Potholders (Not Dishcloths)

Some years ago, I made a set of dishcloths for my mother-in-law, on the occasion of her newly-remodeled kitchen.  I found out, a long time afterward, that she hasn't been using them as dishcloths, because she doesn't want to get them dirty, but as potholders instead.  Now, I've never been convinced of cotton's efficacy in keeping one's hands from getting burned, but I like my mother-in-law very much, and if she wants to use them as potholders, let her! say I.  But I decided I would just make her some that are thicker.  When I happened to see on the shelf at Jo-Ann's a cone of Lily Sugar 'n Cream in the reds/oranges/yellows she prefers over pretty much anything else, well, the time was right -- and so these are what I have been working on in odd moments over the last few months. 

Plain old Quaker stitch (though obviously not very "plain" in multicolored ombre!) --

Thickish, since the ribs pull the cloth in (especially as it shrinks in the laundry), but it still has some thin spots, of course.

Double knit with a garter stitch border, short-rowed every few rows per Elizabeth Zimmermann --

Better!

An experiment in double knitting with one side knit-side-out and the other purl-side-out, to see if the purl bumps will give it a little more "grip" when used as a potholder --

Very strange, working this stitch with one side inside-out!

Ribbed crochet following the admirably clear tutorial from Anneliese of Aesthetic Nest, with the idea of stitching two pieces together from Kathleen here --

 This one was an adventure, as I am not a good crocheter, so I made a few attempts at other stitches which didn't turn out good enough to give away (!), but the photos in this tutorial are very helpful, and the ribbed crochet gave good results even for me.  I made it a little longer than in the instructions, since I find that the cloths always shrink heighth-wise.  Stitching the two pieces together wasn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped but -- oh, well.  It is nevertheless quite the thickest of the lot so far.

Comments

[Mary Lou]

I'm with you on the cotton, but at least it won't melt. Early in my knitting career I made some potholders with Wintuk or some such thing. Not a big success...