basic crocheted dishcloths

I'm usually good at starting and finishing a project without starting a lot of other projects at the same time - but not always. As my son's sweater is still a WIP, and I haven't yet finished the 3 vests I'm making to donate (although what's left to finish them is minimal) - I started a couple dishcloths for my husband for his birthday/Father's Day (which I'll share later, when they're done!) and yesterday, I started crocheting some basic dishcloths.

My mom's coming to visit tomorrow, and she's heading out to visit friends - two couples - next week. These are long time family friends, and I've known them literally my entire life. It's for them that I'm making a set of dishcloths each.

The green dishcloth is a basic single crochet dishcloth. The brown & white one is also single crochet, but every 3rd row alternates between a double crochet and a chain, to make a bit of a lace effect. These are a very quick make and can each be made in about an hour or so.

you scrub me right 'round baby, right 'round!

One of the easiest (and quickest!) projects to make are spiral scrubbies - and they're also a delightful way to use up small bits and scraps of yarn! If you don't know how to crochet, or need practice improving your hooking skills, this project is the most ideal. It's all just a few rows of single crochet, then sewn together to make a funky swirly shape!

Pre-sewn:

Post-sewing:

I crocheted a loop at the top of each scrubbie long enough to hang off the tap to dry. These were each such a quick project, I was able to complete all four within one day!

These were requested by a coworker of my husband's - I made him dishcloths on request before, but he specifically wanted scrubbies. He did request two, and that was how many I planned to make initially - but I had all these scraps variegated cotton yarn (and a shoebox full of partial cotton skeins!) that I decided to use up all the variegated yarn mixed with solid yarn, and came up with four. An excellent stash buster!

Let There Be Bacon!

My bacon pigs are finally all done! I finished the 'O' and the 'N' today, and as it stands, they're currently being blocked.

Each square measures 7" square, using 4mm needles. I knit them with slightly tighter needles (meaning, as opposed to 4.5mm's) because I think that patterned dishcloths usually turn out a bit better that way, and I'm glad I did. This size is perfect!

eta: I also always advocate keeping your cotton yarn ball bands for a reason - for exactly this reason:

One ball band from a skein of Lily Sugar 'n Cream fits perfectly around my 5 dishcloths, keeping them snuggly together without squeezing it or distorting the dishcloths at all. That way the recipient knows fiber content, care instructions (which are all written on the ball band) and the dishcloths all stay together until they're gifted without getting any lost!

At Thanksgiving, my side of the family does Secret Santa, where we draw names for who we're buying for at Christmas - at that point I gift each couple in my side of the family a set of 3 or 4 dishcloths, and my inlaws get their respective sets at Christmas. This particular set of 5 dishcloths saves me from gifting dishcloths for my brother and SiL this year, since they'll be gifted to my brother on his birthday in September. (I think that 5 dishcloths should last them a year at least, considering how sturdy they are!)

feelin' the love

Remember last month's Valentine's post, when I completed 2 heart dishcloths? Well, I had enough red to make exactly two more - and I completed them today. Tada!

So now I've four completed heart dishcloths ready to gift, each to a different person, at Christmas along with a couple more dishcloths that I've yet to complete.

Glad to have these done, these are a fun (albeit small) practice in lace, and a good mix of lace and garter stitch too!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I recently completed three mosaic flower dishcloths, using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Sage and Forest Green & Lily Sugar N Cream in Cream. They're from the booklet Bernat Kitchen Kolors. I thought today, being St Paddy's Day, it's the right day to show off my small collection of green dishcloths!

I've never done this style of knitting before, it's an interesting (mostly garter stitch) textured cloth, and the colours pop out in a really cool way!

At Christmas, I tend to match up 3 or 4 dishcloths in a mini gift bag, dishcloths that I've knit throughout the year. These will likely be gifted then and that way with some other dishcloths I've already completed and some I've yet to make. Progressively, I imagine most of what I'll put together for these mini gift packages will be a collection of mostly red and green cloths. 

3.14.15 - Happy Pi Day!

Last month, in preparation for Pi Day, I participated in a swap on ravelry, where people exchanged Pi(e) themed things. I had purchased these dessert cloths ages ago, one of the six patterns happens to be a slice of pie! Which was perfect.

The only downside to this pattern is that it's knit on 3.25mm needles, which is very tight for dishcloth cotton. Nevertheless, the dishcloths turned out great!

I used Lily Sugar 'n Cream in wine, cream, and brown respectively.

feather & fan dishcloths, & stash busting!

Remember a month ago I wrote a post about making dishcloths for charity? Well, here's my first completed contribution for that!

I spent the last week and a half knitting these eight feather & fan dishcloths out of different colours of variegated and ombred cotton yarns. It's a very easy pattern to memorize, and so much fun to make!

The second picture shows two dishcloths knit from ends. I have quite a stash of partial skeins of cotton yarn, left over from previous patterns. What I did was I cast on with one colour, knit a row with the 2nd colour, knit the next row with the 3rd colour, and brought up the first strand to knit the next row, and so on. Alternating between 3 colours prevented any pooling of colours, and when I ran out of one colour, I tied on a new colour. These two dishcloths in particular were great stash busters, and turned out pretty cool!

baby shower prizes

My brother and SiL are having their baby shower at the end of next month - and I'm co-organizing it with SiL's sister. As the prizes for the games, I've volunteered to knit some dishcloths, making one in blue and one white for each prize. These are the ones I've made:

I've completed 8 of each colour all together (despite that there are two of each in the picture) - the picture shows the front and back of each cloth.

It's a basic stitch pattern for each, and are all knit on 4.25mm needles. The finished cloth each measures approx 7.75" square.

For the white cloth: it's a basic farrow rib pattern, commonly used for scarves. I casted on 40 stitches; row 1 is knit 1, purl 1 rib to the end; row 2 is knit across. Bound off in pattern after row 2 at desired length.

For the blue cloth: a basic brick stitch pattern that's a bit more involved. I casted on 39 sts. All odd rows (starting with row 1) is knit. Rows 2 & 4: (k3, p1) to last 3 stitches, k3. Rows 6 & 8: k1, (p1, k3) to last 2 sts, p1, k1. Bound off in pattern after row 4 or 8 (in my case, after row 4) at desired length.

Yarn used: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in white; Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Nauticals in nautical blue.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's no surprise that I knit up a heart dishcloth for today! An interesting pattern that incorporates just a hint of lace along with seed stitch, garter stitch, and stockinette stitch parts in the pattern - two can easily be made from one skein of Lily Sugar'n Cream with a bit left over.

I've already made 2 (using Lily Sugar'n Cream in Country Red) and I've enough left over to make 2 more. A cute gift for Valentine's for anyone who loves to cook or bake, I think!

Since I do most of my dishcloth gifting at Christmas, though, I'll be gifting these two (plus the two more I'll make at a later time) each to a different person along with some Christmas themed dishcloths. 

a little frog in a big pond

My three frog dishcloths are finally done! The two green ones are knit from Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Hot Green (my favourite!) and Sage Green, and the white one is Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Cream.

Normally I'd "start early" with my xmas knitting gifts by starting in July... that has always been considered early for me. But seriously, to have it started in January is setting a new record! The only trick is to not misplace these between now and December!

naturally...

I absolutely love nature and natural things. I always have. I love being among the trees, growing tomatoes in my garden, going camping, and being by the lake. For as long as I can remember, I've always been a bit obsessed with ecology and preserving nature. Thankfully, I grew up in a family where we actively recycled, composted, and gardened, and my parents have always loved camping as well - so the 'nature experience' was something that was ingrained in me very early on.

Preserving nature is something that we can all easily do, and to varying degrees. I truly believe that we can all do even the smallest changes to our daily lives to make a big impact, ecologically. That's part of the reason why I'm immersing myself so deeply in making as many dishcloths as possible - it's a small thing that will (hopefully) encourage the people around me to use reusable dishcloths rather than paper towels.

It only makes sense, with this thinking, to make some nature-themed dishcloths - doesn't it? 

I recently discovered the Garden Dishcloth to Knit (Leisure Arts) book; it has a dozen dishcloth patterns that are - as you may guess just from the title - all garden themed. Each dishcloth has a different image of something you may find in your garden, and they're lovely. I can absolutely see myself making at least half of these dishcloths for my MiL or my grandmother, who both love gardening and being in their gardens.

One pattern did jump out at me, though, that I simply had to start yesterday: the frog dishcloth. I'm making three at once, in two shades of green and one in cream. And, dare I say, I'm starting this early for Christmas. Don't hate, I just start wicked early on my Christmas knitting!

These will be for DH's niece, who grew up obsessed with frogs. She had a collection of frog toys, frogs on her clothes, a frog mural on her bedroom wall, and even pet frogs. Granted, she grew out of her obsession with frogs and moved onto other interests, but she is in university atm earning some kind of degree in science and (almost) living on her own. Dishcloths come in handy for independent living, and I hope that the frog dishcloths will come in handy! 

The only trick is, when I'm done them, I have to not misplace them between now and December so I remember to gift them to her!

classic cables

I love cables, seriously. Those aran sweaters were my motivation to learn to knit in the first place. DH has received his fair share of cabled sweaters, and now my toddler son is acquiring a good collection of cabled sweaters from me too. So, it's no surprise that I'm going to make a dishcloth covered in cables.

This pattern is the celtic cables dishcloth - and so much fun to make.  Unblocked, it measures 7" wide by 9" long, and looks kinda cool with the salt & pepper colourway. 

Maple Leaf Forever

 I've always loved illusion knitting. It's such a cool technique, and it's such a cool surprise when a recipient gets an illusion-knitted item. Looking at it straight on, it's just a dishcloth with stripes, but at a certain angle a magical image appears! 

This pattern is the illusion maple leaf dishcloth, and I knit it with Lily Sugar'n Cream in Wine and Cream.

eyelet dishcloths completed

Using up more Bernat Handicrafter yarn in the salt & pepper colourway, I completed two eyelet dishcloths - a really interesting textured dishcloth. I love ball-band patterns when it comes to dishcloths, to me they have a really fun (and a bit of a vintage-kitch!) feel to them.

My mom will be heading back to France next week; my dad is currently working out there, plus my maternal grandmother is there too and currently going through chemo for breast cancer. My grandmother is an avid cook and baker, and frequently gets together with friends, hosting a lot of events at her home since she's one of the few of her friends who doesn't live in an apartment and can hold a large group of friends. I'll be sending these two dishcloths back with my mom, along with one of the circle dishcloths I finished a few days ago.

I love keeping the paper ball bands from my knitting when I'm gifting my knitwear - mainly so the recipient has the fiber content and washing instructions from the label, plus I also think that it certifies that it is actually handmade. In the case of dishcloths, ball bands are handy in keeping all the dishcloths together, and with these three the ball band barely fits. Coincidentally the eyelet pattern is on the back of this particular label, although I doubt that my grandmother - despite being a knitter herself - will use the pattern. (The little knitting she does now is usually making her brother the occasional sweater.) 

Sometimes the colour of the yarn on the ball band happens to suit the gift that the ball band is wrapped around - in this case, the colour is a variegated colourway called 'love'. <3

circle cloths completed

I'm working through a big skein of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Salt & Pepper, and also a few partial skeins of cotton from my own stash for my first batch of completed dishcloths of the new year. This particular pattern is the circle cloth (which is the same knitting technique incorporated in the very popular Sheldon toy) & I've completed 5 so far.

The black ones is a mix of the salt & pepper yarn plus Lily Sugar & Cream Solids in Black. The variegated ones are a mix of salt & pepper yarn plus Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ombres & Prints in Love, Beach Ball Blues, Violet Veil Ombre, and a mystery colourway (I lost the label). One of these will be gifted with some extra dishcloths of a different pattern, which I'll blog about later.

I really enjoy this particular pattern because of how thick the dishcloths turn out.They're extra scrubby and very durable. I've gifted these to a couple people who are knitters themselves and are fascinated by the technique used in this pattern - they think that it's two dishcloths made separately and sewn together, and they're surprised that it's knit all in one piece!