Just small things...

Mid-late this week, I remembered I was signed up to host another weekly CAL on Our Happy CAL Place this upcoming week. Fortunately, about that same time I started feeling better from being knocked low earlier in the week.  So I got busy and was able to crochet two of these cute potholders:

The pattern leaves me a bit confused where it transitions to the ridged part, but once I figured out how to do it (by fudging), these were super easy to make.   I did have to fudge a bit in a couple of other areas, too (namely, I did away with the chain spaces in the white part of the flower square, and the edging required me to hdctog (make some half double crochet stitches together) occasionally in order to not have a ripply edge.  And I did have to steam and stretch it a bit to get the whole thing perfectly square, but once I did all that I thought the finished project was kinda cute.

Sounds like a lot of bother, huh?   It kinda was.  But they're kinda worth it.  Simply because it's an interesting design.  

Since I don't know how these will behave once washed, they are going straight into my potholder drawer and I'll enjoy using them this summer.  If they wash up nicely, I think these would make a fun gift.  Well, not these.  But I might like them enough to make up some gifts from the pattern.   We'll see...

That's truly all I managed to crochet since last weekend.  My mandala didn't get any love, so maybe next week...  

And I don't recall when I finished the Boxes Dishcloths pictured below, but I may have just forgotten about them last week as I know I haven't knitted since last weekend.   Once I started making them, it seems I couldn't stop until I'd made no fewer than four!

The first time I made these I found them challenging, but I really liked the texture and how they look.  This time when I made them I fell in love with the simplicity of the pattern.  I can't believe how when I made the first couple of these last year I had to refer back to the pattern for every single row and keep close track of which row I had just knit (or make note of where I had left off).  This time around, I quickly figured out how to read my knitting and I knew exactly the stitch pattern that each new row needed to be and I could lay it down mid-row and go back to it, even a day later, without any trouble.  Yay!  Progress!

To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry.

2018 Yarn Stash-Down:  21.29/100 Skeins

The Yop year is fast winding down.   Our new YOP year begins on July 1st and in that post we share our goals, lists, or whatever it is we use for planning our next Year's worth of Projects.  As for me, I'm a great list maker, but when it comes right down to it, for me hobbies and lists don't coexist well.  So my list is always very open-ended.  It's not a project list so much as it is an idea list.  And I'm thinking of how I might simplify it even more.  Make it even less of a list.  Hmmm... I wonder if I can YOP without a list?  I might have to try and see if I get kicked out.   That's the great thing about this YOP project, each participant can make it fit their personality and style.

If you have a blog and would like to participate, please do!  All of us are crocheters and/or knitters, but the projects we share go beyond those crafts.   It's very fun to see what other YOPpers are working on  - whether it's knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, cross stitching, painting, gardening...  It's all creative and inspiring.  You just need to be a member of Ravelry, join our group, and then join the fun!