What is the best type of yarn to use to make pot holder

My first inclination is that acrylic is probably not your best yarn bet for potholders. If it's the really cheap acrylic, then there's the possibility of the potholder actually melting due to the high heat. This is more likely if you are actually placing a hot pot onto something made of acrylic than if you are just holding the handles of the pot. Cotton is definitely a safer way to go. You won't have to worry about the melting, it's not slippery when wet, and it washes very well. I know this doesn't help you with your leftover yarn problem, but it's the best recommendation I can give. :)

I have been making lots of potholders right now, gifts for secret sisters. And I've been using Lily Sugar 'n Cream and Peaches 'n Cream, its a 100% cotton yarn! I'm not sure that acrylic yarn would be good either! I've used up my acrylic yarn by making small squares and sewing thenm all together to make an afghan of many colors, I made a couple crib sized ones for baby gifts!

Cotton would be the best for making a pot holder. But even so it should only be used for decorative purposes only.

I use the RedHeart yarn from Walmart for dish cloths and pot holders and I have never had any problems with them melting. So I would think that you would need to use a cotton yarn. Especially since most pot holders are made out of cotton fabrics. But the good thing is that you can get a bunch of pot holders out of that skein of cotton yarn that is going to cost you less than $3.00. But I do agree with everyone else, acrylic yarn is not the way to go.

I've never made them myself but as you know acrylic is a form of plastic & plastic melts. So I will agree and say use the cotton as others have suggested. Perhaps the ones you've seen on Etsy are purely decorative use only?

I prefer to use cotton yarn for household items like potholders, bathmats, etc. They tend to have less fluff than acrylic yarn and they wash up nicely either by hand or in the washing machine.

My first choice would be cotton. I doubt that you are going to be dealing with enough heat to melt the fibers in acrylic yarn though so go ahead and give it a try. Just don't leave them on the stove.