Recently, I’ve come to the epiphany that I’ll be moving out within a few years. I will be. My friends will be. Most of us have something in common… we’re broke college students, or in other words—we’re broke teenagers. I’ve always had the mindset of “how can I help you that will help you in the long run?”. That’s one of the reasons why this year, I’ve decided to make dishcloths for my friend's Christmas gifts. I know that in the yarn community that there’s some controversy about giving crochet/knit gifts for Christmas. Some people may argue this because “Why would I give somebody something that they aren’t going to use/appreciate if it’s just going to sit around?” I understand this. It’s a valid concern that I have every time I hand somebody a gift. This is a valid reason that I try not to overthink every time I hand somebody a piece of my hard work. I’m a gift-giver, though. I have always been, even if it’s as little as a “thank you for being in my life” card. I’ve decided to take this risk and I’m fine with that. In the end, I hope that they understand the value behind why I gave them dishcloths rather than the chance of them being offended or whatever the case may be.
I’ve limited my gifts this year, by quite a bit. In any other year, if I knew you—you were getting a gift from me. Now that I’m a college student, I have to prioritize my time (and money) wisely. To do this, I’ve decided to think effectively and think ahead. Everybody can use dishcloths, or in other words, pieces of hand-made cotton fabric. Because dishcloths are essentially cotton, they can be used for anything: washcloths, dishcloths, reusable makeup wipes, coasters, towels (if big enough), hot pads… Essentially, you can never go wrong with a dishcloth.
This year I’ve made a total of fourteen total dishcloths. Let me explain them to you.
Dishcloth Set 1:
Black/Sage green (2 total)
Black single crochet rectangle with sage green stripe
Black scrubby yarn with moss green scalloped edge
Yarn
Black/Hot Pink (2 total)
Black corner-to-corner square with dark pink stripe
Black scrubby yarn with dark pink scalloped
Yarn
Black/Navy (2 total)
Pattern: Wild-Wild-Fall Scarf/Cowl Free Pattern by Emilia’s Crochet
On bobble repeats, I used navy as an accent with a black base
Black scrubby with navy scalloped
Yarn
Although I swear I took a picture of these before I wrapped them up, you can just use your imagination :) I decided to use black as the main color because the person that this was going for loves the color black. It’s constantly in her wardrobe, her nails are black… etc. Plus who doesn’t love black?? It goes great with everything! And when you are washing dishes, it won’t stain as easily as white would—which is always a plus if you ask me. When I was looking in my stash, I knew I had to grab black. It was calling her name.
Coming into this, I really had no plan. I was on my way to a family Thanksgiving and I needed something that I could keep myself busy with on the car ride. So I grabbed my mini backpack and started packing with yarn. After I grabbed the black, I opened up all my cotton boxes and started pairing. I at first grabbed the sage green because it reminded me of the army green that she used to like a lot. I’ve always been a fan of this color, so I figured why not. Next, I started looking at some of my scraps and figured I could use up the rest of my Lion Brand Re-Up yarn (the pink). I didn’t have enough to make a full dishcloth, but I knew I had enough for an accent. So there was that! I knew what my next color was going to be. At this point, I didn’t know exactly what I was going to be doing or how many I was going to make. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt to grab another color just in case. I grabbed the navy blue and the black scrubby yarn and went on my way.
I was only able to crochet half of a single crochet rectangle dishcloth in the car and one black scrubby. Any other day I would be able to crochet a lot more, but I was feeling distracted (and quite frankly, I was really tired). I called it quits for the car ride and enjoyed my day.
Dishcloth Set #2
Pink/Blue/White Cotton Scrubby Pad with Blue Border
Yarn Bee Scrub-Ology Cotton Yarn
https://www.hobbylobby.com/Yarn-Needle-Art/Yarn/Yarn-Bee-Scrub-Ology-Cotton-Yarn/p/SO97283
This yarn is now discontinued, but this is the link to a similar yarn.
Yarn Bee Sugarwheel Cotton Cakes
What I used were solid colors, this yarn is now discontinued.
Blue Polyester Scrubby Pad with a Pink Cotton Border
Red Heart Scrubby Yarn
Pink Cotton Scraps
https://www.yarnspirations.com/lily-sugarn-cream-the-original-yarn/102001.html
This is not the particular yarn that I used, but it is, however, a similar color.
Red/Green/White Polyester Scrubby Pad with a Red Cotton Border
Red Heart Scrubby Yarn
Red Border
Blue Ombre Single Crochet Dishcloth
I used five different shades of blue cotton yarn using the discontinued Sugarwheel Cotton Cakes.
Yarn Bee Sugarwheel Cotton Cakes
While making this second set, I had a particular person in mind. One of her favorite colors was yellow and I, unfortunately, didn’t have enough yellow yarn to make a themed dishcloth set out of it. So I decided on blue instead. I had a lot of fun mixing the colors together and I think I did a good job! I don’t get to play with colors a lot, so when I do I tend to have a lot of fun with them!
I knew I wanted to make some scrubby pads because they really are useful whilst doing the dishes. If you don’t want to use them for the dishes they could be used for coasters as well. The polyester material, it makes it nice to scrub dishes with. I don’t actually know, but I think you could use the cotton scrubbies as a substitute for a face wipe if you are careful enough. Either way, they are multi-use and multi-purpose. Since these were Christmas gifts, I wanted to spruce in a little Christmas-themed one too. Since I’ve made three scrubbies by this point, I wanted to make an actual dishcloth. Because I had a lot of cotton yarns in the shade of blue I figured I’d do an ombre with them. I choose single crochet because it shows off the colors the best!
Dishcloth Set #3
Red/Green/White Polyester Scrubby Pad with a Red Cotton Border
Red Heart Scrubby Yarn
Red Border
.Pink Polyester Scrubby Pad with a Blue Cotton Border
Red Heart Scrubby Yarn
Blue Sugarwheel Cotton Cakes
Blue/White/Pink Cotton Scrubby Pad with a Pink Border
Yarn Bee Scrub-Ology Cotton Yarn
Pink Border
Pink Ombre Single Crochet Dishcloth
Tea Rose
Hot Pink
Two Shades of Sugarwheel Cotton Cakes
Similarly to the set above, I had the same mindset going into this third set whilst crocheting them but with pink instead of blue. I’ve had these gifts finished for a bit now but I’ve waited to share them because of the holidays. Thank you for reading about my dishcloth sets! Hopefully, I’ve inspired you to create your own or maybe even do the dishes, haha I’m just kidding. But thank you for reading and have a great day!
Emilia
Emilia’s Crochet Studio
