A Little Esox Dishcloth

As Earth Day approaches and while I'm still on a mission to replace all of my dishcloths and washcloths with handmade ones, I've come up with a couple of new patterns. Today's pattern has a little bit of texture and a little bit of color pooling too.

For this dishcloth, all you need is a 4.0 mm/G hook and about 2.5 oz of cotton yarn. (The yarn I used is a pretty, variegated yarn I picked in the mill ends bin at Joann's.)

Abbreviations Used:

Ch: chain

Hdc: half double crochet

Sc: single crochet

Ss: slip stitch

St: stitch/stitches

Instructions:

Row 1: Ch 36, sc in 2nd chain from hook and each across. Ch 1, turn. (35 st)

Row 2: Hdc in first st, ss is next. *Hdc in next, ss in next* repeat from * to * across until one st remains. Hdc in last st, ch 1 and turn. (35 st)

Repeat row 2 until piece measures 9" in length. 

Sc evenly around with 3 sc in each corner st. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Final measurement is approx. 9" x 9"

Lazy Days Dishcloth

     I've decided to replace all of my worn out dishcloths and washcloths with handmade ones. I find that knit and crochet cloths are more durable, clean up messes very well and last FOREVER. I love how soft and cushy they feel too. So when cotton yarn is on sale, I buy a few cakes or skeins and try to come up with a new pattern. Today's dishcloth uses a very versatile stitch pattern and it's a super easy two row repeat.

     For this dishcloth, I used a 4.0 mm (G) hook and 2 oz of Sugar' n Cream cotton yarn in the colorway Batik.

Notes:

• Make the chain 1 at the beginning of the even rows a little longer to accommodate the first dc.
• Final dimensions are 9" x 9"

Instructions:

Row 1: Ch 36. Sc in 2nd chain from hook, dc in next. *sc in next, dc in next* repeat from * to * until one chain remains. Sc in last chain. Ch 1 and turn. (35 stitches)
Row 2: Dc in first stitch, sc in next.*Dc in next, sc in next* repeat from * to * until one stitch remains. Dc in last stitch, Ch 1 and turn. (35 stitches)

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until piece measures roughly 9 inches.

For the border, you can sc evenly all the way around or just leave it without. I don't mind the way it looks without the border.

Letting the weather guide me

     Late last year, I decided to make one of those awesome temperature afghans I had been seeing in many of the crochet groups I am in. So then I sat down to figure out all the details. What kind of yarn would I use? What colors? What stitch? Hook? Would it be highs or lows? Both? I didn't realize just how many choices I had when it came to this one project.

     After looking at a LOT of different yarns, I settled on Red Heart Super Saver because it is cost effective and I liked the range of colors available to me. Now before I could really choose the specific colors I wanted, I needed to figure out my temperature ranges.I decided to go with the High temps for the day. So my yarn/temperature chart looks something like this.

     I then  took a bit of time, giving it a bit of thought and trying to gauge what kinds of temperatures I'd be dealing with, I decided on ten degree increments. Once I knew how many colors I would need, then I went about picking my colors. I ended up with ten different colors. 

     Now that I was set on my colors, I did more searching on Pinterest to see what stitches and patterns others had used in the past. I wanted something that I could do 365 rows of and not have my blanket be gigantic. I settled on Moss Stitch, a simple single crochet, chain one repeat. I must say though that this was not my first choice. I did start out with another stitch (hdc, ch 1) and crocheted six or seven rows. However, I paused a moment, did a little math and had to rip all of those rows out once I realized my blanket would end up about twelve feet long if I used that stitch. 

     The only things left to do were pick out my hook size and figure out how wide to make it. The hook size was a piece of cake. My favorite hook size is a J hook. As for size, I just started chaining until it looked about right. My starting chain was around 200 chains. I don't quite remember and I really should have written that down. Oh and every time I go to count it, my four year old starts counting. So.... there goes that haha.

     Right now I am a little behind in my rows but I do keep track of the highs for the days in my planner and I refer to Weather Underground to help me with that.

This is through the month of January. I'm currently rather aggravated with the fact that we had sixty degree days in January. I did not exactly envision yellow yet. I'm just irked by it lol.

Striping Up A Stormy Day

A few days ago, I blogged about Alexa's Stormy Day Slouch. It's sized for teens and adults. Today, I give you the toddler/child striped version of Alexa's hat.  Enjoy!!

(I wish my toddler "model" would have held still long enough for a photo.)

Finished Size: Toddler(Child) measures 18"(19") wide and 18"(19") long.

Gauge: 5 rows x 8 st of sc in BLO makes 2" square (with an I hook)

Materials
Two colors of ww yarn ( I used ILTY and RHSS)
I hook (or size needed to obtain gauge)
J hook (or size needed to obtain gauge)
yarn needle

Abbreviations Used
BLO: back loop only
CC: coordinating color
CH: chain
DC: double crochet
DC3TOG: double crochet 3 together
DC4TOG: double crochet 4 together
HDC: half double crochet
MC: main color
REP: repeat
SC: single crochet
SLST: slip stitch
ST: stitch/stitches

Notes:

• For this pattern, the dc4tog will be worked over two ch spaces. Work the first half of the dc4tog in the first ch space and the second half in the following ch space.
• The joining slip stitch from the previous row is to be worked as a chain space. 
• Color changes are done with the joining slip stitch.
• Toddler instructions are listed first, with Child instructions in parentheses.

Instructions
Using I hook and MC
Row 1: Ch 7, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in next 5 ch. (6 sc)
Row 2: Ch 1, turn. Working in BLO, sc in each st across. (6 sc)
Row3-40(3-45):  Rep row 2.

Fold piece in half and slst BLO of row 40(45) to beginning ch loops of row 1.

Swith to J hook

Round 1: Working along the side of the brim just made, Ch 1. 2 sc in first row end, sc in next 4 row ends. *2 sc in next row end, sc in next 4 row ends*. Rep from * to * around, join with slst to first sc. [48,(54) st]
Round 2: Ch 1, (hdc, ch 1, hdc) in first st, skip next st. *(Hdc, ch 1, hdc) in next st, skip next st*. Rep from * to * around. With CC, join with slst to first hdc. [24,(27) hdc groups]
Round 3: Ch 1, dc3tog in first ch space, ch 1, dc3tog in next ch space. Ch 1, dc3tog in next ch space*. Rep from * to * around. With MC, join with slst to first dc3tog. [24,(27) dc3tog]
Round 4: Ch 1, (hdc, ch 1, hdc) in last ch space from the previous round. *(Hdc, ch 1, hdc) in next ch space*. Rep from * to * around. With CC, join with slst to first hdc. [24(27) hdc groups]
Rounds 5-12(5-14): Rep rounds 3 & 4
Round 13(15): Ch 1, dc4tog over first two ch spaces. *Ch 1, dc4tog over next two ch spaces, ch 1*. Rep from * to * around(child size, dc3tog over last 3 ch spaces). With MC, join with slst to first dc4tog. [12 dc4tog (12 dc4tog, 1 dc3tog)]
Round 14(16): Ch 1, (hdc, ch 1, hdc) in last space from previous round. *(Hdc, ch 1, hdc) in next ch space*. Rep from * to * around. With CC, join with slst to first hdc. [12 (13) hdc groups]
Round 15(17): Ch 1,  dc4tog over first two ch spaces. *Ch 1, dc4tog over next two ch spaces, ch 1*. Rep from * to * around (child size, dc3tog over last 3 ch spaces), join with slst to first dc4tog. [6dc4tog (5 dc4tog, 1 dc3tog)].

Fasten off yarn, leaving a long tail (about 10" long). With yarn needle, thread yarn through the top of the stitches from round 15. Cinch together and secure ends.