National Craft Month and more

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Friday, March 27, 2009

Hello Everyone,

I've been busy making dishcloths over the past month. I
ordered a big supply of cotton yarn online and I have it
almost used up now. I've had so many family members
asking for my dishcloths so I figured I would make some
to give away immediately, then stock up on some for when
they ask again. They all tell me that they much prefer my
crocheted dishcloths over the factory made kind. Of
course I do too.

Here is an easy and pretty way to make crocheted dishcloths.
There are no fancy stitches, it's done in all single crochet.
It's the way you work with colors that makes it so pretty.
It gives the dishcloth a plaid look. I was just thinking, this
would be easy to adapt for knit as well.

I got this from a potholder pattern. I searched for an
equivalent dishcloth design but couldn't find any so I
figured the same pattern could be used for a dishcloth,
with the only difference being that you wouldn't have
to make two and sew together as potholders are double.

Choose a color in dark and light shades, plus use white.
For example, I made most of mine in dark green, light
green and white. I also made one in dark blue, light blue
and white.

Decide on how wide you want your dishcloth and make
your starting chain in multiples of 12. Therefore you would
want to start with a chain of 36 or 48. (24 would probably
be too small)

I will use 48 in this example. With the dark color chain
48 + 1 as the turning chain. Sc in the second chain from
the hook, sc in the next 2 chains, in the next chain insert
your hook into the chain, yarn over and pull up a loop,
then drop the dark color and pick up the light color and
finish off the sc with that. This keeps the edges straight.
Do that with all color changes.

Hold your dark color along the top of the chain so you
can crochet over it and carry it along across the work,
with the light color sc in next 4 chs, holding the light color
along the top of the ch so you can crochet over it, with
the dark color sc in next 4 chains.

Continue doing this to the last four chains. Now drop
the light color, you don't need to crochet over it and
bring it to the end. With the dark color sc in the last
4 chs, ch 1 and turn.

For rows 2 and 3, with dark color 1 sc in next 4, with
light color 1 sc in next 4, repeat to end of row.

On row 4 you repeat the above, except you do carry
the light color over the last 4 dark sts. You drop the dark
color as you will not be using it in the next 4 rows. At the
end of the next 4 rows you will want to carry the dark color
up along the side of the work so you don't have to cut it
off and sew in the ends each time.

You will begin with the light color on the next row.
Row 5 - with light color 1 sc in next 4, with white 1 sc in
next 4. Repeat to end of row. Rows 6 to 8 are done the
same as the first 4 rows except now you are using your
light color and white.

Repeat these 8 rows for the pattern. You will want to end
with 4 rows of the dark color and light color. You can then
do a border around the dishcloth with the dark color, if
you want.

I think this is a very pretty pattern. I don't have a photo
to show you as I gave those dishcloths away as gifts. I
always seem to give the prettiest ones away and keep
those that are not as pretty for myself. :)

National Craft Month:
March is National Craft Month. So you still have a few
days to take advantage of special offers at Joanne
and Create For Less


If you like to knit or crochet for Easter, here are some
cute patterns you might want to try.

Crochet:

Easter Basket

Shell Stitch Easter Basket

Bunny Door Knob Cover

Inside-Out Easter Egg Into a Bunny

Easter Bunny Fridgie

Easter Egg

Victorian Egg Covers

Bunny Flowers

Easter Chick Fridgie


Knit:

Easter Egg Baskets

One Egg Easter Basket

Easter Bunny

Cadbury Bunny Pattern

Easter Basket Dishcloth

Easter Egg With Stripes Dishcloth

Easter Peeps

Bunny Egg Cover

Easter Egg Decorations


Craft Articles:
The following articles have been added to my Craft Articles section:
Free Crochet Patterns For Beginners - By Linda Spangenburg
Crafting During a Recession - By Violette Clark
Making a Quilt? Plan Ahead For Patterns and Colors - By Lamar Dean
5 Best Reasons to Knit a Scarf - By Alice Seidel
You can read those at http://crochetandknitting.com/articles


That is all for today. Happy crafting!

Sincerely,

Sue Norrad
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