potholder challenge

A quiet weekend around here.  Lots of cooking (a semi-successful risotto - tasted great, but the look, well, not so much), plus Chill Con Carne today.  Good soul-food to chase away the snow (more!) and lots and lots of time to finish my Potholders.  I need to send the Potholders to the States this week if I'm not make the deadline (27th March).  Time is slowly getting away from me, but I am now only 1/2 a potholder away from completion.  Here are some things that I've learned along the way; 

• The jury is still out about whether I like crochet or not
• I have trouble combining colours in more creative ways than shades of blue, shades of yellow/red, rainbow etc
• I'm definitely holding the hook wrong - my middle finger has permanent pins and needles on one side.  This is annoying and with the nerve growing back at 1mm a day I have about a month until it's better - Boo!
• I've seen some pictures of other people's and I'm really hoping there's a "beginner" section to the swap because mine seem woefully inadequate
• Cotton is awful to work with, especially in winter when you're hands are already dry

I have a whole collection of odds and ends of cotton now - perfect for a granny square pillow, or seomthin', but it's going to have to wait until I'm feeling the crochet mo-jo again!