Catching Up

Of course there has been crafting going on:

This was inspired by this post on Laughing Purple Goldfish. Just a warning to those who get dishcloths from me: you may be getting ones like this this year. I am also working on a rug for the craft room and/or kitchen based on this design, too. This on is all in cotton yarns, the rug will be in double strands of acrylic yarns.

I have also been working on the Crochet a Granny Square a Day 'til the End of May project. These are some more I have done:

and

and

There are more but I am not so good about taking the pictures in a timely way, and I will have to sort out which are still waiting for their close-ups.
I have decided that I will border them in an off-white yarn before I join them together. Perhaps they will be a poncho, or a shrug or a bag or two. Their final destiny is still up in the air. They are getting quicker to make as I have learned the pattern and overcome my own difficulties with it. For instance, I now know that the center should not be tightened until I have finished row 2. The first two stitches of row 2 are much easier that way.

I have also been working on some swaps for swap-bot. These are for the Striped ATC swap:

and these are for a handmade zentangle postcard swap:

We were allowed to do something beyond a plain black and white tangle, if we wanted. I tried coloring these according to the recipients' color preferences in their profiles. It makes me nervous to send these out. Did I get the size and weight right? I back them with plain paper after I'm done to write the address on. Will that stay stuck on? Always happy when I get the ratings for handmade postcards. Well, for anything, but especially those.
The picture is a bit fuzzy. Sigh.

Postcard Swap

This is a postcard I drew for a swap on swap-bot. It is a companion swap to one they did a couple of weeks ago with a Valentine's day theme. I forgot to take a picture, but it included a large heart and it called for using pink and/or red in addition to the traditional black and white.


The rules for this postcard said that it had to use only black and white and that it was for March. Since I had just finished the Valentine's one it seemed reasonable to make this one with a shamrock for St. Patrick's day. As a rule I really like the plain black and white, but after adding pink to the other I had an urge to use green for this one, but I followed the rules.
The funny thing is that just by random chance in assigning partners, this one is going to the same person who got the other one. Hope she likes it.