Monday Project - Crocheted Watermelon Potholder and Trivet

Oh my gosh!  I opened the newest Living magazine and found out my past is vintage!  These watermelon pot holders are some of the first crochet I can remember noticing - probably lower grade school aged.  Watermelon was always one of my favorite foods - it meant summer vacation in the days when it wasn't available pretty much year round!  When I began crocheting, I thought I was too "cool" for these old fashioned potholders and when I wasn't too cool any longer, I didn't like how my hands got burned using crocheted potholders.  Then two things happened a day apart - I picked up a remnant of Insul-Brite to try out and I opened up Living.  Hmm ... maybe I'd like crocheted potholders if they had insulating material in the middle.  Yup!  They work great!

There are lots of variations on this pattern available free on the internet.  I wanted a wavy edge with three colors and didn't find anything exactly like I was thinking of, so I just started crocheting.  It's a pretty simple pattern to adjust - just circles with a shell variation edging.

Materials:
*Lion Cotton Poppy Red (Color A)
*Sugar and Cream Aloe Vera (Color B)
*Lion Recycled Cotton Seagrass (Color C)
*Lion Cotton Black
size H crochet hook
large eye tapestry needle
Insul-Brite - or other insulating material (JoAnn's carries it by the yard)
pattern for piece of insulating material (found here)

1. With Color A, chain 5 and join to form a ring.  Chain 3 - this counts as your first double crochet (dc) throughout the pattern.  13 dc into the ring - total of 14.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch.

Row 1:  Chain 3, 2 dc in each stitch.  28 stitches total.
Row 2:  Chain 3, dc in the same stitch, 1 dc in next stitch.  *2dc in next stitch, 1 dc in following stitch.  Repeat from *.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch.  42 stitches total.
Row 3:  Chain 3, dc in the same stitch.  1 dc in each of the next two stitches.  *2 dc in the next stitch, 1 dc in each of the following two stitches.  Repeat from *.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch.  56 stitches total.
Row 4:  Chain 3, dc in the same stitch.  1 dc in each of the next three stitches.  *2 dc in the next stitch, 1 dc in each of the following three stitches.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch.  Repeat from *. 70 stitches total.
Row 5:  Chain 3, dc in the same stitch.  1 dc in each of the next four stitches.  *2dc in the next stitch, 1 dc in each of the following four stitches.  Repeat from *.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch.  84 stitches total.  Fasten off Color A. 

2.  Join Color B.  Chain 3, 1 dc in same stitch.  1 dc in each of the next 5 stitches.  *2 dc in the next stitch, 1 dc in each of the following 5 stitches.  Repeat from *.  Join to top of chain 3 with a slip stitch. Fasten off Color B.

3.  To add the seeds, work with one strand of black.  Insert needle from the back and take a short stitch directly above it.  Reinsert needle in the same spot you came up in before and go down just to the left of your first stitch.  Repeat, going down just to the right of your first stitch. 

Repeat randomly around Color A until you have the amount of seeds you want.

4.  Using the pattern found here, cut 1 piece of insulating fabric.  Turn your potholder over and place the fabric on the bottom half.

5.  Fold the top down and pin into place.

6.  Edging:
Join Color C at one edge.  Chain 1, 1 half double crochet (hdc) and 1 dc in first stitch.
Single crochet (sc) in the next stitch.
*1 hdc, 3 dc, 1 hdc in the next stitch.  1 sc in each of the next two stitches.
Repeat from * around until you have 2 stitches left.  1 dc and 1hdc in that stitch.  21 shells, not counting the beginning and ending partial shells. 

If you don't want your edging to be extra frilly, you can do what I did.  After the 7th and 14th shells, make a decrease - when you finish your shell, put your hook into the next stitch as if you're going to make the sc, but don't.  With the yarn still on your hook, put the hook into the following stitch and make a single crochet, pulling through all the loops on your hook.

Loop:
Sc in the last stitch.  Chain 8 and slip stitch to the sc you just made. 
Turn, chain 1 and put 14 sc into the loop.
Join to the base of the sc and fasten off.

The finished potholder ....

... and with a second potholder being put to work!

Trivet:
I thought a trivet would also be fun!  I didn't put insulating fabric between the layers of this, but you can if you want to.

1.  Make the front the same as you did for the potholder, stopping after you have the seeds on.
2.  Make a back using Color C, using the same instructions as for the front (minus the seeds!).
3.  Holding the two pieces together, attach the front to the back by crocheting through stitches on each piece.  The pattern I used is (1 hdc, 3dc, 1 hdc) in one stitch, 1 sc in each of the following two stitches.  Repeat this pattern all the way around, putting 2 sc in the last stitch.  Join to the bottom of the first hdc and finish off.

The yarn I used for the rind (Color C) was slightly smaller than the other two yarns - something I didn't think of until attaching the two pieces of the trivet.  So my back was smaller than my front.  I went ahead and joined it anyway and found out it works - a little wavy, but not hardly at all.  If you want your back to be the same size as your front is and you're using the yarn I used, you can switch to an I hook when making your back and then switch back to an H hook when joining the two pieces.

Happy Creating!  Deborah