Bad Crafts: Potholders

Potholders are perfectly useful in and of themselves. I mean, sure you can always just use a kitchen towel if you don't have a potholder. But a potholder is a nice thing to have.

The problem is that, as with so many crafts (like candles) the supply of handcrafted potholders exceeds the need for potholders by about 10,000%. Potholders don't really wear out, and they hardly ever get dirty. You never need more than two, maybe three potholders at a time. (One for each hand, and an extra just in case.)

I love the idea of having a big collection of fun potholders. I have quilting friends who turn out some pretty amazing ones in fun, beautiful fabric, with carefully hand-turned edges to match any décor. But let's be honest, there is only so much room in my kitchen. And I don't want to spend too much of it storing potholders.

Then you have the "ugly kid's craft" factor. I know that when I was a kid, I made a lot of fairly atrocious potholders on those square looms. Nothing says "I love you" like a pair of lumpy, mismatched potholders in neon colors, right?

The problem is, they are so darned fun to make. In fact, in researching this post I found that Harrisville Designs sells potholder loop kits with a lot of nice colors, perfect for adults who have a fully-developed concept of coordinating colors and setting up patterns. I would be lying if I didn't admit, I kind of want to make some now.

But what would I do with them? I don't know a single friend or family member who needs a new potholder. Everybody already has one!

The only way this could possibly work as a viable craft is if we all collectively decided that potholders were like friendship bracelets. The more you have, the more your friends love you. Display all your wacky mismatched potholders on the same hook and show off how many friends you have. Short of that? I'm afraid not.

Image courtesy Flickr/zen