No Talent Required Pot Holder Quilt
Remember the nylon potholders you could make on those little weavers? Well, I am making my children quilts out of those, using yard, of course. Not nylon :) Why? Because once upon a time I made my son a Disney's Cars quilt. I did all the geometry and sewed all the triangles and squares together and it took what felt like his entire toddlerhood. The he peed on it, I washed it, and now it is in tiny pieces. And I will just never do that again. . .
Also, being a successful small business owner, I cherish every moment I have with my children. So I wanted to be able to make something for them with them. My daughter is three and has yet to master the loom. But there is a past of this quilt she can do that she enjoys. My six year old son has mastered the loom and enjoys making the squares.
I have put together this tutorial since I have had to adjust the usual way of making the potholders so that we could make them out of yarn.
All you need is one of the potholder looms, a pair of scissors and a latch hook. The latchhook can be purchased separately from those latch hook kits. The loom is in the kids crafts section of any craft store.
First tie a knot around the upper left peg. Then wind the yard around the pegs until
you get to the lower right peg and it looks like this:
Then tie a knot around the upper left peg going in the opposite direction. create a loop and pull the yarn through the vertical yarn FIRST going over ONE then going under two and over two for the rest of the way across until you reach the opposite pegs. Make sure you alternate starting by
going under or over the first one with each new row.
Then wrap the loop around the peg on the opposite side (or right side).
Hold the yarn on the left and pull that row tight.
When you are on the last peg you are not going to go under two over two with a loop like the above rows. You are going to measure one length across with the yarn, cut and then weave under and over with just the end piece that you have cut.
When you get to the end, don't tie a knot around the last peg. Turn the loom and weave the remaining piece under and over until you've reached the end of the yarn.
Repeat this step with all the knotted corners. Remove the knotted corners, pull them tight, then weave under and over until the loose end is woven into the square.
Each side of the loom should have one empty peg.
To remove the square from the loom, you will start in one corner by removing one loop, put it around your thumb, take off the next loop and put the second loop through the first one around your thumb. Then, put the loop you are still holding between your fingers around your thumb, take the next available loop and stick it through the loop around your thumb. Take the loop between your fingers and put it around your thumb, grab the next available loop and put it through the loop around your thumb. Repeat until the square ahs been completely removed from the loom.
When you get to the last loop weave it through the very first loop you removed from the loom until it is tucked under and hidden.
The edges should look like this when it is removed from the loom.
THEN cut a GAZILLION 3" pieces of yarn.
Put two squares together and connect them with a latch hook. Put the latch hook through the farthest two loops on each square. Take a 3: piece of yarn and wrap it around the neck of the hook.
Wrap the 3" piece of yarn around the hook to the right, then fold it over the neck of the hook to the left so that the bottom part of the hook can close around the yard when you pull it down through the loops. Pull the hook down through the two loops and then pull the two yarn strings tight, if necessary.
Repeat the latch hooking until all the edges are connected. You can then trim the yarn ends from the latch hooked pieces, or you can leave them as they are. My daughter liked that they look like gummy worms, so she didn't want them trimmed. :)
We just started this project today. I will show you the finished product when we are done! Can't wait to show you!!
If you give this project a try, I'd love to see what you make!
