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This easy garter stitch hot pad knitting pattern would be a great first knitting project. It knits up quickly with bulky yarn and will be useful even if it doesn’t come out perfectly square.
Supplies
I used about 50 yards of an old ball of Peaches n Creme Double Worsted, a bulky weight cotton yarn that has been discontinued. A great alternative would be Premier Yarns Cotton Fair Bulky or any bulky 100 percent cotton yarn you can find. It’s good to use all cotton because acrylic can melt and wool can scorch under high heat.
You’ll also need a pair of size 11 US/7 mm knitting needles. Scissors and a yarn needle or crochet hook for weaving in ends are also helpful.
I added a loop for hanging to my garter stitch hot pad; if you want to do that you’ll also need a button that’s 1 inch/2.5 cm wide and sewing thread and needle.
Gauge
Gauge is not critical for the project, but you do want to have pretty firm stitches. I got 12 stitches and 22 rows per 4 inches/10 cm in garter stitch.
Size
The size of your hot pad will vary depending on your gauge, but mine is about 9.5 inches/24 cm square. The loop is almost 2 inches/5 cm wide and 5 inches/12.7 cm long.
How to Knit a Garter Stitch Hot Pad
Cast on 28 stitches.
Work in garter stitch — that’s knitting every stitch of every row — until your piece is square. Mine is about 9.5 inches/24 cm. One way to tell if your work is square without measuring it is to fold the cast on edge over diagonally to the needle. If it makes a full right angle triangle that covers the bottom layer, you’ve got a square.
If you don’t want to have a hanging loop, just bind off all stitches.
To make the loop, bind off until you have 5 stitches remaining (the one on the right handle needle you’ve been binding off with, plus 4 more on the left hand needle).
Knit across the 4 stitches, then work in garter stitch for 4 inches/10 cm. For me that was 22 rows.
On the next row, knit 2, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit 1.
You’ve just made a button hole.
Work in garter stitch another inch/2.5 cm.
Bind off remaining stitches. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
Position your button on the body of the hot pad where the loop can reach it. Sew the button on.
