Hello Crafters!

Today we will make three beautiful dishcloths using three different (but easy) crochet stitches!

First off, if you have never made dishcloths before you have been missing out because they are quick to make and they present the perfect oppourtunity to practice new stitches since they are usually just worked in a basic square shape.

Which Yarn Should You Use?

Now normally I would say go crazy and use whatever exciting yarn you can find in your stash but for this project I would not recommend doing that. Dishcloths are pretty annoying and useless if they don’t absorb water and you will need to wash and dry them countless times. You definitely want them to keep their shape after you worked so hard on them!

For these reasons I would strongly recommend that you use a cotton yarn. A cotton blend would work as well but I would try to make sure it is at least 60% cotton to ensure good results. Whatever you do avoid wool. Wool will ‘felt’ when it absorbs water and it will felt a little more every time you put it through the washer and dryer.

For this tutorial I used a couple of different cotton yarns but there are a bunch out there just read the labels! (Yay! an excuse to buy more yarn 🙂 )

These are the yarns I used for this tutorial:

• Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in “Lemon Swirl Ombre”
• Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Big Ball in “Psychedelic Ombre”
• The red / green yarn is Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Big Ball as well but I cannot seem to find the label anywhere so I cannot tell you exactly what colour it is. Sorry!

The first stitch I want to show you is the mini bean stitch. It creates little bumps (or beans!) that are perfect for a scrubby / absorbent dishcloth. Let’s begin!

Mini Bean Stitch

ROW 1 : Chain in multiples of two and then add one stitch.

YO and insert your hook into the third chain from the hook, YO again and pull your hook back through the stitch.

YO again and insert hook into same stitch. YO and pull hook through same stitch.Now you should have 4 loops on your hook.

YO and pull through all the loops on your hook.

You’ve created your first bean!

Chain 1. Skip the next stitch and create a bean stitch in the next stitch.

Continue this pattern across to the end of the row.

Once you reach the end of the row, crochet a bean stitch in the last chain.

ROW 2 : Chain 2. Turn your work over.

Crochet a bean stitch into the space on the side of the previous bean stitch (I marked the first few spaces so you can see where to work your bean stitches). Continue the pattern from the previous row to the end!

(Bean stitch, CH1, Bean stitch in next stitch)

That’s it for the mini bean stitch!

The next stitch is called Crossed Half Double Crochet it is a beautiful stitch that looks similar to knitting!

Crossed Half Double Crochet

For this stitch you will need to use Half Double Crochet (or HDC)

Half Double Crochet is the same as Double Crochet but once you have yarned over and have three loops on your hook you will yarn over and pull through ALL three loops on the hook. (In double crochet you would pull through two loops and then yarn over again and do the other two loops)

Now that that is cleared up let’s begin!

Chain an even number of stitches (I did 40)

ROW 1 : HDC in 3rd stitch from hook and each stitch across to the end of the row.

**Reminder** HDC means YO, insert hook into stitch, YO pull hook back through stitch, YO and pull through all the loops on the hook.

ROW 2 : Chain 2. Skip 1HDC and HDC into the next stitch. (The space indicated by the hook in the picture)

Then HDC into the HDC that you just skipped.

Continue this (skip 1HDC, HDC in next, go back and HDC in skipped HDC) until the end of the row.

ROW 3 : To start a new row simply Chain 2. Turn your work over, and continue the bolded pattern  from Row 2!

Just fold your square diagonally to check when you have done enough rows to form a square.

You’ve completed your second dishcloth! Wasn’t that easy?

Now for the third and final dishcloth stitch, the Moss Stitch. I’ve seen this stitch called the Linen Stitch as well.

Moss Stitch

Start with a chain with an even number of stitches.

ROW 1: SC into the 4th chain from the hook. CH 1.

Skip the next chain and SC into the next stitch. CH 1.  Continue to end of row.

ROW 2: Chain 2. Skip first SC and SC in chain space. (Indicated with yellow dot)

Chain 1 and single crochet into the next chain space. Continue across. At the end of the row SC in the last space.

Continue this pattern until you have formed a square!

(CH2, SC in chain space, CH1, SC in chain space)

Good work you’re a dishcloth pro now! I think I know what all your friends and family are getting for Christmas 🙂

If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!