How to Craft a Pot Holder & a Kitchen Towel
Creating something out of virtually nothing using two sticks and a piece of string can seem like magic to non-crafters, but it's often as simple as learning how to knit. Knitting allows you to produce functional, quality items for your home which include pot holders and kitchen towels. Hotpads and dish towels allow beginning knitters to flex their creative muscles by creating quickly-finished items using basic stitches to form square shapes. More intrepid knitters can use these square items to try out new stitch patterns before committing to a larger project, like a scarf or sweater.
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Things You'll Need
- Wool yarn
- 6.5 mm knitting needles
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Tapestry needle
- Washing machine
- Jeans
- Dryer
- Cotton yarn
- 5.0 mm knitting needles
Instructions
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Potholders
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1
Select a 100-percent wool yarn in worsted or bulky weight. Wool yarn is self-extinguishing when set on fire. When removed from a source of heat, the fire extinguishes, making it an ideal fiber for potholders. Acrylic and synthetic fibers melt at high temperatures, potentially causing injury by fusing to your skin. Cotton yarn can catch fire at hot temperatures and remains on fire until extinguished by artificial means.
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2
Cast on 45 stitches on size US 10.5 or internationally sized 6.5 mm knitting needles. Leave a six-inch tail of yarn at the beginning of the cast-on edge.
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3
Knit one row. Turn your work at the end of the row. Knit another row.
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4
Knit back and forth until the piece measures approximately eight inches in length. Cast off in the method of your choice. Cut the yarn leaving a six-inch tail.
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5
Weave in any loose ends of yarn using a tapestry needle.
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6
Throw the potholder in your washing machine. Wash with hot water and detergent. Add a pair of jeans to increase the agitation in the machine.
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7
Dry the potholder on high heat. The agitation combined with the hot soapy water and the hot dry cycle causes the fibers to felt or mesh together, creating a denser finished fabric. The felting process shrinks the hot pad down to potholder size.
Kitchen Towel
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8
Select a worsted weight cotton yarn in the color of your choosing. Choose a non-mercerized cotton yarn to increase the absorbency of the towel.
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9
Cast on 60 stitches with size US 8 or internationally sized 5.0 mm knitting needles. Leave a six-inch loose tail of yarn at the cast-on edge.
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10
Knit one row. Turn your work at the end of the row. Knit the next row. Knit back and forth until the piece measures approximately 12 inches.
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11
Bind off all but four stitches. Continue working those four stitches by knitting each row until the strip of fabric measures four inches from the bound-off edge of the towel Bind off the last four stitches. Cut the yarn, leaving a six-inch tail.
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12
Sew the four-inch strip to the bound-off edge of the towel using the loose tail of yarn from the bound-off edge. This creates a loop you can use to hang the towel. Weave in the loose ends of yarn to secure them and keep the towel from unraveling.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit knitting image by Alison Bowden from Fotolia.com
