Acrylic VS. Cotton

[brendaKbrown]

In my town we have a big boutique every year to benefit the hospital. I am a member of the auxilary that puts that on and this year I will be over the kitchen. We choose a home and put the owners up in a hotel for the two days we will be in their house and then we set up the boutique and people come and buy and ... So. this year I will be making crafts for and collect them for the kitchen. I have seen a lot of people making potholders out of acrylic yarn. Does it make a difference? I have always heard that you should use cotton because acrylic will burn. I could use any feed back possible!

[MadCityCrochet]

DON'T USE ACRYLIC! It will melt if used as a hot pad and does not protect hands from heat. Cotton and wool are the only two materials for the kitchen. I have used nylon plastic canvas yarn to make a put scrubber in the past, but that will obviously never be used near the stove/heat and should be fine. There are some great patterns out there for all things kitchen and a lot of them are free!

 

Have fun!

Sara

[Etrnlife]

My mother always used rug yarn for her pot holders. I use rug yarn to make handle covers for my cast iron skillets.

 

In 14 years I've only had two problems with acrylic yarn. Both times I set empty, firey hot pans on them. A burner was turned on under an empty pan and forgotten about. I didn't think and just put the pan straight onto my acrylic pot holder. Common sense took over quickly and I ripped (yes ripped) the potholder off. My cast aluminum pan still has the imprint of that pot holder years later. LOL

 

The other occasion was a cast iron skillet fresh from the oven onto my potholder. Again, I regained my senses and got the potholder off quickly.

 

For the most part any pan or dish that comes from the stove top or oven goes straight onto my crocheted fabric potholders. I still use the acrylic one that was stuck to the pan. The one side is an amber color now while the other is still brown. LOL

 

That said, both cotton and acrylic work fine. Just never set anything that hot on acrylic! ;O)

[Addey]

IMHO, while acrylic does work if you're careful with it, when selling to the mass public, cotton or wool is the much, much safter way to go. If we make it for ourselves, we know what fiber it is and what not to do with it... the general (especially non-crafting) public may not. Also, I can't see an acrylic dishrag being very usefull... but that's just me.

Cotton comes in so many interesting colors and yarns these days and wool is very abundant and felted potholders would probably be really cool.

[Sonny321]

I agree that cotton is the preferred material to work with when making potholders and dishcloths. However, I use up my small acrylic scraps making potholders and dishcloths for myself and my Mother in law. I've done it for years and years and years. I've only had one potholder melt and that was a tiny spot from where I dropped it directly on the red hot burner. In my experiance, acrylic holds up very well to heavy kitchen use. It's durable, holds it's color through countless washes, including being tossed in white the whites and bleach. While it's Not as absorbant when used to wipe up a counter, it's completely functional to wash the goop off a plate. And ANY material will burn if you aren't careful.

[unicorn37757]

About the only time I use anything but cotton for my potholders is when they are mainly only for decoration & not actual use. The cotton works really great when using for hot things, I usually make sure mine are doubled

[Debbi-a1]

I've made acrylic potholders for my aunt. I asked her this past year if they were fine, and she said yes. I asked because someone mentioned it here on crochetville that cotton is the only way to go. But she's fine with acryllic.

 

If you're going to use acryllic, I'd suggest adding a note so they know the fabric. Same with cotton. This way they know how to care for it also.

 

I would suggest cotton for dishclothes. Those hold up well. I gave a bunch at christmas and my aunt said she still had a bunch I gave her before (so we know what she won't be getting for Christmas this year:lol). I've never tried acryllic. Maybe acrylic would work good for pot scrubbers, that might be an idea. I haven't tried that. I've done the fabric to make the scrubbers, but those are hard to crochet with--well for me. If you want you could buy some scrubbers and crochet around them with cotton, I've saw patterns for that somewhere:think. Those look nice and have 2 uses in one.

 

Good luck.

Debbi

[TMKA]

I don't like acrylic for dischloths because I can't ever get them to absorb any water! Maybe that's just me. I can see it being OK on a decorative item or as an edging or something, but not so much as an actual dish cloth.

[kazily]

I've never understood non-heat resistant acrylic being used for a pot holder or to rest a hot pot on. Not just because the nice crochet could melt but because you could get the melted material on your skin by accident. Ouch!

 

Maybe if hanging it for decoration...but not for heat use. I would never make an acrylic one for someone else as a gift either. Not worth the risk of them getting burned & it being my fault for not using cotton. That is why potholders in the store come in thick cotton or come with heat resistant backing. To avoid a burn.

[purlwise]

Don't use acrylic! It can melt and could cause a serious burn oo the pot holder (as well as the potholder)!

[CyM]

Use cotton! It is much safer.

[fiddleyarn]

I've made acrylic potholders and haven't had a problem. I like cotton ones too. But try burning the end of a piece of cotton yarn in a candle flame. It flares up! I doesn't melt the way acrylic does. I guess the lesson is, be careful with hot pans! Alice