Cloth Napkins

Knitted Place Mats
 
I decided to make some placemats to go with my cloth napkins I have made.  These placemats are so easy, I don’t know why I never thought of making then before.  I have made crocheted place mats before in an oval shape, and they never really laid  flat. I guess I didn’t do them very well and never tried again. But since knitting is a favorite hobby of mine, I decided to give it a shot.  I purchased some cotton yarn at Walmart in the thickest size I could find. It is called “Peaches and Cream” and is a 4ply, worsted weight, 100% cotton.  There were not a lot of colors to choose from, so I chose a yellow. I’m sure there are other brands out there, so just check around.
 
I started out with a size 10 needle and cast on seventy stitches. I then used a stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row), but you could use just plain knitting (garter stitch). I knitted until I reached 12 inches, and then bound off my stitches, *k2,and sl first stich over the second and repeat from* all the way across until the final stitch and tie off.
 
Because I did mine in the stockinette stitch, my edges curl. They can be pressed to lay flat, or you can not worry about that, or you can crochet around the edge, which will allow them to lay flat. All you have to do is to do a hdc (Half double crochet in each stitch around the edge with four hdc in each corner. They really take quite awhile to make, but they are easy, small to carry around with you, and something to do, and look very nice!

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.