Potholder tutorial

Hey there readers! I've got two pieces of big news: 1- I am finally going to do the much requested potholder tutorial, and 2- I met someone.

Let's start with #2, because that's more exciting for me. (I think we're far enough in that me talking about it isn't going to jinx it) His name is Adam, he's pretty much my age (so he's not the ogre-man from Granite City or the Cougar-bait from Swing Dance). Met him at Swing Dance and have hung out with him every night since Tuesday. It was so weird, just this instant connection and boom! It's great. Now I'm OCD checking my phone for texts (and they're actually there!) and last night I met some of his friends at his place, which wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I did break the ice with my killer-mojitos, but that's beside the point. Good guy, nice friends, and he's actually really cute. And sweet. And most importantly: he likes me back.

So: potholder tutorial. I appologize for the bad pictures, I just didn't really feel like taking my potholder of various stages of progress on a photo-shoot around campus. So you get my big fluffy blanket as a backdrop.

1. Get yourself some yarn. A 2 oz ball of dishcloth cotton will get you one big potholder, a 3 oz ball of dishcloth cotton will get you 2 smaller but totally functional set of 2. Which means they match. And I hear thats important for some people. You'll also need a crochet hook. When working with a rougher yarn like dishcloth cotton, I prefer working with metal hooks, the plastic ones break too easily. The hook I'm using is an I/9, 5.5 mm hook, but you might want to go smaller if you crochet loosely.

2. Chain 33-35, or desired length. Keep in mind that the chain will be across the diagonal and you potholder will not be enormous. I promise.

3. Single crochet into the second loop from the last chain. Single crochet your way across the top of the chain row, putting 3 single crochet stitches in to the last chain of the row. This will give you a nice round turn and set you up to crochet across the bottom of the chain row. These potholders are worked in the round.

4. Single crochet back across the bottom, doing 3 sc stitches in the last chain and then very tightly doing another single crochet or a slip stich to join up in to the round.

5. Single crochet in the round (don't do anything fancy, it's seriously just sc). Eventually you'll get a floppy pouch that looks something like this:

6. Fold your potholder so that it sort of looks like a wonton. When your sides touch, it's time to single crochet to what will soon be the new corner, and then add a couple more inches of very tight chain stitch for your loop.

7. After you've made your loop, it's time to do the tricky part: take the single crochet stitches on both sides of the loop and slip stitch them together very tightly. Keep single crocheting the opposite stitches together. It should look like this after a little while:

8. When you're all out of opposite stitches to slip stitch together, pull your yarn through and tie a nice little knot. Then cut your yarn a few inches out and then hide on the inside of the potholder with your crochet hook.9. Rinse and repeat. We've got a drawer full of these at home and my relatives routinely steal them when they come over. So for everyones X-mas presents, they're all getting potholders. So stop stealing mine!If you have any questions about the process of the potholders, let me know via the comments below the blog or emailing me at peaceloveyarn@aol.com, and I'll do my best to help you out. I'd also love to see your finished pictures! That sort of thing always makes my day!