I have been working on replacing all of my cheap, store bought rags and hot pads with more sturdy and durable handmade ones. I have tried several patterns, but really fell in love with this one. As I have not found a pattern that is exactly like the one I am using, I figured I would share it.

This is a bit more of a “How I Do It” than a “How To.” I am a free thinker when it comes to crafting, and regularly chose the ways that work best for me over the ways it works for someone else. So feel free to play around with the pattern to make it work for you.

I used cotton ‘Peaches and Creme’ yarn for this, and for all of my rags and pot holders. I also used a 3.5 size hook, which I find best for these projects.

Begin with the usual starting knot, or slip knot.

Then chain 30.

Keep your thumb and a finger holding the 29th stitch, and chain 3 more.

Then double crochet into the 29th stitch.

Double crochet across the rest of the chain. Count your stitches to ensure that you have 30 stitches when you are done.

Ensuring that you have 30 stitches in your double crocheted row, chain 15 from the end of the double crocheted row.

Now, hold the end of the chain in your finger and thumb and find the 14th stitch.

Insert your hook into that stitch, yarn over and pull through, retaining the loop on your hook.

Continue like this down the length of the chain, until you have 15 loops on your hook.

Now yarn over and pull through all 15 loops. This can be difficult. Be careful not to grab extra pieces of yarn from the loops themselves.

As you pull the yarn through, the loops will collapse on themselves making a semicircular piece. Twist the scale until it lays flat on the front of the double crocheted row. Use a slip stitch to pull the two ends together.

Then insert your hook into the top of the next double crochet and slip stitch the scale to the body of your work.

Now insert your hook through the end of the scale, and through the top of the next double crochet and pull through, neatly pinning the end of the scale to your body of work.

Now slip stitch again into the tops of the next two double crochets.

Then chain 15 and repeat the steps to create and attach the scales until you have 7 scales running the length of the double crochet.

There will be a few double crochets that are empty at the end of the row, this is how the scales stagger instead of laying directly over eachother. Slip stitch into the tops of the last 3 double crochets to finish the row.

Now chain 3 and double crochet your way back to the beginning, ensuring that you have 30 double crochets when you get to the end.

The back will look like a smooth double crochet pattern, while the front will sport the scales.

Now this time, to ensure the staggering of scales, slip stitch into the tops of the first 3 double crochets.

Then chain 15. And start making the scales as before.

You will know that your spacing is correct if your next chain of 15 starts 1 stitch ahead of the division between scales in the row below.

Now, once you have finished the 7 scales for this row, you will make a slip stitch to attach the very edge of the scale to the edge of the double crochet. Then chain 3 from there and double crochet your way back again.

Continue in this pattern, DC row of 30, followed by a row of 7 scales over the top, started at the beginning of the row, and finishing with 3 slip stitches at the end. Then DC row of 30 on top, followed by a scale row, starting with 3 slip stitches, and 7 scales following. You will continue this until you have 15 rows of scales. Since the rows of scales are placed atop the double crocheted rows, there will actually be 30 rows altogether, making it nice and thick, and the 15 rows of scales will be the easy to count.

Now for the edging. There are plenty of edge options, but I chose to do a simple double crochet edge. So if this fits your liking, make a double crochet row just like you have been, but when you get to the end, double crochet 5 times into the end stitch in order to turn the corner.

Now, going down the side, I chose to pin the edges of the scales down. This is, of course, your choice if you’d like to do this or leave them as they are.

Follow this process all the way around until you come to the last corner. Double crochet 4 into the same stitch as the first double crochet is in, the connect them with a slip stitch.

Then to tie off, I insert my hook into the next stitch and pull all the way through.

Then weave the tail into the stitches to make it disappear.

And there you go. Finished product, front and back.