| Project: Dishcloths |
| Pattern: “shooting star” from book “easy crochet dishcloths” by Rasmussen & Grangaard |
| Yarn Brand: Loops & Threads – Classic Cotton |
| Yarn Color: Twin 1 in White #27002; Twin 2 in Confetti Ombre #28006 |
| Crochet Skills: Slip knot; ch; sc; dc |
Around about March 2024, I picked up crochet again after many, many years of not having an interest in crochet or anything really to do with yarn. I think what got me going was picking up a dishcloth to wipe down the kitchen counter and noting the poor absorption due to the poor quality of the dishcloth and thinking this was due to the fabric content not being 100% cotton (I know, quelle horreur!).
Anyway, this got me to thinking about my grandmother’s dishcloths – I never knew her kitchen to have mal-absorbent, low-quality dishcloths because she made them herself (and she was perfect and wonderful). The dishcloth would develop the occasional hole, created through use, time, and age, but that just became sport – how long for this world is this dishcloth? At what point does a dishcloth cease being a dishcloth and become a rag? Big, deep, profound thinking in an otherwise uncomplicated world…
A trip to a local, big-box store, and I bought a book “easy crochet dishcloths” by Camilla Schmidt Rasmussen & Sofie Grangaard, two skeins of 100% cotton yarn “Loops & Threads” in white, and 2 crochet hooks (4mm; 3.5mm). The “easy” part of the book title sold me the book – I thought this would be a nice refresher to pick up crochet again and I think the illustrations and the explanations about pattern and chart reading are really very helpful.
My first attempt at the first pattern “shooting star” presented in the book definitely resulted in a pattern. Unfortunately, what it did not result in, beyond being a crocheted dishcloth, is anything resembling the photograph of the dishcloth in the book. Hmm. Not ok.
Despite the pattern error, I am still overall happy with Twin 1 because I learned how to add a new skein to the first skein without using the obvious knot/join I used in my crochet afghan of yesteryear. I also, avoided the teeny, tiny tail at the beginning and end of the project by leaving enough to conceal through the weave-in.
Another trip to a local, big-box; two skeins of “Loops & Threads” in color Confetti Ombre, and my second attempt at the first pattern resulted in a dishcloth with much better definition on the edges and matching more closely the photograph in the book. Incorporating the skills learned with Twin 1 and adding in accurate pattern-reading, Twin 2 is a very nice dishcloth. Yay!
The fraternal twins (same pattern, different outcomes) were gifted to my mom. I think she likes them because she has yet to use them. They are stacked neatly and have been deemed “too pretty to use”.