An easy craft, which also makes a great gift, is pot holders. I've been using crocheted pot holders since I was a child, and in my experience, they are a lot better than the store bought ones. Not only do they last longer (in fact, I don't think my family has every worn out a pair), but they are also better at protecting against the heat.
Before we get to the pattern, I want to add a warning. If you make your own pot holders, only use natural fibres (cotton works great!). Synthetic fibres can melt from the heat, and you do not want molten plastic on your hands.
With that out of the way, let's talk size. Usually, I tell you exactly how many stitches and rows, but not this time. That is because you don't need a certain number of stitches and rows, but instead, you want the pot holders to be a certain size.
The best way to figure out how many stitches you'll need is to read the label on the yarn. There is usually information about how many stitches will give you 10 cm or 4 inches in width. Use that to calculate how many stitches you need.
I made these pot holders 15x15 cm, or 6x6 inches. However, a quick search gave me several options that were 20x20 cm or 8x8 inches. The small ones suit me, but choose your preferred size.
As for number of rows, I find that the same number of stitches wide and number of rows long will give a perfect square (but that can depend on needle size etc). For example, these pot holders are 30 stitches wide and 30 rows long.
Pattern
As mentioned, you may need a different number of stitches and rows that I did, depending on the yarn you use (I used an 8/8 cotton yarn, with crochet needle size 4 mm) and how big you want the pot holders to be.
Also, I wanted an uneven number of stripes for the pattern (2 rows per stripe), so depending on the pattern you want, adapt the number of stitches and rows.
Lastly, remember that there are two front sides. As much as you may want a fancier pattern than stripes, you will be limited to patterns that don't have an ugly backside.
Alright, to the instructions.
The pot holder
Row 0: Chain 31 stitches. The last stitch counts as your turning stitch.
Row 1-30: 30 single crochet stitches. Make a turning stitch before every new row.
Don't cut off the yarn you want for the border, but cut off all other yarns and weave in the ends.
Border
Take up the yarn for the border where ever it is, it doesn't matter where you start. Pick your favourite side of the pot holder (if you want) and crochet from this side. You will now crochet 1 single crochet stitch in every row and stitch (as in 30 per side - except for the loop [see below]) along the outside of the entire pot holder.
For round corners, make 1 stitch in each side of the corner. For sharper corners, increase the number of stitches. For example, instead of 1 stitch before and after, make 2 or 3 on each side of the corner.
End the border with a slip stitch and weave in the end.
Loop for hanging
Incorporate the loop into the border. Place it where you want it, but I made mine by skipping the last 2 stitches before a corner, making 6 chain stitches, and then picking up again on the other side of the corner.
Design
As for the stripes, I made 2 rows per colour. If you want the same colour pattern as in the images, start and end with a stripe of colour 1 and make the border with colour 2.
As there is a border, you don't need to cut of the yarn for every change. Instead, you can loop the yarn along the outside of the square (see image below). The only thing to remember is to make sure there is a little bit of slack to the loops, or else that side will be pulled shorter than the other three.
And there you have it! All that's left is to make the other one for a matching pair.
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