14 Scrap Busting Dishcloths in 12 Days

My parents came to visit for 8 days last week.  Since I was trying to keep the house neat and clean with guests, I decided to crochet something tiny, that wouldn't be in the way, and would hopefully help me use up some yarn.  Answer: dishcloths! 

I managed to make 14 of them in 12 days, and hope to get 2 more done tonight.  Bonus, they make great stocking stuffers and gift basket fillers. They were all made from the Fire Blossom Dishcloth pattern, which is free on Ravelry.

A few super-scrappy ones, that were made up with the tail ends of various yarns that were all in a zip loc bag.  My dad claimed most of these.  I missed getting a pic of my favorite green & blue one before my mom made off with it.

A few more matchy-matchy pairs, made from bigger half-skeins.  These will go to a few neighbors & friends.

A set for my mom, made to match a vintage tea towel I bought her.  This was one of my more 'matchy-matchy' scrap sets.  I've made her dishcloths before, but she's never used them until she came to visit last week, and discovered there are no scrubby sponges in my house, just a drawer full of handmade dishcloths.  After 2 days she declared she loved them and wanted some for herself.  Good thing these were already under the tree.

And a rainbow set for my MIL, to go with a vintage linen towel I bought her.  Best part, I basically emptied my entire cotton yarn drawer!

Strawberry Kitchen Accessories

I recently organized a "Life is Berry Sweet" Swap, themed around cheerful little strawberries.  I had the good fortune to be crafting for the lovely kittykill.  I know she has a red & yellow kitchen, and an overall 'Granny-Chic' design concept, so I decided to make her some granny inspired goodies.

I fell in love with an adorable potholder I saw on Ravelry, but the pattern was only available in a book that's out of print, so I decided to try to figure it out myself.

I started by looking on Youtube for a video showing how to make a mitered corner square.  For mine I started with a chain of 52, then followed the video instructions, alternating colors every 2 rows.  I made two of these squares, and then used the red yarn to hook them together along the edges to make it two layers thick.  I added a basic shell border in red, along with a loop at the top, and found a pattern for a strawberry applique. 

I liked the alternating stripes of white and green potholder so much that even though I planned to make some strawberry dishcloths (below), I decided to make a striped one too.  I was partially afraid that kittykill might want to display her goodies, rather than use them, so I figured a spare dishcloth to actually use wouldn't go amiss.  The pattern is one of my all time favorites, as it makes nice sturdy, but still pretty, dishcloths.  It's available as a free Ravelry download.  Fire Blossom Dishcloth.

I knew I would be making at least a few of these Granny Strawberry Dishcloths, before I started on the potholder.  I made them earlier this summer for some friends, and just loved how they came out.  The Granny triangle is a quick & easy pattern, but the stems can be a little confusing as you read the written pattern.  I just used a pen & paper to sketch out what the directions were saying badly, and then winged it. 

Finally I wanted to add a few more bits and bobs to the kitchen set.  I thought a set of coasters might be fun, so I tried starting with a set based on a variation on a granny square, but I disliked how it was coming out.  It didn't seem like it would make a good size coaster, and the bubble stitch used made it too bumpy to hold a drink on top of. 

 

So I ended up taking the coaster I started and turned it into a trivet instead.  I figured with a larger item like a pan, the slightly lumpy center wouldn't be as much of a problem as it would with a narrower glass.  I just added a few granny rows and a border with some picot stitches in the corners.

 

Since the square coaster idea didn't work, I decided to try a round variation on the Granny theme, and went with this pattern, intended for Christmas ornaments, and added a round of slip stitching on the backside, to give it a slightly raised edge.

Strawberry Dishcloths

When I saw this adorable pattern, I knew I had to make it!  It's the Granny Strawberry Dishcloth pattern, free from Yarnspirations.  The granny triangles were a breeze, but the leaves and stem were a bit more confusing.  In the end I mostly followed the pattern and just winged the last row by sight.

The yarn is Red Heart Scrubby Smoothie in Cherry & Sugar'n Cream Scents in Aloe Vera.  I hadn't realized it was scented yarn when I bought it; I simply liked that shade of green best.  The smell is so subtle that I didn't notice it when I was working with it, and will be curious to see how it smells while doing dishes.  I actually had so much green left that I ended up doing a few solid green cloths.  The round is the Fire Blossom pattern on Ravelry, and the square one is something I made up for a friend, that I call Amber Ridge.  I ended up sending one of each to friends from the Crochet Shawl-Along in mini care packages. 

Stashbusting Dishcloths

Just a quick post today.  After finishing my dishtowels, I had partial skeins of each color left over;  just enough to make a few dishcloths.  These were each made with the Fire Blossom Dishcloth pattern.  I have to say, while I found the yarn a pain to hook with, it's a dream to wash dishes with.  Thick and soft and awesome at cleaning pots and pans. 

Starlight, Starbright Dishcloths

These were the final project I made for StudioANF in the Hookers Only Swap.  The requirements were 1 Medium item to help that person crochet, which did not have to be crocheted itself, and 1 Small crocheted item for them to enjoy.  Since I saw she was a Bob's Burger's fan, I had originally intended to make her a Kuchi Kopi doll, but we're having some work done on our house, and when contractors suddenly changed dates on us, we were forced to empty my studio with just a day's notice.  Every single craft supply I own was unceremoniously shoved into the guest room, where it is currently piled to the rafters.     

All I had outside that room was the yarn for an afghan I'm making my husband, and 4 skeins of dishcloth yarn.  Fortunately they were bright happy colors, and I decided to just go with it.  The pattern is free, and can be found HERE. 

The yarns are all I Love This Cotton in vintage teal, banana, mulberry, and brights (the rainbow multi color).  Hopefully they will make the boring task of doing the dishes just a bit more cheerful. 

Celestial Dishcloths

Some of the Mods on Craftster recently decided we needed some sort of happy swap amongst ourselves.  We all decided to fill a small Flat-Rate box, and I was doing well adding bits and bobs, but I had a bit of dead space, so I decided to whip up a dishcloth to fill some space and cushion some things.  I got the fun of crafting for kittykill. 

Sunshine Dishcloth Pattern

She mentioned having a cheerful yellow & red kitchen, so I made a cheerful sunshine dishcloth.    Then, since I had some white cotton, so I made a cloud to go with it.  Seemed like a great idea for a happy little matched set. 

Cloud Dishcloth Pattern

All this happened around the time there was so much excitement about the solar eclipse, so I whipped up a solar eclipse cloth to match.  For the Eclipse, I started with the Sunshine pattern above, and added the edging from this Eclipse Coaster pattern, made from I Love This Cotton! in black, and Sugar'n Cream yellow and bright orange.

At this point, it should have been clear I had a problem...   But since I couldn't seem to stop hooking, I finally decided that kittykill clearly needed a whole set of celestial dishcloths, and added in a star and a rainbow.  Well, the best I could come up with for a rainbow, since I crocheted them all from stash.

Star Dishcloth Pattern

I skipped the edging on this one, as I liked the clean look of the star without it.  It was made from I Love This Cotton! in colorways Turquoise, Pewter, Aqua Ombre, and Teal.  My final 'rainbow' cloth was made with I Love This Cotton! in color 'brights', and the pattern is called Fire Blossom.  I have a set made for me by a friend several years ago in this pattern, and these are by far my favorite dishcloths.  They are just the right size, and just the right density for washing dishes.   

Fire Blossom Dishcloth Pattern