Crochet Folded Potholders

I remember, when I was a little girl, my grandmother always had an assortment of crochet potholders that she kept on top of the refrigerator.  I can still remember them in my mind – there was a pink and black one, a green and yellow one, the folded star one; all thick and beautifully crocheted, probably by my great-grandmothers.

It’s almost an embarrassment considering how much I crochet that I was still using store-bought potholders and trivets.  I mean these things take like an hour or two to make, yet somehow all the ones I had made were donated or borrowed and never returned or whatever.  So when this came up next in my queue, similar to the ones that my grandmother used to have, I thought I’d make a nice set that would be just for me!

These were *so* fun to make.  I always get that little “aha!” moment when the folding works out just so and it all comes together.  A set of three, all in the same colors – this was my first time using Bernat Handicrafter, and the results were nice.  I’m not a huge fan of crocheting with cotton.  It’s thick and rough on my fingers.  But the colors here were so wonderful – avocado green!  Paprika!  Reminiscent of Nana’s kitchen and also coordinating nicely with mine.

After making these, I thought I’d try them out with a nice breakfast for my kids.  I baked them some corn muffins and then thought I’d throw some bacon in the oven, too.  Now I’m a vegetarian, and I have been for almost 20 years, but my kids eat meat.  So I am not that experienced when it comes to cooking meat things and the bacon was no exception – I’ve always fried it up in a skillet and never baked it in the oven.  Thinking that it would go a lot smoother and with a lot less effort on my part, I threw the bacon in.  A few minutes later, the stove started smoking.  I ran over to pull the pan out of the oven, and ended up tipping the grease onto the heating element, starting a small fire.  Fortunately, it went out quickly and the bacon was saved.  And the potholders worked splendidly.  A happy ending all around.