This week's project is finishing Space CART, my help_haiti commission, and working on pot holders for Etsy.  Once Space CART's done I'm going to send it with some picture books that Kristen doesn't want for Kirkspock.  (What's really depressing is that when this kid is actually born and has a real name, I'm going to have a hell of a time not calling him Kirkspock)

As you can see, I've made so much progress on Space CART that it should be ready by the time Young Master Carter heads off to college.

More on my help_haiti commission once I actually get it started.  I've gotten a fairly detailed request and sent a scan of the pattern I made this afternoon.

Let me tell you, internet, red pencil on graph paper does not make for a nice looking scan.  Especially when it's nothing but backstitched letters.

With the pot holders, I have a conundrum: I'm going to cross stitch a design on them, then felt them.  What the hell do I do about the backs?

Here's an example.  This is the back of a Special Valentine Present for My Special Valentine, Kendra.

This particular pot holder isn't being felted--the white yarn is Lion Wool-Ease, so it'll presumably hold up to the fierce wilderness of the dryer.  Well, it would, except the red yarn is Paton's Wool and will shrink.

As I learned from my Trekkie But Not Up To Trekker Standards Pot Holder, do not add any backstitch before felting.  It shrivels up, looks like crap, and members of your family shame you adding a Command catch phrase to a Science colored pot holder.  Which means that crocheting two squares, crocheting them together, and then felting the whole thing isn't really a viable option (and sounds like a potential mold farm anyway).

 

For personal use--and impulse gifts to my brother-in-law--I don't really give a crap about the back.  And I could probably trim this down a bit, but it's never going to be as nice as the front.  Which is why it's the back.

On the other hand, I didn't buy these.  If you bought something like this, how important would the back be to you?