perfeito, MWitch3, Diana, isaquarel, Sandra and annemarie - you're all welcome to enter a second guess! Let me give you some hints: Sam was closest with 280cm (110.2"), but she's been a little bit above the real length. The next closest guess was made by Susana with 250cm (98.4"), and this guess was below the real length (and farther away than Sam's guess). Now let's see if someone can guess the right length now. Be quick, because this second chance will end in 24 hours, at 1pm CET tomorrow!

Would you like to see the (sur)prize for the second chance? Here it is:

 

Since I've figured out that pattern, I just can't stop making those little potholder dresses (there are three more you haven't seen yet). So, the one of you ladies in the player list above who enters the correct length first (or is closest in 24 hours from now) will win this little blue-ish/off-white dress - although I suggest you use it as a decoration rather than a potholder (I haven't tried its heat-protection yet).

Good Luck!!!!!

 

An Old Pattern and a New Dress

Hey Good Lookin', how are you today?

It's Mother's Day in Germany, and apart from the fact that my Mom is one of my most favorite persons in the world, she's definitely the most favorite person to give my crochet things to. Why? Because nevermind how critical I am with my stuff, she loves everything I crochet. This is my Mother's Day gift for her:

It's a set of two crochet potholders shaped as dresses. This is my "remake" of my Mom's old kitchen decoration. When my parents got married more than 40 years ago, an old friend of the family made the original dresses for my Mom (the yellow and brown ones in the picture below).

Those dresses had been hanging in my Mom's kitchen until last year, when she removed them to make room for the potholders I've made for her birthday. She gave the dresses to me, just in case I'd like to figure out the pattern and make my own.

Over the past few months I've been examining the dresses now and then, but I just couldn't figure out the pattern for the upper part and I had no clue were to start with this dress and how to make the transition from the upper part to the skirt. I've found some free patterns on the internet for crocheted dress potholders, but they weren't exactly the same ones, and somehow I was determined to make right these or no dresses at all. Last week my Mother's-Day-alarm-clock began to ring louder, so I sat down and just gave it a try. Another lesson learned: it's easier to figure out a pattern if you use your hook as well, and not just the eyes :).

I'm not sure if I've got the pattern completely right, but it's close enough I guess. For the colors I've picked off-white and green, because green is the dominating color in my Mom's kitchen, and after I've finished the first dress, I've remembered that I've got just the perfect wooden heart-shaped buttons to complete the dresses. I love them!! And I hope my Mom does, too (and of course she does, I know! *gg*)

Now let me ask you something (and I'm not fishing for compliments here): do you think I should make dresses like these for John's Mom, too? As you might know, we'll be visiting John's family in June, and I'd really like to bring something for his Mom and sister, but I'm not sure how people feel about crocheted gifts (or handmade gifts in general). What if they fake a smile, say thank you and hide the stuff in the depths of an old spare room drawer as soon as I'm back on the plane? That's what I meant above, when I said that my Mom is my favorite person to give crochet things to, I just know she loves it, but I'm not sure about John's Mom and sister. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions? Do you understand my worries? I think you might, because I'm quite sure I've read similar thoughts elsewhere in blogland, too.

Before I leave you for today, let me remind you of our current stripy link-party - and in my right side bar I've already started the next poll with some new topics (thank you Debi for your suggestions!). Of course you can choose multiple answers as usual.

To all the mothers and other great ladies out there: Have a lovely Sunday!

 

More Flower Potholders

Remember the potholders I've made for my Mom's birthday in September? She really liked them a lot, so a few days ago, she asked me if I could make two more. No, wait - actually she asked me if I've "coincidentally" got two new potholders lying around. Err... no :) (does anyone of you?)

Next week-end my parents will go to Austria for a little pre-Christmas vacation (they've started this two years ago), and my Mom would like to bring some little gifts, like my potholders, for their friends down there.

I used Jennifer Martin's Flower Potholders pattern again and a thicker cotton yarn this time:

I had exactly these four colors of thick cotton yarn, and maybe they wouldn't have been my no.1 choices if I had a whole range of colors to choose from, but now I think they've turned out quite pretty. I like the blue-ish one, in Germany the color's called "Petrol", but I don't know what it is called in English, the dictionary is no help here ;) Somehow I seem to be drawn to this color, because right now I'm knitting (!) a scarf in a similar shade - I hope I can finish it this week-end :)

For more Christmas Inspiration, please visit my Christmas Crochet link-party

Birthday Potholders

I know, I know - potholders for your Mom's birthday, how uninspired is that? But don't worry, I've got something else for her. I've bought her a gift certificate from her favorite clothing store, because she told me she wanted to buy some new stuff for the coming fall.

Unfortunately I remembered too late that something handmade would be nice, my Mom's very fond of everything I've crocheted recently. Her birthday is tomorrow, so I needed something quick and easy that looked nice, and potholders were the first thing that popped up in my mind. I think it's okay, because my Mom has always liked crocheted potholders (I've never seen non-crocheted ones in her kitchen) - and she really uses them, they're not just a nice wall decoration! :)

Anyway, on Saturday I've searched on ravelry for free patterns and found Jennifer Martin's Flower Potholders. Isn't it a lovely pattern? It was so easy to make, although I worried a little that the backsides might look ugly, but actually they don't.

Here's the pink one with a blue backside:

... and here's the green one with a violet backside:

I had to adjust the pattern a little, because as usual I was working with a thinner yarn and had to add some rounds to get the right size. I think I might use this pattern again, I really like them and I'm sure my Mom will, too.

Hope to see you soon, I'm really looking forward to my next post (because I already know what it's about) :)