Pink Potholders and Dishcloths

Sweet pink potholders and dishcloths add a dash of fairy-tale whimsy to your kitchen. Made with 100% cotton worsted-weight yarn, these handy helpers are as practical as they are pretty—potholders are made with a doubled strand of yarn for thick protection for your hands. Decorations, details and dishcloths are made with single strand. These make wonderful housewarming and shower gifts.

Size: 6-9” across

Skill level: Intermediate

Materials:
When making potholders, consider yarn choices carefully for safety. The safest potholders are made from 100% cotton with stitches close enough together so there are no holes through which to burn fingers. Acrylic yarn, which can melt under high heat, is theoretically fine for potholders that will be hung on the wall or otherwise displayed, or for potholders that will be used as hot mats instead of for removing hot pans from an oven. However, as potholders get passed along for years after they are made (at least in our family), you can never be sure that a potholder you make for display will not be used at some point in the future. To be safe, I recommend 100% cotton yarn.
When designing these potholders, I decided to go for double thickness and double safety. I used a doubled strand of 100% cotton yarn for the base of each potholder. The yarn I chose is CottonTots by Bernat, which comes in a lot of cheery colors and is traditionally used for making items for babies and children. I love its softness, loft and wavy texture. Each 100g/3.5 oz ball has about 156m/176 yds.
Any of these designs can be made with any 100% cotton worsted-weight yarn, since CottonTots is actually a weight-category 4 yarn, the same size as worsted-weight. Gauge is not critical.