8.26.2008

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I sent those potholders off yesterday as part of a trade with knittydirtygirl, an old Etsy chat friend. They were the last ones. So ends an era.

I started making potholders years ago, when I was about 7. My mom used to make them when she was little and figured I would like to as well. Those are the woven kind, made on a square loom. We were buying loops to make them at a craft store/nursery. That closed but she wrote the address on the bag and we got the directly from the company. That was exciting.

I don't remember how or why, but I started selling them. I sold some to my mom and her friends. My grandmother acted as my broker to her friends in NYC. She would order a whole bunch and sell them for me. I think my biggest order was 10 sets. I would weave while watching TV, scrunching the loops down when they got tight. I had dreams of having a potholder-selling store, figuring out how I could sell a set to everyone in the world. Yeah, I didn't know how to dream small- I wanted world domination or bust.

I had a book of patterns. I named them, had style numbers and wrote down the colors I used, how many of each, the layout, if the laying was different from the weaving. I still have that book actually. The potholders above were made later and therefore aren't in the book.

I don't really remember why I stopped. I got involved with sports and after-school things and just didn't have time I guess. I picked it back up when I found Etsy. Surprisingly to me, they didn't sell as well as I would have liked.

So when I tell people that remember those days they smile and say, "I still have the potholders you made me. Do you still make them?" It warms my heart.

I was an entrepreneur of handmade things from the get-go. They were other things I made and sold along the way, popsicle stick frames, angel ornaments. Guess that explains why I can't give it up.

3 comments:

  1. Just wandered in from Problogger; very much enjoyed the story, but just wanted to know: there's no trace of what you learned making potholders in your everyday activity, besides the things you craft now?

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  2. when pot holders strike back.

    haha. i SO remember those looms and those loops.....you should make more, theyre sweet! i'd buy some!

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  3. oh, and what did you learn about making potholders? id like to know too :) did you learn that you felt better about protecting womens hands as they reached into the oven to grab that cookie sheet? or did you learn about the wonderful colors of the rainbow that mesh well together?

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