The other day, I showcased this potholder inspired by chrysanthemums that I had made from a dishcloth pattern at Bernat.com:

Since then, I have made three more. Here they are individually:

and here they are en suite:

With the four potholders now completed, I can safely take pans out of the oven, and use them as trivets if necessary.

I loved working with the felted merino roving. Of the four colors, madder is one that I find most interesting.

Initially I was sufficiently ignorant of color and dye history that I thought it was just an odd name. I did not know it was a color with its roots (so to speak) predating written history.

The name, madder, comes from the plant known as common madder, the roots of which are used to make dye. The oldest known surviving example of a textile dyed with madder was found at an archaeological site in modern day India and dates to the third millennium BCE. More recently, madder was the source of the dye used to color the red coats of the British Army’s Redcoats.

For those as unschooled as I was and who would like to learn more about this color, and the plant for which it is named, you can go to this wiki for more information.