Unravel your old socks to make these fun recycled potholders. If you don’t have one of those mini-peg looms used to make potholders from cotton loops, ask your neighbor–or your grandson–or head to the junk store, where they’re a dime a dozen. New ones come with enough cotton loops to make only two potholders, rendering the loom obsolete unless you have a ready source of cotton loops. Well, you do: orphaned cotton socks, which most of us have more of than we care to admit. Slice them in crosscuts, starting at the top and working down to the heel. The instep yields lots of loops, too.
We bet you remember how it’s done, but here’s a quick recap:
1. Stretch the loops vertically across the loom on the pegs.
2. Use a crochet hook to weave the horizontal loops–alternating up and down–through the verticals, looping over the pegs at either side.
3. When you’re ready to finish the edge, pull one corner loop off its peg and stretch it over its neighbor, pulling the neighboring loop through. Work like this all the way around the loom; the last loop becomes the hanger.
