Grandma G's Crocheted Hot Pads

Hubby's Grandma G was a wonderful woman. She lived on a farm and could live on practically nothing. She was an inspiration to me!

She was the one who taught this 'city girl' how to crochet and the first thing she taught me to make was hot pads. I have never seen this pattern anywhere else. It is a thick hot pad that uses a single crochet stitch. The other patterns that I've seen are a single thickness, but then doubled in some way to make the pad thick enough. This hot pad is thick from the third row. Once you are done, you are done. No extra stitching.

The pattern was simple to make once I got the hang of it. I've never written the pattern down, but I'm going to give it a try in this post.

Always used 100% cotton for these. I didn't follow Grandma's advice once and the hot pad melted. Take my advice--always use 100% cotton! I like to use the Sugar 'n' Cream yarn. It holds up well and comes in 1 pound cones, but you can also buy smaller amounts in 2 ounce balls. It takes one ball to make about two hot pads.

The stitch itself is what is important, not how big the hot pad is. I chain 26 stitches to start. I use a J sized hook.

Row 1: Starting 1 chain from the hook and crocheting through the back loop ONLY, single crochet in each stitch to the end of the row. Chain 1, turn.

Row 2: Starting in the ORIGINAL ROW single crochet in the other loop to the end of the row. Chain 1, turn

Row 3: *Starting with the closest row, put the hook through the loop nearest the center of the 3 rows, then out through the loop on the bottom. You will have 3 loops on the hook. Treat the two loops nearest the hook as a single loop. Do a single crochet.* Repeat between * to the end of the row. Chain 1, turn.