What's A Trivet? Hot Pad Grannie Square Style - May 2011

Both of these are the same hot pad (or, as I learned today, trivet).  Now sitting in my hot pad drawer, this one was an experiment in the middle of a looooonnnng drive across the country (yes, our South Carolina to Washington state drive).  Basically, with about 5 balls of yarn left I decided to make some experimental small projects and this is one of them.  Both sides were made separately and then joined together with a double stitch border.  Each side is 6 rounds of Grannie Square, then I used a double stitch to tie the two together.  I like this because it is a cheap way to acquire hot pads.  If you try this one yourself, though, be sure you are using a yarn that won't melt at extreme heats!

Useful Things - A Grannie Square Bag (2010-2011)

A Grannie Square Bag.  I do not remember when I started this bag for sure but I finished it a few months ago. Inside is lined with a teal cloth that was sewn together in pillow-case fashion and stitched with yarn around the top to hold it in place.  Additionally, it holds quite a bit of yarn and, while it has not been used for groceries, it is still incredibly useful for yarn working on road trips.  That's right, I used this bag to hold all the yarn I could fit into it so I could crochet while Justin drove when we moved across the country.  Some of the things I made from this bag while traveling include a "leftover yarn" pot holder of yellow, orange, green, blue, and maroon; a very small, red dishcloth; and quite a few Japanese flowers, some to finish up a project, others were simply because I had the yarn.