Crocheted Cotton Pot Holder, Trivet or Hot Pad

Just the other day I mentioned that I was trying to figure out just how big I could make the Tunisian Short Row dishcloth so that I could use up most of one ball of cotton, but not run short at the end. Now I don't think I need to worry about that! I have found a super fun, and practical, use for the leftovers!

One of the many websites I follow, and one that I thoroughly enjoy browsing often, is Purple and Paisley. I love the name of Terri's website and all the different and creative things that she does and shares. Today she shared a link to a pattern for a crocheted cotton hot pad and she showed some pictures of the one she had made. I was intrigued by it, so of course I had to click on the link and read the pattern. You can find the link to the pattern by visiting Purple and Paisley. I discovered that my leftovers from all the different dishcloths I had already made would be perfect to use for this little project. So I gathered them up and got to work. This is what I made...


You can see that I had just the tiniest bit of each yarn left when I finished this pattern. Isn't it pretty in three variegated yarns? Terri did hers in one variegated for the square and a solid for the two ovals.


Making this project took me just shy of an hour and a half, just sitting at the kitchen table and working through the pattern while my children played and had a snack and my big kindergarten boy read to me from his little Letter People booklets. What a fun project this was to make! The pattern, which is copyrighted by Kimberly Langlois and available as a free PDF download, was very well written and easy to follow, even for a beginner. She even provides pictures showing how to assemble the parts once they are crocheted.

I love anything that resembles a Celtic knot, having done my fair share of embroidered Celtic designs, and that is just what this pattern reminded me of. You can see here how thick and solid this hot pad is when finished.

This design would look great in one color to coordinate with your table or kitchen. As you can see from Terri's finished project, it also looks great with one variegated and one solid. Mine is done using three variegated yarns as a project to use up my leftovers. So there are many options for working this pattern, only limited by what you have available and your imagination and creativity. Why don't you give it a try?

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

A Little Something for St. Patrick's Day

With a name like mine, I cannot allow the great feast of St. Patrick on March 17th to come and go without offering a little something green to the crocheting world. Here is another chart pattern for a Tunisian Crochet dishcloth or washcloth in the shape of ...

a shamrock, of course!

This cloth pictured here was crocheted by my daughter Elizabeth just the other day and it is her very first Tunisian Crochet project. Considering her only lesson was about 20 seconds in length, I would say she did a pretty good job. I neglected to inform her that there is a special way to finish a block of Tunisian Crochet by binding off the stitches, so you can see at the top before the border rows where the stitches were not finished off properly. Still, I think the cloth turned out nicely and the 4 rounds of single crochet into the back loops is a fitting border for a pattern like this. The ridge that it makes mimics the vertical bars of the Tunisian Crochet in the body of the cloth.


I love how the Tunisian Purl Stitches rise up above the background to form the design.


These charts could also be used to make blocks in worsted or sport weight yarn. The blocks could then be crocheted or sewn together to form a blanket or afghan. Any type of design chart could be used for this as long as the block size is consistent.

Now you have about a week to stock up on green cotton and stitch up a few of these lucky Irish cloths for all your favorite leprechauns so you can trade them for a pot of gold on St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Irish Counted Cross Stitch

During our annual shopping trip to Keepsake Needlearts and sister stores Keepsake Quilting and Patternworks in Center Harbor, New Hampshire this past summer, my older daughter Elizabeth purchased her first ever grown-up cross stitch kit. Not too long ago, she decided she would get to work on it but she wasn't sure if she needed to do anything special before starting the actual stitching. This was, after all, her very first real cross stitch project. She had done one when she was quite young from a kit that was made for children and didn't really require any prep work, but this was the Real Thing.

So I told her what my Auntie had told me so many years ago when she got me hooked on counted cross stitch back in the late 70s...oh my, saying that out loud makes me suddenly feel OLD! Anyway, I told her how she should baste lines on her fabric for the horizontal and vertical middles, and then using a different color baste the lines to match the 10-square grid on the chart. I explained to her that this was necessary so that she could be sure that she was on track with her stitching from the beginning and not find out later that she was off by one or two stitches here and there. She didn't think that sounded like too much fun.

I was proud of her though, because she did it, and she whip stitched around the entire piece of fabric to keep it from unraveling. This is what it looked like:


She used black thread for the middle lines and blue for the 10 square marks. She also marked with a pen the TF at the top, to indicate the Top Front of the fabric.


A good portion of this piece is words, and you can see the guidelines she basted going through them. She admitted later that this was a tremendous help in making sure she was stitching in the right place.


This is my favorite part of the piece...a cozy little country cottage on a nice sunny day. Her stitches were very even and all the top stitches went in the same direction. Very nice.


And this is the finished (so far) project with the basting threads still in the fabric. I neglected to tell her that those should be removed before stitching over them so they wouldn't pull her embroidery floss when they are removed. But she'll be very careful removing them. She wouldn't want to ruin all that hard work. I think she really enjoyed doing this piece and will have it framed when finances permit. This will be a nice keepsake for her to take with her when she moves out into the big world.

Good job Elizabeth!

Don't forget to enter my fall giveaway by October 14th for a chance to win a very nice pincushion bag and other fall goodies. Good luck!

Happy Stitching!

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com

Great Book of Celtic Patterns

Since seeing my recent articles about Irish Step Dancing Embroidery, and working on her own Celtic cross stitch piece, my daughter has become quite excited about doing some more Celtic embroidery of her own. She is at that age where she is thinking about a day in the not too distant future when she leaves home and makes a home for herself somewhere else. Naturally she wants nice things to bring along so she is busy designing and stitching and thinking about all sorts of wonderful domestic type things.

She was looking for some interesting Celtic knot patterns to use for pillow case embroidery or wallhanging embroidery, and she came upon a book by Lora S. Irish (interesting last name!) called Great Book of Celtic Patterns. In it are dozens of original designs of Celtic knots, lines, finials, corners, Viking animals, religious symbols, fantasy, circles, squares and motifs. She also includes a fascinating history of Celtic knots and lines, a section on layout ideas and line enhancements.

Each section includes clear pictures and many variations of each design. The author takes a simple twist or braid design and shows how it can be made to look like branches with leaves, a rope, a stencil or several lines from thick to thin and so many other variations. She renders some of the patterns in color with lots of interesting details such as birds nests or tendrils.

She shows how the designs can be used on notecards, frames, a chessboard and other creative uses. She even has a whole section on plotting and graphing knots so you can take a knot you like and really make it your own using graph paper, colored pencils and an eraser.

The book itself is paperback, but substantial with each page thick and glossy. I would recommend it to anyone looking for some new and interesting Celtic designs for embroidery or any other kind of artwork. Elizabeth has already traced many designs from the book and has wonderful ideas of how she wants to use them. I'll share them with you once they become a reality!

You can click on the button below to take a look inside the book on Amazon and see some of the beautiful Celtic designs.

Click here to return to HookedOnNeedles.com