Spiral Hotpad

-- or "6 is a perfect number"

My aunt Ila was my first crochet teacher. And the first thing I ever crocheted was a hotpad. (I didn't start out with long chains of chain sts but rather with something to use in the kitchen.)

A single crochet spiral hotpad starts with 6 sc sts in the center loop. Then each round after that has an increase 6 sc sts. If you make fewer than 6 increases per round, you'll end up with a cup or bowl shaped object. If you make much more than 6 increases, you'll end up with ruffles.

Something similar holds true for double crochet. A dc st is twice the height of a sc st. To make a circle in dc, start with 12 dc sts in the center loop and then increase 12 dc sts per round. For triple crochet, the "magic" number is 18.

It's difficult to get 12 or 18 sts in a center loop. There are two main ways around the problem. The first is to start with a bigger loop. Instead of crocheting into a ch st, crochet into a 5 or 6 st chain loop. The other method is to replace some of the dc's (or tr's) with ch sts -- ie, work * dc1, ch1 * 6 times in place of the first dc12 (or * tr1, ch2 * 6 times in place of the first tr18).

A Simple Spiral Hotpad
I used Peaches & Creme worsted weight cotton yarn and a size 7 (4.50 mm) hook.
The finished hotpad is almost 7" in diameter.

Rnd 1: Ch 2. Sc 6 in 2^nd st from hook. (6 sc)
-- (in other words) Make a slip knot around the hook. Chain 2. Insert the hook into the second st from the hook (ie, the slip knot) and sc. Make 5 more sc's in the same st (ie, the slip knot).
The out-of-focus photo shows the start of the 4^th sc.

Rnd 2: 2 sc in same st 6x (ie, sc twice in each sc from the previous round). (12 sc)

Rnd 3: * 2 sc in same st, sc 1 * 6x (18 sc)

Note: If you wish, you can place a stitch marker on the first st of a rnd to let you know when you're about to start a new rnd.

In the photo, you can see that at the end of rnd 3, there are 18 sts on the outside (by counting the top loops) and that there are 3 rows of sc's.

A lot of patterns for simple spiral hotpads have for the next few rounds:
Rnd 4: * 2 sc in same st, sc 2 * 6x (24 sc)
Rnd 5: * 2 sc in same st, sc 3 * 6x (30 sc)
Rnd 6: * 2 sc in same st, sc 4 * 6x (36 sc)

This produces a hexagon with rounded corners. To get something circular, one needs to vary where one places the increases. Here's a way to do that:

Rnd 4: * sc 2, 2 sc in same st * 6x (24 sc)
Rnd 5: * 2 sc in same st, sc 3 * 6x (30 sc)
Rnd 6: * sc 2, 2 sc in same st, sc 2 * 6x (36 sc)
Rnd 7: * sc 4, 2 sc in same st, sc 1 * 6x (42 sc)
Rnd 8: * sc 6, 2 sc in same st * 6x (48 sc)
Rnd 9: * 2 sc in same st, sc 7 * 6x (54 sc)
Rnd 10: * sc 2, 2 sc in same st, sc 6 * 6x (60 sc)
Rnd 11: * sc 4, 2 sc in same st, sc 5 * 6x (66 sc)
Rnd 12: * sc 6, 2 sc in same st, sc 4 * 6x (72 sc)
Rnd 13: * sc 8, 2 sc in same st, sc 3 * 6x (78 sc)
Make loop: Ch 10 (or more), attach to top of last sc as you would a picot.
Rnd 14: * sc 10, 2 sc in same st, sc 2 * 6x (84 sc), ending with a slip st into the base of the picot-like loop.

For added sturdiness, slip stitch along the chain sts also.

Cut yarn. Weave in loose end.

A final word:
As you work around, you'll find that just before it's time to make an increase, the sts are slanted to the right. After the increase, the sts are slanted to the left.

The way I learned to make hotpads was not to follow a pattern -- but to make an increase when the sts start pulling to the right. (This did work out to about 6 increases per round). Also, if there was a choice about where to place the increase, I learned place it in the middle of a flat edge.