What kind of yarn to use to make dish clothes and pot holders?

How-to Questions
1

I’m a beginner knitter and want to make easy pot holders and dish clothes. What kind of yarn should I use? I assume one that washes nicely?

2

I use 100% cotton, some like acrylic for dish cloths but I like mine to absorb well. But for pot holders don’t use acrylic, use cotton or wool, acrylic can melt with heat.

3

I use Bernat Handicrafter cotton for my dishcloths. I’ve also used cotton with a small amount of acrylic, and it was fine. A lot of people really like the Lily Sugar and Creme, but I find the Bernat is more readily available to me. Walmart or Michael’s has a good selection of cotton yarns.

4

I like Peaches and Creme for dishcloths, and double-stranded wool for pot-holders.

5

I have acrylic potholders and they don’t melt (unless I leave one on a hot burner). It would take temperatures much hotter than the average pot handle or baking dish out of the oven for them to melt. But I wouldn’t use it for dish cloths, cotton is much better for that.

6

I’ve also used acrylic for potholders but always cotton for dishcloths. Whereas the cottons easily fade with lots of washing/drying, not a problem with the acrylics so the potholders stay looking nicer, longer.

cam

7

I use the Peaches N Cream cotton – they are readily available to me for about $1.25 a ball/skein. My mom calls it “kitchen cotton” and I’ve never used another kind because I wasn’t sure what made it “kitchen” vs regular cotton. :rofl:

8

Hi!

Thanks for that answer! I just came from the yarnshop where I bought some really beautiful cotton-acrylic-mix yarn that I planned to use for making potholders. Just when I came home it occured to me that acrylic fibers might not stand the heat and my loved new yarn might not be the perfect choice at all… :???: After reading this thread I am so happy, happy, happy :happydance:

9

Although with careful use, acrylic won’t melt, it doesn’t hold heat. So it really doesn’t protect anything on the other side of the hot pan. Both cotton and wool do absorb the heat thus protecting the hand or the table top.

Acrylic will melt and cause worse burns if it comes in contact with the skin, while although cotton and wool will burn, it’s really rather hard to burn the up without continuous application of a heat source, IOW, they need to be in the flame. Once removed, cotton may slowly extinguish itself, and wool generally always does. That’s why cooks helpers, in the times when cooking was done on an open fire, wore wool aprons. The sparks would land on the wool and then die out. Lots of little holes on the aprons, but very little chance of the made burning up.:teehee:

10

I use Peaches and Creme as well. It’s available at Wal-Mart for next to nothing. I have also went to Jo-Ann’s and used their version of the same yarn because it has a lot of colors. Also, I used an organic version of this same yarn at Jo-Ann’s and it felt so nice and rich. Still 100% cotton and durable, but just stepped it up a notch. If you’re looking for lots of different colors, you can go to the Peaches & Creme website. Their shipping is really high, but it comes super FAST!

11

I got my Peaches & Cream from their website a few months ago. I bought three colors and just went ahead with the big cone. That goes a long way! I need new needles, though. My straight needles are all Boye. They’re fine for wool but cotton on them is just torturous!