Ever since making the Harry Potter Pillow, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for the bobble stitch. I love the texture it adds to a project, and it seems like there are endless possibilities! I’ve also been recently drawn to the colorful options of Lily’s Sugar’n Cream 100% cotton yarn whenever I visit Joann’s, so when I finally gave in and bought some, it seemed like the match was made for me. The bobble stitch works well for hot pads, as it adds extra bulk to protect your hand or table from the heat of the pots and pans. I have been primarily using mine as pretty hot pads to set hot dishes on, but they have also worked well as pot holders when grabbing things from the oven.

For the two hot pads, I picked color variations with different lengths between color changes to see how the color would work up, and I was not disappointed in either of them. The two colors I chose were Sunkissed in the Ombre and Country in the Stripes. The Ombre balls are 3 oz and the Stripes are 2oz, so while I used the entire ball of each color, the hot pads ended up different sizes. With both colors, I used a 4.5mm (US 7) hook.

To complete this project, you will need to know the following stitches: sl knot and ch, sc, bobble stitch

If you would prefer a written explanation to the video, I will explain the bobble stitch below.
You can see from the photos that I have made my hot pad two different sizes, and they are easily customizable. If you would like to make a different size, make your chain an odd number that is one more than double the number of bobbles you would like. Mine have 15 bobbles across, so multiply by two and add one is a starting chain of 31. You can then also customize the height based on the number of rows you complete.

When making the this project, you will work in alternating rows of bobbles and sc. When working the bobble rows, they will appear on the back of your work. A bobble consists of five partial double crochets in one stitch.

To make a bobble stitch, you will yarn over, insert the hook through the sc from the row before, yarn over again, and pull back through. This will leave three loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through two of these loops. Repeat this for a total of five times, and you will have six loops on your hook. Yarn over, and pull through all six loops. To tie down your bobble, sc in the next stitch. This is one bobble stitch.

To begin, sl knot, ch 31, making sure not to make the chain too tight

Row 1: skip first chain, then sc in each stitch (30 total), ch 3 and turn

*Row 2: the ch 3 will count as your first dc of the bobble, so for the first bobble stitch only, you will repeat to have five loops on your hook before yarning over and pulling through the loops. Sc in the next stitch. (bobble stitch in the next stitch, then sc in the following stitch) repeat 14 times, until you have 15 bobbles and are at the end of the row. Ch 1 and turn

Row 3: sc in each stitch from previous round, being careful to get the scs and the top of the bobble stitches (30 total – I count at the end of each row to confirm, because the stitches are so easy to miss), ch 3 and turn*

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have the desired number of rows of bobbles. For Sunkissed, I had 15. For Country, I had 11. Tie off and weave in your two ends.

I love the way the colors worked up for both the ombre and the stripes, but I did not love that I needed to block them. As you can see in the above photo of the hot pads on the blocking boards, one ended up with wavy edges, and the other with angled sides. While they may have been fine unblocked, the square/rectangular nature of them looks cleaner once blocked. For blocking cotton yarn, see my related post with more photos and instructions.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a pretty way to handle and display some pumpkin pie!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This pattern was designed by me and is intended for your personal use. I have provided it for free on my blog, and the selling of this pattern is strictly prohibited. If you are interested in selling completed items based off this pattern, please notify me and credit me as the designer.