We've had a fair bit of snow recently, with yellow weather warnings (which are still in place 😒) and one day with an amber warning 😳 Both of us tend to avoid going out when the weather is like this ~ as we get older, we are much more conscious that a fall could result in broken bones! I haven't been totally idle, though, as I decided to restock my dishcloth pile using up some of the cotton yarn in my stash. I like to have a good stock of dishcloths as they are chucked into the washing pile daily, waiting to be washed with the next lot of towels. As some of the older ones have now gone in the bucket under the sink to be used as cleaning cloths, the dishcloth stock was starting to look a little depleted!
In case you were wondering, no I haven't sewn Beverly's jumper together yet 😏 I keep putting it off but will definitely have to stop procrastinating and just get the bloody job done!
Anyhoo, back to the stash-busting dishcloths, all made with oddments of cotton yarn from my stash...
The first one is just a simple square of treble stitches (US double crochet). Normally I would start a row using three chains to equal a treble stitch, but recently I've discovered that using just two chains tends to make a straighter edge. I think it's a particularly good idea if you don't want to add a border, as the edges look nice and neat.
I used two double knit yarns held together for this cloth, with a 5mm hook. The blue is Sirdar Cotton DK and I think the beige is as well as it looks to be the same. I had a look on my go-to yarn store, Wool Warehouse, and they do still carry this yarn. The shades on the website are named, though, whereas the blue yarn I've used just has a number so I don't know if it is the same. The beige I used has long since lost it's label so I have no idea if it was named or just numbered 😄
Next I thought I'd try my hand at a knitted cloth, and this is the result. The pattern is called Grandmother's Favourite Dishcloth Pattern but I'm afraid I can't remember where I found it 🤷 As you can see, knitting doesn't come very easily to me 😉 It is a simple pattern, though, just garter stitch worked from corner-to-corner with yarn overs to create the lacy edging. This batch of dishcloths have mostly been made with leftover oddments, and this was another that had lost it's label. It's a thicker-feeling yarn than the blue and beige used above, although all my cotton stash is double knit. I used 4mm knitting needles but think it might have made a "stiffer" fabric if I'd used slightly smaller ones. The pattern called for increasing on each row until 44 stitches were on the needle, then to start decreasing. I wanted a larger cloth, though, so continued until I had 64 stitches. It would probably look a tad better if I'd blocked it but as I've told you before, my lovelies, I never bother blocking dishcloths ~ although I expect I would if I were making some as a gift.
I may well have another go at this pattern using finer yarn and smaller needles, as I think it would make a lovely little dolls' house blanket. I also think it would make a rather nice shawl using bulky yarn and much larger needles. Whatever yarn was used to make a shawl there wouldn't have to be any decreasing to turn it into a square, of course, as I could just keep going until I had a triangle the size I wanted 😊 I suppose if I really wanted to torture myself, I could attempt to make a dolls' house-size shawl 😏
This rather jolly dishcloth was made using Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK in the shade Poppy. I don't know if this yarn is made anymore, it certainly doesn't seem to be available on the Wool Warehouse website. I made this in half trebles (US half double crochet), working into the back loops of the stitches. It's a nice "scrubby" texture for a dishcloth but I think on reflection I should have made it a little bigger!
And finally, dishcloth number four is made with all the little bits of leftover oddments that I had. It's just a square of trebles (US double crochet), made using a 3.5mm hook to create a slightly thicker cloth than 4mm would have done.
The closest I've got to the great outdoors for a good few days now ~ standing in the safety of the porch doorway to take a photo 😄
