One evening, while I was spending the night with Nana, I asked her if she had any crochet patterns. She said she did and pulled out about 5-8 leaflets. I find it funny that she owned pattern books because she never learned to read crochet patterns. After re-reading some of them now I can see why she had problems. However, she could look at something and re-create it perfectly. So, I guess it was really only the picture she was wanting.

I had only made a couple of granny squares by this time and was already bored with that. I had lofty ideas of making cool crochet items like Nana made. I selected a potholder pattern. Nana wasn’t sure about me tackling it because it was made with crochet thread. It would be much harder for me to handle than the worsted weight yarn I had been using for the granny squares. Nana helped me get started though and I soon began crocheting. She instructed me as to which part of the chain stitch I was to crochet into. It was not the easy top loop I was working. It proved to be very difficult distinguishing the correct part. I was soon discouraged because it was taking so long. I wasn’t very quick and my stitches looked a little wonky. I was dismayed even further whenever I read I had to repeat a row about 10 times and the next row said to repeat for several more rows.

However, I was about three-fourths of the way through and Nana hadn’t ripped it out so far. That was a good sign. I knew I must be getting better. I was beaming as I showed her that I was almost finished. But when Nana pointed out that I had to make two identical ones to crochet together I was done.

At this discouraging news, I put the work down in my lap. That did it for me. It sounded like it would take forever. You have to remember though, that I was only about nine years old. I wanted a finished potholder to show my parents whenever they came to pick me up the next day. Nana encouraged me to keep going and told me I was doing a great job. Her constant encouragement helped me to continue on. I didn’t want to disappoint her. I wanted to show her that I could do it.

I didn’t give up. I also didn’t finish it before I went home the next day. My mom still has that finished potholder. You can definitely tell it was my first crochet thread project. But pride and perseverance is contained in every stitch.

The lesson I took away from that time with Nana was to remember how far a little encouragement can go. It may be just the push someone needs to not give up on their task or even on their life.

The pattern below isn’t exactly like the one I made when I stayed with my Nana, but I believe I saw it in one of her leaflets. I’ve rewritten the directions to make them easier to read than they were before. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Kettle Potholder Pattern

Materials Required:

• #10 crochet cotton–155 yds white
• #10 crochet cotton–35 yds red
• embroidery cotton (six strands)–3 yds black
• steel crochet hook number 7
• 1″ cabone ring
• embroidery needle

Puff Stitch Edging: Hdc but don’t pull through the three loops left on hook. Insert hook into same stitch and do another hdc. This time pull through all 6 loops remaining on hook. One Puff Stitch completed. 

Make two:

Row 1–With white, ch 37, sc in second ch from hook and in next 35 chains. Turn.  (36)

Row 2—Ch 3, 2 dc in first stitch, dc in next 34 stitches, 2 dc in last sc. (38)

3rd Row—Ch 3, 2 dc in first stitch,  dc in next 36 stitches, with 2 dc in last stitch. Turn. (40)

4-13 Rows: Repeat 3rd row 10 more times.

14th to 17th Rows: Dc in each stitch across. Turn (40)

18th to 28th Rows: Dc2tog, dc across. Turn. 

29th Row: Ch 1,sc2tog, sc in next stitch, hdc in next 3 stitches,34 dc across to last 6 dc, hdc in next 3 stitches, sc in next stitch, then sc2tog.

Working down side of the kettle, 3 sc in same stitch, 2 sc in end of each dc row. 3 sc in corner stitch. Across lower edge, working  over entire st, 3 sc in corner. Up opposite side, 2 sc in end of each dc row, 3 sc in corner stitch, sc in each st across top. Sl st in first stitch in beginning corner. Fasten off. 

With Red, join with sc. Sc around. Fasten off.  

EDGING:

With Red, holding both pieces together, right sides facing out, join with sl stitch and crochet the two pieces together. Ch 3, *puff stitch * repeat from * all around, break thread.

HANDLES :

 With White, ch 32 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sc across. Attach Red and work 1 sc in each stitch, ch 2, turn and work a row of puff stitches same as on kettle, Fasten off.

With Red, work an outline st for lid, starting at about the 5th row from top and working down to about the 8th row, then back to 5th at opposite side, then over the outline st work 1 row of sc, fasten off.

Work sc over a small cabone ring and attach to top of lid with three sl stitches. Embroider face as illustrated.