Black Cat Hot Pad

This is the last of the mug rug patterns found in Spooktacular Crochet but I'm not sure I'm done with this pattern yet.

I've heard from several people about how they use mug rugs and I appreciate that but these have made wonderful hot pads by just adding a back layer to them and I'm seriously considering expanding my collection by finding additional holiday motifs and sticking with the basic mug rug pattern. I'll post if I proceed with this idea.

Whether you make these as mug rugs or add a back and create hot pads these are quick fun patterns to make. As I mentioned in the previous posts I was able to locate the cotton sport yarn for this pattern at Creative Yarns. I've not received any offers from the company, but as I've written before I am not a fan of having to play hunt for the yarn when I fall in love with a pattern. So if I can help someone else locate the yarn, I mention it when I can. I know have a nice selection of Halloween hot pads. Looking forward to making some additional holiday ones.

Frankenstein Hot Pad

I saw the mug rugs in Spooktacular Crochetand thought I don't have much use for a mug rug but they might possibly work as hot pads.

The first task was to locate the yarn. It is one of my constant frustrations with designers that they choose yarns that are less than easily found or substituted for with the colors you need.

Omega Sinfonia light a 3 sport weight 100% cotton yarn is not as easy to find as one would hope. It is important to use 100% cotton or natural yarns like wool if you intend to use the hot pads rather than just making them for decorations as acrylic will melt. That is why it is important to check the fiber make up of your cotton. I have some that are blends that are fine for dish cloths but not for hot pads because dish cloths aren't exposed to the same heat as hot pads.

I thank Creative Yarn Source as they were the ONLY place I was able to locate that had all the yarn colors I needed to complete the project. I had never done business with them before am getting nothing from them for stating this but I was impressed with the turn around of my order. While the website said there could be delays my yarn was here far quicker than I'd expected.

As for ordering the yarn the pattern called for one skein of each color to complete all three mug rugs. Normally I tend to order more than I need but I've ordered a good deal of yarn lately and this yarn is not inexpensive for a hot pad. With that in mind I decided to take my chances and see if I could pull together enough yarn to back the rugs to make them into hot pads.

I was rather impressed by how far the yarn went. To be certain I had enough yarn to complete all the projects I made all the pieces I needed from the orange for all three projects. I ended up remaking a couple so I had to use extra yarn. With that in mind despite making a full yarn mat from the left over orange I still had this much left over for future projects. I'm thrilled because orange is one of those sport yarn colors I often find myself in need of for fall holiday projects so having this in my stash is great. Most importantly though despite the fact I changed the pattern to add a backing for the hot pad I won't need to buy more yarn!

I'm planning on making the Black Cat and the Pumpkin Mug Rugs into Hot Pads soon.