Crochet Dishcloths and a Pattern

I love to crochet in the evenings. It is relaxing. It is creative. It is a way to use up all the yarn I have laying around. Some people have specific projects in mind and buy yarn for those projects. I buy yarn and then come up with the projects. I think our budget needs a separate category for yarn!

Dishcloths are great projects for the car as well. I just returned from a road trip of over 20 hours in the car, going and coming…that doesn’t count stops along the way! I managed to make 10 dishcloths and gave away all but 4. They make nice little hostess gifts.

I’ve made many different dishcloths. I have stacks of dishcloths, a drawer full. Whenever anyone visits I usually open the drawer and ask the visitor if they’d like one, or two, or three. I’ve been accused of forcing dishcloths on people. They take at least one or they’re not getting out of the house!

They’re quick and easy and usually do not require constant attention like amigurumi (those adorable little crocheted critters and dolls) does; counting all the stitches in all the rounds, and such. You have to be totally engaged to create amigurumi, not watching TV or a movie or having a conversation with someone.

At the end of the day when my mind doesn’t want to work too hard, but my hands want to stay busy then dishcloths it is. Dishcloths or granny squares. I do have a granny square project going as well, a blanket for my bed, but in the summer especially I like the feel of cotton yarn moving through my fingers. So again…dishcloths it is at this time of the year.

My favorite dishcloth pattern at the moment is a very simple one. I have no idea if this pattern has a name and I have no idea where I originally found it. When finished it has give. It stretches. It’s easy to wring out. It dries fairly quickly. And I like the look of it.

The dishcloths in the foreground are all made with the pattern below.

Begin by chaining a multiple of three plus 2. I usually do 29 chains using an H (5.0 mm) hook.  Cotton yarns shrink after washing so you need to take that into account when doing your initial chain. I’ve learned to make mine a bit larger than I want them to be. The finished dishcloth is approximately 7 1/2″ square before washing.

Row 1: sc in the fourth chain from the hook, sc in the next chain. *ch 1, skip 1 ch, sc in the next two chains* to the end of the row. Chain 2 and turn.

Row 2: Skip first two sc.  Into the ch 1 space do 2 sc. *ch 1, skip 2 sc,  then 2 sc into the next ch 1 space* across until you get to the ch 2 turning chains. 2 sc into the ch 2 turning chain space. Chain 2 and turn. 

Repeat Row 2 for the length desired. 26 rows is pretty close to square.

Border: sc around working 3 sc in each corner. That’s it! Easy-Peasy!   

 Dishcloth Pattern  can be found here.

I hope these directions are clear. If you have any questions just let me know and I’ll try to make it more clear.

There are many variations you can do with this pattern by varying the colors. It can also be a great way to use up scraps by crocheting every row with a different color. Recently I made a dishcloth essentially with scraps. I had a number of small little balls of left over yarn that I randomly chose until each color was used up. A number of times I changed colors in the middle of a row. No plan, no particular pattern with the colors. Just whatever color caught my eye. Now that was a great way to use up little bits and pieces of left over yarn.

 

When changing colors I always work over my yarn tails as I go which is much easier than weaving them in with a yarn needle at the end, but with this pattern it actually takes 2 rows to work over the tails. I found a great tutorial for doing that here. She has good pictures and very clear explanations. This method works wonderfully to hide the different colored tails making them virtually invisible.

What crochet projects do you have going at the moment? Do you have a favorite dishcloth pattern?