Sunbonnet Potholder - 2

After finishing the second row of the potholder, I thought to myself “This is way too large.” This is what happens when switching from one weight yarn to another without thinking. The pattern as written will work for size 5 pearl cotton. It does not work well for worsted weight cotton.

So, I frogged back (which is easy to do with crochet). With crochet, there is no need to worry about picking up stitches after frogging and, in fact, no need to undo the "cast on edge" (or, rather, the base chain) completely – as there would be in similar circumstances with knitting. I frogged all of the hdc sts plus 14 ch sts – to end up with the equivalent of

ch 22, skip 2, hdc 20, ch 2, turn

for the first row, instead of

ch 36, skip 2, hdc 34, ch 2, turn

as written for size 5 pearl cotton.

To complete the neck flap for the sunbonnet, the pattern states:

"2nd row. Decrease 1 st at beginning of row, ch 2, turn.
3rd Row. Decrease 1 st at end of row, ch 2, turn.
Repeat these 2 rows twice. Break thread. Always ch 2 to turn."

However, since I'm using a heavier yarn than called for, I'm only going to repeat the 2 rows once.

The first picture shows a decrease at the beginning of a row. From left to right, the first loop is from the last ch st, the second is the yo (in preparation for making a hdc), the third is a loop drawn through the last st from the previous row, the fourth is a loop drawn through the second to last st from the previous row. To finish the hdc2tog, yo and draw the yo through all the sts on the hook.

The next picture is a hdc2tog at the end of a row. Since the sunbonnet potholder is going to be edged, it doesn't matter that the directions say to ch 2 at the end of the last row in white.

However, if the sunbonnet were not going to be edged, one should attach the new thread as the last step of the last st. In this case, instead of completing the st with white, complete it by drawing the new color yarn through the loops and then ch 2 with the new color.

The second picture shows this. (The directions call for peach for the color for the bonnet. I'm using a variegated blue – since I had it left over and besides I like blue.)

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