Dishcloth Crazy (and a pattern)

Yes, it's true.  I love making dishcloths.  I love the feel of handmade dischloths, and in my opinion, they scrub so much better than store bought.

Here's my simple crochet dishcloth pattern.  No frills, just your basic granny square cloth.

Materials:
Lilly Sugar 'n Creme cotton yarn
Smaller hook, size G or H to make a tight pattern.

Pattern:
Ch 6, join with sl st to make a ring
Round 1:  ch 3, 2 dc, (ch 3, 3 dc) 3 times, ch 3, sl st in top of ch 3 to join
Round 2:  sl st in next 2 dc and ch 3 sp, {ch 3, 2 dc, ch 3, 3 dc} in same ch 3 sp, {(ch 1, 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc) in next ch 3 sp} 3 times, ch 1, sl st in top of ch 3 to join.  Ch 3 to begin new round.
Round 3:  {2 dc, ch 3, 3 dc} in corner, *{ch 1, 3 dc} in each ch 1 sp of previous row, {3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc} in next corner*.  Repeat from * to * until reaching first dc (ch 3).  Join with sl st.  This is your basic pattern for each additional round.  Make sure to join each round before chaining 3 to start a new round

Repeat Round 2 until the dishcloth is the size you prefer.  Mine consist of 9 rounds.  Note that, as you add more rounds, to make {3 dc} in each {ch 1 sp} from the previous round.  So, on any given side, your pattern will look similar to this:

{3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc} in corner, ch 1, 3 dc, ch 1, 3dc, ch 1, {3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc} in corner 

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.  With any knowledge of your basic Granny Square, this should be a piece of cake!  I made three in one afternoon last week.  Enjoy!

A Sweater for Calvin

My first knitted garment is in the works!

My little buddy needs a sweet sweater for church.

I bought 5 skeins of Patons Classic Wool before Christmas, on clearance, for $1.99 per skein.  This means, his sweater will cost about $8.00 to make, not including tax of course.  I like this.

So far so good.  In fact, it's been much easier than I thought!  Here's hoping...

KAL Update!

I haven't posted week one of the KAL, so here's what's happened so far in weeks one and two.  I'll be adding the clue from week three shortly!

So far, I'm really enjoying it!  Looks like there's a Valentine theme going on.

It's not too late to join!  Check out KrisKnits for all the info.

Calorimetry

My favorite pattern of the season!  Super easy to make, and it knits up in a long evening.  A great way to use up small balls of yarn left over from other projects.  The pattern is here.

As the pattern is written, it makes a scarf that is huge.  This is what I did:

CO 80
Follow pattern as written.
Instead of 15 pattern repeats, do 12.
Follow pattern until ending.
BO in knit.

I used a lighter weight yarn for Emmie, but a worsted or aran yarn in the above pattern fits my head perfectly.  It's super easy to adjust for a different head size as well.

Would love to get one for myself and one for Charity and Lottie worked up before Spring.  Love, love, love this pattern!!

Capelet, Minus the Swing Cardi

So I messed up, and had to redo a lot of it.  I was determined to NOT let another project get the best of me. And it worked!  Except, after I pulled out the part to rework, I spilt tea all over it..... Yes.  So, I opted for a capelet.  I LOVE it!  It's my first garment, and I can't wait to wear it.

So pardon my crazy, mountain woman hair.  The Mister thinks it's cute.  Me?  Not so much.  Oh, and the pj's.  Ahem... comfy clothes...  Hey, at least I didn't have my bathrobe on.

Knit-Along!

I'm joining a Knit-Along on KrisKnits' blog.  You should too!  One 10" x 10" picture dishcloth per month.  They would make fabulous gifts, or you could keep them to fancy up your own dishcloth stash.  I think I will use mine to get a head start on Christmas gifts for next year.. but we'll see.  I may end up keeping them! 

Go here for more info.  I'll be sure to post my progress as I go!

Just kidding

That sweater for Monkey?  Not so much.  Too little yarn, translated the pattern wrong (original pattern was written for fingering weight yarn, I used DK and tried to tweak it...), plus I seriously dislike how it's turned out.  I've been having an aweful time with patterns lately!  Making Christmas presents was so difficult this year, due to the memory and concentration problems.  Oh well.  I threw it in my box for projects I don't like and need to pull out, to salvage the yarn.  I'll just forget about it for awhile - shouldn't be too hard!  LOL

Anyway, looking for my December issue of Crochet Today has proved to be futile... I can't find it anywhere (insert yet another memory joke here).  I'll just look up the pattern on Ravelry (my ID is threadedgoodness, btw).  It's for the Swing Cardi.  It's super cute!  And I'm in need of tops for sure.  Maybe this one will work out?

Here's to fighting my way through the brain fog.  One stitch at a time (hardy har harr).  :)