Now that my WTF, Stripes? socks are done (more on that on Thursday), I needed a new project. I’ve got a few things brewing, but nothing quite ready to cast on yet. So I grabbed the kitchen cotton I got at the thrift store the other day and got ready to knit a potholder.
Several years back, I made a number of potholders using the beginning of knitty’s Kureyon Kozy pattern. They were double layered circles, knit in the round from the inside out, joined with a three needle bind off. Here are pictures of the only one I still have. Clearly, it’s been loved!
The color in the second pic is off–it’s really more of a light blue. Since it’s clearly on its last legs, I figured I’d make a couple more. I dug out the Kureyon Kozy pattern and cast on. I knit a handful of rows and decided it just wasn’t working for me. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get the cast on tight enough, and I didn’t like the way the increases (kfb) looked. I went back to the drawing board–ravelry. I searched for round patterns and stumbled across this Sunny Side Up placemat (free download on KnitPicks). That pattern calls for a circular cast on. I read through the directions but they made exactly zero sense to me. So, my good friend google came to the rescue. I searched for circular cast ons and found a handful of different ones, mostly variations on each other. I settled on the disappearing loop cast on and used this video to do it.
I got going. It took several tries, but I eventually came up with something I like a lot. The trick for me was to cast on and knit the first row or two on needles much smaller than I’m using for the rest of the project. Maybe that wouldn’t be necessary with a more slippery yarn, which would make it easier to pull the circle tight. But, with kitchen cotton, I couldn’t get it to snug up enough. So, I cast on with US2s and switched to US5s on the third round. It worked great!
I love that I’m always learning new knitting tricks!
alexand knits 
Cute. I love that color of yarn!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks!
LikeLike
Love the cloth, and that tip is great!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you 🙂 I always get so excited when I learn new knitting things!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a fun yarn. This seems like an interesting construction from the old one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! This one will be a little different, but along the same lines. So far, I really like how it’s turning out.
LikeLike
How do you make your increases? I don’t see anything obvious
LikeLiked by 1 person
For the first few rounds, the pattern calls for yo increases that get k tbl on the following round. Later rounds (not pictured here) the pattern simply says m1, but doesn’t specify how. I decided to do a lifted increase for those.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Make one is lifting the bar between the stitches below, then twisting it. I like the yarn over better because I can keep track of whether I am on an increase row or not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, yes. But there are two ways to do it, one that leans left and one that leans right. I wanted a less visible option. The lifted increase I did technically does lean, but less noticeably. Also, knitting kitchen cotton on US5s when you’re already a tight knitter makes it hard to twist stitches all the time, so the one I went with is faster and easier for me in this context.
LikeLiked by 1 person
isn’t the internet a great teacher? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Learning is a wonderful thing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a fun summer project! And I love handmade projects that will get daily use! I have dishcloths in my to make list, but pot holders is a great idea!
LikeLiked by 1 person