Fish Potholder
Copyright - 2007 - designed by Cindy Cave
Disclaimer: This is my own original pattern. This fish was created by me for the enjoyment of another friend that wanted a fish potholder because we couldn’t locate one we liked on the internet. Any resemblance to anyone else’s crocheted creation or creations is completely accidental. This pattern is free for your own personal use, but not to be used for sale or in any Commercial manner. This potholder has only been tested by myself and a couple of friends, Cristina and Maha, so if you find errors, please feel free to let me know. Warning: Not responsible for variations in crocheting, yarns, needle size, or gauge of another crocheter.
Finished size using G Hook: 8 ¾” x 7”
* Orange, black, and white, or colors of your choice of 100 % cotton yarn (I used Sugar n’ Cream yarn by Lily)
* Tapestry needle
* F or G Hook, or hook size needed to obtain size of your choice (I started out using F, and decided I should have tried a larger hook, I next used G and liked that size better.
Gauge: I have to confess, I only usually go by gauge only on garments, but for those that want do it, my gauge on the size G hook came out to 4 sc = 1”.
Basic Stitches:
Ch, sl st, sc, dc, tr.
Head, Body and tail (make 2):
**Row 1: Starting with orange and beginning at head, ch 2, 3 sc in second ch from hook, turn. (3 sc made).
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in first st, 2 sc in next st, sc in last st, turn. (4)
Rows 3 – 7: Ch 1, 2 sc in first st, sc in each st across with 2 sc in last st, turn. At end of last row (14 sts).
Row 8: Join black, ch1, sc in first st, sc in ea st across.
Row 9: Join white, repeat row 3. (16).
Row 10: Repeat row 9 (18).
Row 11: Ch 1, sc in ea st across, turn.
Row 12: Repeat row 3. (20).
Row 13: Ch 1, sc in ea st across, turn.
Row 14: Join black, repeat row 8.
Rows 15 – 19: Join orange, ch 1, sc in each st across, turn.
Row 20: Join black, repeat row 8.
Rows 21 – 23: Join white, ch 1, sc in ea st across, turn.
Rows 24 – 25: Ch 1, sc first 2 sts tog, sc in each st across to last 2 sts, sc last 2 sts tog, turn. (18 – 16).
Row 26: Join black, ch1, sc first 2 sts tog, sc in ea st across to last 2 sts, sc last 2 sts tog, turn. (14)
Rows 27 -28: Join Orange, ch 1, sc first 2 sts tog, sc in ea st across to last 2 sts, sc last 2 sts tog, turn. (12 – 10)
Row 29: Ch 1, sc in ea st across, turn.
Rows 30 – 33: Repeat row 3. (12, 14, 16, 18)
Row 34: Ch 1, *2 dc in 3rd sc from hook, 1 tr in same space, 2 dc in the same space (making a shell) , skip next 2 sc, 1 single crochet in next sp*. Repeat from * to * 2 more times. (Remember when you start the 2 dc again; begin in the 3rd sc from the hook.) Bind off.
Joining row: With wrong sides of potholder held together, join black at tail, sc in each row end and stitch around. Ending with a slip st. Bind off. Weave in all ends.
Top Fin:
With Orange, join at top of fish, beginning at about row 20, ch 3, dc in same st, dc twice in next sc, tr twice in next sc, dc twice in next 2 sc, join black, dc in next sc, ch 1, turn. Sc in each st across , 1 dc after last orange dc in the row below. Bind off. Weave in ends.
Side fin:
With Orange, chain 6, turn, 2 dc in 4th ch from hook, and in each of the remaining 2 chains. (6 sts) Join black, 1 dc in same st as last dc, ch 1, turn. Sc in ea st across, ending with 1 dc in the last dc, leaving a tail of the colored thread to sew fin on to the fish. With tapestry needle, sew fin on around rows 15 to 20 at a little bit below the middle of the fish. (See photo).
Eye: With black, satin stitch four times at about row 4 of the “fish face”. Bind off, weave in all ends.
Mouth: With about 8 “of black, and tapestry needle, stitch a mouth between rows 1 and 3 of “fish face”. Bind off. Weave in all ends.
**Tips: At beginning of pattern, for a more rounded, less “pointed” fish “nose”, start with ch 4 and skip row 1 above, going straight to row 2 and continue on with rest of pattern. Have fun and come up with your own facial “features” and different colors for your fish! Also, I put an eye and mouth on the “other side” of the fish, but left off the side fin, so that the potholder would lie flat. It would probably be really cute adding the side fin to the other side, too! A suggestion from my son: Make an oven mitt out of it by making the fish bigger and leave the end of the tail open. If you make that version, I would also suggest adding the quilted potholder insulation inside to protect the cook’s hands.
This Photo courtesy of Cristina Salgueiro
Oops! One of my pattern testers, Maha, noticed a problem with row 34 of the fish potholder pattern. The photo above is her test fish which she fixed, even when she ran across the errors in the pattern! That is the beauty of crochet! I think her version really came out cute. She tells me he is going to become a washcloth. I love her colorway, too! 
