Do you use or make crochet bath or dish cloths?

[Smee]

I have seen crocheted dishcloths before, but not often and mostly on Etsy and the occasional craft fair. I never knew anyone who used them. I recently learned that my sister LOVES crocheted dishcloths, and one of my friends likes them. I've crocheted, with a variety of stitches, all sorts of afghans and spreads over the years. I mostly use acrylic yarn because it's what's cheap and and easily available where I am. We don't have any of the major craft shops that carry crochet/knitting stuff, and the small, locally owned shops mostly carry just quilting and sewing stuff.

Anyway, I am planning to make my sisters a bundle of crochet dishcloths for Christmas. I recently scored some cotton yarn on an out-of-town trip because it just seems like cotton would be the more sensible thing for getting wet. If you use (or make) crochet dishcloths, what do you like most? How do they hold up washing and drying? Does anyone here use crochet wash cloths in the shower? My sister tumble dries everything. Will they shrink to Barbie size?

I have made several samples just to try out around the house, but if you are a user and lover of handmade crochet cloths, I'd love to know what you love, what you hate, how big a pain they are to care for, whatever input you have from using them to making them even though I plan to experiment at home. Is acrylic yarn just as good or does it need to be cotton? Tighter stitch or looser? If I'm going to use cotton, I'll probably have to order it.

[Smee]

Here are some of my samples to be tested in my own lab here:


I don't think I like it. Too holey in the middle. We'll see.


I realize this next one is asymmetrical, but it's just a sample, so I didn't count stitches or anything. I just wanted a general idea of whether or not a ripple would work for this. If so, I can make them neat and symmetrical.


And then there's this:

[angeliainwonderland]

I like crochet hotpads. I find em at yard sales. They are double layer then stitched together. They re made with very fine thread of some sort.
I also LOVE the old square hotpads made on the loom. The ones from the 70-80's. The fabric is different in the kits you can buy now. Old ones were much better,thicker fabric.
I have never seen/used crochet dishclothes but personally I like your middle test one but I have a bit of unique/eclectic taste.

[JulieDB]

My grandma made them and my mom used them. I made them years ago but that yarn isn't cheap. And I quit using dishcloths many years ago. I find them to get stinky and nasty looking. And I'm allergic to bleach. So I just use a brush on my dishes and replace it frequently.

I did make a set of dishcloths and potholders for a woman I used to work with. She found a pattern she liked but she didn't know how to crochet. As I recall it was expensive to make.

[Gardencook]

I'm not a dishcloth person, but my Mom can't get along without them. She loves handmade dishcloths and uses them constantly. They hold up great in the wash. They definitely need to be made from cotton yarn. It is more absorbent and holds up well for years. Hers were knitted by her aunt years ago. The patterns are all over the Internet. One site with a pattern like her's is: FREE KNITTING PATTERNS: Basic Dishrag

[CW&M Mom]

My ex MIL does them..

They are doubly thick though.

[chitownmelli]

Smee, cotton is the way to go - and perhaps, try the tunisian stitch. Also called the afghan stitch. It makes a thicker cloth with smaller holes and does resist shrinkage better (from what I have found in my own experience anyway) I make sewn wash cloths from flannel and other materials, and I can suggest maybe going with like a 7" square - this way if you have a little shrinking, you still end up with about 6.5" square which is very comfortable in the hand. Hope this helps, and your crocheting looks great!

[Smee]

Thanks so much! I actually found a local source of cotton yarn today, so I picked some up. Chi, I have one on an afghan hook right now. Thanks for the suggestion (or what I perceived as your suggestion)! I'm liking it a lot better as far as texture and thickness, but of course being denser and tighter, it's taking me longer as well as being much smaller with the same number of stitches in my starting chain. I'll post more pictures as I finish off a couple of different ones.

[chitownmelli]

yeah that stitch takes awhile, but the good thing is that if you like, you really don't have to make a second one to stitch to the other side because of the thickness already. I think it's a very nice stitch, I don't do it often though, actually just for things like pot holders and the like. (so that by the time I get bored with it, I am done lol)

Can't wait to see your progress!

[Macaela25]

Fascinating....I've never seen such a thing. I learned to crochet when I was 10 or 11 and never progressed beyond endless yards of chain stitch that got progressively smaller and tighter...it was a mess.

I remember those potholder looms from the 80s...my sister used to make those. Those jokers could withstand anything.