My mother asked for crocheted potholders for Christmas, and I thought since she likes bright colors (especially teal) that I would see about making her something peacock-ish. Well, I developed a pattern, which I like, but the result is leaving me cold. Since they are supposed to be for potholders I don’t want to use acrylic, and natural fibers are hard to find in sufficiently vivid colors. Anyway, I’m going to put up the pictures of the two arrangements I considered for the potholders and ask for suggestions. Perhaps if they were used individually as coasters it wouldn’t matter if some of the yarn was acrylic (actually, the blue yarn is 75% acrylic, 25% wool; the rest of them are 100% cotton), though you’d still want most of it to be natural, for absorbance.
Anyway, without further ado…
Edit: Since I posted the pattern in a comment, I thought I would post a cleaned-up version here that abides by my pattern conventions. I noted that the coasters tend to cup a little at the edge, and adding a few extra sc in the outermost round might be a good idea.
Second Edit (Oct 2013): I don’t know what happened here (except that I never intended this to be a shared pattern and was therefore not careful), and have fixed the myriad pattern errors that became apparent to me on re-reading. I’ve also created a name-your-price pdf version for the store, which includes photos of round by round progress and where to attach the new yarns. If you like this pattern, would you consider supporting me with a dollar or more via that pdf?
Other notes:
Recall that my pattern conventions include using 2sc for “sc twice in next st” and sc 5 for “sc once in each of next 5 sts.”
The top teardrop that belongs to a stitch is slightly to its right for a right-hander, and slightly to its left for a left-hander.
“Bottom” means when the coaster is oriented so the purple round forms a heart.
The sl st at the end of any non-purple round may be replaced with a needle join.
My notes say I made these with an F hook (3.75mm), but nowadays I would need an E hook (3.5mm), if not smaller, to have this tension.
Purple:
Form magic ring, ch 2; dc 10 in ring, ch 2, sl st into ring.
Cut yarn and pull end through last st; pass cut end through magic ring to back of piece.
Tighten ring most of the way but leave space for another stitch.
Teal 1:
Make sl kn and place on hk.
Insert hk into 7th purple dc, sl st, and ch 1.
Starting in the same st, *sc, 2sc* twice, sc into first ch of final purple ch-2, dc into magic ring, sc into second ch of starting purple ch-2, *2sc, sc* twice, 2sc twice.
Keep yarn attached!
As soon as you have made the dc you can finish tightening the magic ring and FO the purple yarn; I would do so before beginning the bronze yarn.
Teal 2:
Partial round (3 sts of Teal 1 will be unused).
Sl st into starting teal ch.
Starting in next st, 2sc, sc 2, 2sc, 2sc, sc 5, 2sc, 2sc, sc 2, 2sc, sl st.
Cut yarn and FO.
Between dc, sc, and sl st, you should have 26 sts around.
Bronze 1:
Place sl kn on hk; sl st to attach in last teal sc.
Starting in final teal sl st, sc 5, 2sc, [hdc, dc] in next st, *dc, 2dc* twice, dc 2, *2dc, dc* twice, [dc, hdc] in next st, sc 4.
Final sc will be in same st as joining sl st.
Keep yarn attached!
Bronze 2:
Partial round.
Starting in first bronze sc (sk the joining sl st), sl st, 2sc, [hdc, dc] in next st, [dc, hdc] in next st, 2sc, sl st.
Cut yarn and FO.
Counting the sl st, you should have 37 sts around.
Yellow:
Place sl kn on hk; sl st to attach in bronze st just to the right of the bottommost point of the bronze rnd (to the left if you are left-handed).
Ch 1.
Starting in same st, sc, 2sc, sc 2, *2sc, sc 4* six times, 2sc, sc 2. Sl st in first sc; cut yarn and FO.
You should have 45 sts around.
Green:
Place sl kn on hk; sl st to join in the center of any straight side [if you want specificity, start counting with the bottommost yellow st and join in the 9th st in the direction you work (left for righties, right for lefties)].
Ch 1.
Starting in the same st, *sc 4, 2sc, sc 2, 2sc, sc 2, 2sc, sc 4* three times.
Sl st and FO.