Trivet

I’m embracing my vegetable (and fruit) appreciation of late, because why not? If you know me, you might be aware of my secret joy of fruit and vegetable crockery. There’s something rather quaint about them, and maybe to others, a bit odd. As a child, I always thought it strange that people collected ‘Pretty Ugly Pottery’ (company name, not just my opinion), but I like to think food items are a bit more neutral by comparison.

Earlier in the year I crocheted a trivet in the shape of a fried egg, except it’s intended use was to protect the inside of the pan from scratches when stored with other pots stacked on top, this was a birthday gift for a family member. I found that when I followed the original free pattern, my egg looked too uniform and more like a flower. A fried egg tends to be slightly asymmetrical, or just a splat shape so I wanted to recreate that look. This involved a lot of winging it around the edges and I didn’t write down what I did. I don’t mind this, sometimes one has to embrace the fleeting nature of things. But in general, always take notes! You’ll be thankful later on.

^{Above: first trivet with a little asymmetry.}

^{Above: second trivet with increased asymmetry.}

A few months later, I came across this apple trivet pattern whilst looking for small projects to use up leftover bits of yarn. I had just enough, but had to a make some adjustments to the finished size. It came out pretty well and is nice and functional.

Both trivets took an evening to make, but because I kept making silly mistakes and had to adjust the pattern to work within my means, the apple took much longer. The yarn I used was Paintbox aran weight cotton, and feels soft yet robust.

The patterns are from the DROPS Design archive. After being pleasantly surprised by how they came out, I had another search on their website for any other fruit or vegetable items and came across a pear trivet and a kiwi that I quite like the look of. As it was initially an exercise in using up leftover yarn, I’ll hold off making them just yet, and instead add it to my extremely long spreadsheet of things I’d like to have a go at making. There are a good few (non fruit and veg) trivet/potholder designs on their website, varying in skill and complexity. They would make good projects for beginners, or those wanting something small to work on.