Not Your Grandma’s Tea Towel

I love the way my grandma makes crochet tops to her dish towels.  She made me one once, and it looks like this:

I also love my husband’s grandma, who gives us new bath towels for Christmas every year.  The good news is that we have a ton of fluffy awesome bath towels.  The bad news is that we also have a ton of fluffy awesome wash cloths, which we don’t use.  We’re a shower pouf kind of family, I guess.  Anyway, something we *do* use is dish towels, which (since we try not to use paper towels) we go through quite rapidly.

Anyway, I fear I’ve already made this short story long, so let me sum up:  grandma + grandma = awesome idea to upcycle some sad, neglected little wash cloths.  Here’s what I used:

That’s a wash cloth, some black yarn, my crochet needle (size G or H, I believe, though it doesn’t really matter), an embroidery needle, and one of those little clasp-y thingies.  I have no idea what they’re actually called; I bought them to hold sets of hole-punched index cards together.  One end is hinged & the other has a little clasp.  A key chain ring will also work for this.  Some people prefer to use buttons (my grandma does), so use whatever you’re most comfortable with.  I really don’t care, as long as you’re happy.

Anyway, step one is to turn your wash cloth so one of the corners is at the top:

Next, take your embroidery needle & sew a line of simple stitches a few inches down from the corner (like you’d do if you were playing with a lacing card… nothing fancy here.  When you’re done, you should have a triangle at the top of your washcloth with the bottom edge made up of your row of yarn stitches.  Finish off your needle work & get out that crochet hook!

Now comes the fun part!  Crochet around the top of your washcloth, using that row of stitches as your “chain” to start.  Go the whole way around, attaching with a slip stitch when you get to the end.  I used double crochets, but you can use whatever stitch you like!  Anyway, there’s no real pattern here – just keep going around and around in circles until your crochet is big enough to cover up the top tip of your wash cloth.  I realize now I should have taken a ton more pictures of this, so please forgive me…  I’ll do better next time!

You’re almost done!  Once you cover up the wash cloth, decrease stitch around evenly until you’re left with a single row of stitches (I believe when all was said and done there were 4 or 5 stitches across once I had closed the circle on mine).  Now just pretend you’re making a ribbon – make row after row (which will go quickly since you’ve only got a few stitches) until you’ve got about 6 inches, then finish off.

Here’s what you should have now:

As you can see, you simply fold your crochet “ribbon” down to form a loop, then connect it to itself with your key chain or claspy- thingie.  (I’m so scientific, aren’t I?)

If you’re looking for some crochet tips, check out crochetpatterncentral.com – it’s full of awesome free patterns & tutorials.  If you’re a visual learner like I am, never underestimate the power of watching you tube tutorials.

Anyway, enjoy my little pattern, and feel free to e-mail me with questions!  })i({

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