Pot-holder

A pot-holder is a piece of textile (often quilted) or silicone used to cover the hand when holding hot kitchen cooking equipment, like pots and pans. They are frequently made of polyester and/or cotton. Crocheted pot-holders can be made out of cotton yarn as a craft project/folk art.

A pot-holder offers protection for only one hand at a time. To lift a pan with two hot handles using both hands, two pot-holders are needed. For holding a hot piece of equipment, the pot-holder is folded around it and grasped with the hand. Generally a rubber surface will be on one side for you to grip and a fabric side to absorb the heat on the other side.

When made of textile fabric, pot-holders typically have an inner layer of a material providing thermal insulation sandwiched between more colorful or decorative outsides. The most common type commercially available nowadays has the form of a square, with a side length varying from 5 inches (13 cm) to 10 inches (25 cm) and slightly rounded corners, and a textile loop at one of the corners for hanging.

Throughout the pot-holder's lifetime, it has also been used as a representative symbol of various cultural movements. During the American Abolitionist Movement, they were displayed by women who wanted to show their support for the Abolitionist cause. These provided women with some way to casually identify as part of the Abolitionist Movement without overtly expressing such. Additionally, it is sometimes used by Cajun cultures as part of their Mardi Gras masks. During the American Internment of the Japanese during WWII, the interred Japanese created several pot-holders out of various colored fabrics in order to reflect their own culture. This was done to break up the monotony, as the colorful nature of the crafts was in stark contrast to the generally bland surroundings of the camps.

The earliest records of pot-holders in America stem from the early 1900s, when pot-holders were made out of lace, as well as crocheted and embroidered. The usage of lace fell away at the same time as the popularization of geometric patterns on pot-holders, lasting up until the late 1970s. At the same time, applique methods began to become popularly used around the 1960s, and remained the most popular method, alongside of quilting up through the 1970s to the present.

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