Crocheted Dish Cloths

 I was on a Facebook page where someone asked for a crocheted dishcloth pattern. Someone suggested filet crochet, but it's pretty open. It works for curtains and string bags, but I don't think I'd want it for a dishcloth. I would probably use a waffle stitch and make a square that fits my hand. Commercial dish cloths are about the size of a face cloth. That gets bulky when hand made. I make mine about 6-8" across. If a person wants a design in the cloth, create it by filling in the waffles with solid stitches.  Hm... Now to find my crochet hook.   https://mirellamoments.com/learn-to-crochet-the-waffle-stitch/?fbclid=IwAR0ViZkdlRFkHUGKnrpBPoo8UfP1gbKJ6TDtMeWacnOVOHyXOMrg2w_8OR4

What, No Dish Cloths?

How did this happen? Making dish cloths is one of my favorite "no brainer" projects. The other day, I went to the dish cloth/tea towel drawer in the kitchen and there wasn't a dish cloth to be found! Have Brownies been here? I found a few in the clothes dryer (affectionately dubbed "the other bureau"). Still -- I used to have so many dish cloths they attacked when you opened the drawer. Looks like it's time to take the socks out of my purse and insert cotton yarn. I'm on a mission to restock! And it lets me stash-bust a few balls of cotton yarn, too. Pat and I drove to Stark, KS today to find an upholsterer who could fix the bucket seat of his pickup. I rode along because he had never been to Stark, and I had been there thanks to library functions in the next town over, Savonburg. (You see, Savonburg is too small to have any eateries, so we would go to Murphy's Merchantile in Stark for sandwiches after visiting the Savonburg library. Ah, the hidden benefits of being a regional library consultant!) We took the long way (via Burlington) so it was about an 80 mile drive out and a 65 mile drive back. I nearly made an entire dish cloth while we traveled. Since we seem to run around a lot (and no place is closer than 45-60 min. away), and since Pat rarely lets me drive, I should get restocked on dish cloths in no time. By the way, if you are trying to get to the dishcloth pattern, click on the highlighted link "Grandma's Dishcloth" in the tag cloud.

Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern

This is the pattern for the dishcloths that I've been knitting. The sample in the picture was made with three kinds of cotton worsted: Lily, Bernat and Bear Brand.

Grandma's Dishcloth
An easy to do pattern and that gives a classic look, Grandma's Dishcloth is a garter stitch square with a openwork edge created with a yarn-over placed at the beginning of each row.

Remember when you make the dishcloth that 100% cotton yarn will shrink when washed (10-15%), so make it a bit bigger than you want the finished piece. I figured I wanted a 12 inch cloth so I'm making it 13.5 inches before washing. Thirteen and one half inches will give a maximum width of 60 stitches using worsted weight yarn on 3.75 mm needles. (I have found these to remain HUGE, so I now do a 40-50 stitch dishcloth. 25 stitches makes a drink coaster. Make it larger and stop at the last increase and you have a shawl!  I have also found my favorite yarn for dishcloths is Sinfonia from Hobby Lobby. It is a sport weight instead of a worsted weight cotton yarn. The cloths made with Sinfonia are tighter and more delicate.)

The pattern: 

Cast on 3 st.

Increase Row: K1, YO [yarn over], knit to end

Repeat increase row until cloth is desired width (I use 40-50 for dishcloth).

Decrease Row: K1, YO, K2 tog [knit 2 together], knit to the last 3 sts, K2 tog, K1.

Repeat decrease row until row is 3 sts.

Bind off loosely.

I've seen variations of this that knit three or four stitches before the YO, then do the YO three or four stitches before the end. I have also seen variations that did rows of alternating YOs every 1 1/2-2 inches in the cloth. I tried both of these variations. The wider border was easy. Decreasing and doing the YO rows took more concentration. If you aren't careful you have added instead of decreased at the end of the row. Knowing how many stitches I should have at the end and counting each row kept me on target.

YO (Yarn Over) = wrap yarn around the needle from front to back and proceed to next stitch. This equals one increase. This will leave a opening in the next row. In this case it creates the eyelet edging for the dishcloth.

K2Together = insert needle in the first and second stitches at the same time. Yarn over and finish knit stitch. This equals one decrease.

This is a very versatile pattern. The baby blanket shown at the right is a 36" dishcloth made with cotton worsted.

Barbie's shawl, made with Sinfonia, is a dishcloth that stopped at the largest dimension just before the decreases began. Fringe was added in each of the eyelets. 

 I recently (2017) made a full-sized shawl using the same technique as the Barbie shawl. I added the continuous row of eyelets about every 25 rows. The eyelet row was made this way: K1, *YO, K2together*. Repeat between the *s until the end. Finish with K1. The YO adds a stitch and the K2together removes the extra stitch so you end up with the right count at the end.I will post a photo of the finished shawl soon.

Results of Cotton Yarn Investigations

All of the knitting samples have been finished.

I washed the three test subjects. The Lily yarn shrank the most -- which wasn't a whole lot, perhaps 1/2 in. on each side. The Lion Brand showed the least shrinkage. Bernat was the softest before and after washing.

Knitlist has had some discussion about Bernat Cottontots pilling badly, particularly with the colored yarns. My sample is off white. There isn't any serious pilling with it, but I would be careful to test colored yarn before making a large project with it.

Lion Brand impressed me because it was pretty "string-like" before washing, but washed up a bit softer than the Lily. It also lightened in color after washing. I'm going to show my testers to Steve and see which yarn he wants for his sweater. I'm leaning toward the Lion Brand because it's color is nice, it's has a good texture and is reasonably priced. The Bernat it definitely the softest, but I'm concerned about the possibility of pilling in the future.

I will be attaching photos of my test pieces and controls, plus close ups of the various yarns, as soon as I can get my husband to break out his good camera.

NEXT BIG PROJECT will be designing an Aran vest for my husband, Pat. I have the yarn for this in my stash, but have never developed my own pattern before. When I have mastered the vest, I'll be ready to take on Steve's full Aran sweater.

PRESENTLY ON THE NEEDLES: Double-knit hat for son, Joe. I knitted a watch cap for Joe for Christmas. He likes it but says it's not warm enough when the wind chill is around 10 degrees. I found the pattern for a double-knit ski cap through Knitting Pattern Central. Here's the link. http://alison.knitsmiths.us/pattern_double_knit_cap.html

I'm enjoying making the double-knit hat. I was afraid the 162 stitches cast on would make the hat too large. Trying on the first pass of 162 stitches saw my knitting falling down past my ears and landing like a collar around my neck. I subtracted 8 stitches (about 1 inch) and find this a better fit. The hat fits loosely around my head without expanding the stitches at all. Since I wear a small hat and Joe wears a large one, this should work for him. I hope to have the hat finished and in the mail to him by Wednesday.

Cotton Yarn Investigations

I have finished 4 of 6 sample dishclothes -- 2 Lily Sugar 'n' Cream and 2 Bernat Cottontots. I've the first of the 2 Lion brand cloths in progress.

Keeping back the "control" versions of Lily and Bernat, I tossed the other two in the washer with a towel load -- warm/cold water, regular wash, Downy fabric softener, heavy duty dry. There wasn't a lot of shrinkage, less than 1/2 inch all around. The Lily yarn had felt scratchy and stiff, more like butcher's string, when I was knitting with it. It softened and fluffed considerable during washing. The Bernat softened a bit, but had a nice "hand" even in the skein. The Lion feels very string-like. The thread is dense and looks quite a lot like butcher's string. It will be interesting to see how it washes.

Further research on these three yarns : Lily comes in three sizes : Regular ball 120 yds; Superball 200 yd.; Cone 805 yds. Bernat only comes in a 200 yd. ball. Lion Brand "Lion Cotton" comes in a 236 yd. ball and a 775 yd. ball. If there is no significant difference in the yarns after they are washed, the Lily cone is the most yarn for your money. The Bernat Cottontots is the most expensive of the three yarns. It can range up to $6.00 a skein. That's pretty expensive when you need over 2000 yds. of yarn for a sweater.