A Study of Opposites

My two current projects.


Knitting a lace scarf with lace weight yarn, size 3 needles, nupps and charts to follow. Crocheting a simple potholder with worsted weight cotton, size G hook and no pattern necessary.

Got to love them both!

I finally did it...

Thanks to my mom, I finally learned how to crochet.

I've been knitting for over 5 years and I love it. In general, I had no desire to crochet. Except when I saw crocheted potholders...then I had the urge to crochet. It all stems back to my great grandmother Ruthie. She crocheted potholders and they are the best potholders I have ever used. They are simple, nothing fancy potholders but they really work. I have two that I inherited from my grandmother about 10 years ago and they are abused, but I've never found anything that works as well. Potholders crocheted by Grandmother Ruthie

Anyway, my mom decided she wanted to make some potholders like the ones Grandmother Ruthie made. We tried to teach ourselves, but my results were less than stellar. For her birthday, my brother and I gave my mom a gift certificate to her local yarn shop (or shoppee) so she could learn to crochet. While I was in Virginia, my mom taught me. And I now have three potholders to prove it!


The blue one is my first and it is definitely not perfect; I'm keeping it for myself. The two green ones are "a set" I made for my sister-in-law. They aren't perfect either, but they are better.
Pattern: Pumpkin Pie Potholder by Cylinda Mathews (modified)
Yarn: Patons Grace (1.75 oz/ 50g/ 100% mercerized cotton) With the striping, I think I can get at least 3 (maybe 4 or 5) potholders using one skein each of two different colors.
Hook: Size E
Modifications: Did rounds 1-4 as written with Color A. For Round 5, I changed to Color B. For Round 5, I repeated the directions for Round 4 (1 dc, 1dc, 2dc). For Round 6 (also in Color B), I did 1 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc, 2 dc. For Round 7, I switched back to Color A and did 1 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc, 2 dc. I made two circles (one with a 14 chain hanging loop) and then crocheted the two together with wrong sides facing.

Crochet on Hold

So I was told by the designer of the potholder I was trying to crochet that it doesn't look like I'm doing it right. And looking at the pictures, I don't think I'm doing it right either. Not sure what I'm doing wrong so I'm going to try to talk to a few friends in the neighborhood who crochet and figure it out. Oh well. I guess I can't just teach myself how to do everything. Will keep you posted when I figure it out.

It's growing...

So after two painstaking hours, my crocheted potholder has grown to this:


It's not love at first project, but I'm finally getting a little bit of rhythm to my crocheting. That's definitely one of the things I love about knitting is the relaxing repetitive rhythm of the stitches. I think it will be good to know how to crochet, but I don't yet see it becoming the new love of my craft life. This potholder will definitely NOT be perfect, but hopefully it will keep my hands safe. In time, maybe I can make my great grandmother Ruthie proud. She made some mean potholders that we all still love and use to this day.

Little Knitterly Updates

I'm wearing and enjoying my two latest knits, the Berry and Bramble Cardigan and the Owls Sweater.

I wove the belt through several of the "loops" made by the berry and bramble pattern and am enjoying my cardigan much more. It's less fiddly this way.


I've managed to wear the Owls sweater multiple times despite the fact that it's hit 70 twice. I am still deciding whether or not I want to put buttons on this one. I think I do because I thought they were so adorable on the one in the pattern. However, I don't want the buttons to draw too much attention. I found some olive green 1/4" buttons at JoAnn's that are kind of cute. This is what they look like:

I like how the olive blends nicely with the colors of the yarn. I don't love how thick and flat these buttons are. I am worried that the 1/4" size may be a bit small. I found two other options on online that I like. They are both a tiny bit larger (3/8"). The first option is a beige button that is light in the middle and darker brown at the edge. Even though my sweater is gray, it's a very warm charcoal grey and I think these might look nice. I think they also look eye-like. The second option is a black button with a fish-eye shape in the middle. I think the black will blend more with the dark charcoal yarn. Not sure how I feel about the shine.

In other knitting news, I started J's sweater. I'm calling it the School Bus Sweater since that's what the yarn color reminds me of. I'm adapting the pattern so I can knit it in the round instead of in pieces. I will let you know how that goes. So far so good!


And, this weekend while my mom was here, we decided to try and learn how to crochet. My great grandmother used to crochet these awesome potholders that we all love. My mom and I found this pattern that looks very close so I tried to teach myself. This is what I have so far.


The stitches make sense to me, but I'm confused by the pattern. Will keep trying because I really need a new craft in my life :).