Saving our planet: knitting pot dividers

For years I have used pieces of grip matting between plates, saucepans and other cooking gear in the caravan but, when I came across this pattern for knitting plate dividers, I replaced the matting with these. They mould better between lids and pots/ casseroles and are more durable. I also decided to use the knitted dividers in my pot drawer to protect non-stick surfaces when saucepans and frypans were stacked.

The basic pattern

Initially I used  Free Pattern 11 – Knitlist Lacy Round Dishcloth from the Perfect One-Ounce Dishcloth blog to make the smallest size (7 inches or 18 cm across).

This pattern can be found here:

http://perfectdishcloth.blogspot.com/2013/11/free-pattern-11-knitlist-lacy-round.html

Making larger dividers

The original divider was too small for some of my pots and casserole dishes, so I came up with a way of using the basic pattern to make both a middle-sized divider (with a diameter of 11 inches or 28 cm) and a large one (with a diameter of 13 inches or 33 cm).

For the middle size: cast on 24 stitches instead of 15, and work as follows:

Row 1:     K3, yon, K20, turn

Row 2:     Sl 1, K23

Row 3-6   Rep rows 1 & 2 twice

Row 7:     Cast off 3, K2, yo, K17, turn

Row 8:     Sl 1, K 20

Row 9:     K3, yon, K 17

Row 10:   Repeat row 8

Row 11:   Repeat row 9

Row 12:   Repeat row 8

Row 13:   Cast off 3, K2, yon, K14, turn

Row 14:   Sl 1, K 17

Row 15:   K3, yon, K14

Row 16:   Rep row 14

Row 17:   Rep row 15

Row 18:   Rep row 14

Row 19:   Cast off 3, K2, yon, K11, turn

Row 20:   Sl 1, K 14

Row 21:   K3, yon, K 11

Row 22:   Rep row 20

Row 23:   Rep row 21

Row 24:   Rep row 20

Row 25:   Cast off 3, K2, yon, K 8, turn

Row 26:   Sl 1, K 11

Row 27:   K3, yo, K8

Row 28:   Rep row 26

Row 29:   Rep row 27

Row 30:   Rep row 26

Row 31:   Cast off 3, K2, yo, K5, turn

Row 32:   Sl 1, K8

Row 33:   K3, yo, K5

Row 34:   Rep row 32

Row 35:   Rep row 33

Row 36:   Rep row 32

Row 37:   Cast off 3, K to end, including all slipped stitches

Row 38:   K 24

You may need to do more pattern repeats/ sections to make a comfortable circle (I did 8 (i.e 7 repeats) for the medium size and 7 (i.e 6 repeats) for the large.

To make the large size, cast on 30 stitches, K3, yo, K 29 on first row and then continue as for pattern above, reducing the number of stitches by 3 after each cast off 3, K2, yo, K (3 less), turn row, but keep going until you get down to Cast off 3, K2, yo, K5, turn, and then do the last rows the same way.

Re-purposing the grip matting

This can be used to make jar openers. The Happiest Camper gives instructions and a tutorial on her blog, and this can be found here:

https://happiestcamper.com/jar-opener-easy-sewing-project/