Day to Day

On her needles

 

After school today Bella finally finished her second knitted hat for her Blythe dolls (only this one is winging itself to another little girl).  I had to sew it up for her, add the pom pom and crochet the strings, but the main bulk of knitting she completed herself.  She's been using the 16ply that James gave her for her birthday and it knits up so lovely and fast for a little one.

Her knitting has come a long way over the past couple of years.  Her stitches are now even and it's rare for her to drop a stitch.  There are plans for a third hat too, which will no doubt be on her needles tomorrow after school!

Create-a-long wind up

Thanks so much to everyone that played along over the last two weeks.  Did you have fun and make lots of dishcloths?  I can't be sure, but I'm thinking Tracy might hold the record for 'most dishcloths created' - 21 of them on her last blog post! How good is that!!?

Please leave a comment on this post and let us know how many you managed, then I'll do a grand total and share.  

Here are a few more that I've spotted from you all over the last few days:

 

By Allison.

By Amber.

By Amy.

By Anne.

By Cheryl.

By Grace.

By Lisa.

By Mandy.

By Sew Funky.       

By Teresa.

They're all so pretty.  I squeezed in eight and I'm thinking that another create-a-long might be in order a little closer to Christmas time so I can whip up some for last minute gifts.  My Mum (who is now also madly knitting dishcloths) taught me how to do blackberry stitch a couple of days ago, so I'm going to try and attempt a blackberry stitch dishcloth over the weekend, I'll let you know how I go.

Okay, let the tally begin:

Me: 8 dishcloths

Sewing in the ends

The worst part of finishing a dishcloth in my opinion is sewing in the ends.  It only takes a few seconds but as you can see here, I've finished three more dishcloths that are all waiting to have their ends sewn in!

And a few more cloths that I've spotted from around the web:

 
Tracy has finished 19 (yes....nineteen!) dishcloths over the last week - I love this heart one especially. 

 

I adore this sweet pattern, in progress by Amy.

These pretty ones are by Carol.  She has popped a little tutorial on her blog too, incase you'd like to crochet some for yourself.  Link HERE.

Such pretty yarn - cloth by Chas.  

Cheryl created this one and I love that one of her children made the soap! 

Pretty, pretty, pretty! By Kellie. 

On Leeanne's needles - all the way from South Africa.  

Mandy created these divine acorns, love love! Very sweet for our upcoming autumn months in Australia. 

Dione has written the pattern for this zigzag cloth (I have one of these on my needles as I type).  Link HERE.

I might steal these two from Tracey (I have a thing for pink) - they're gorgeous and such a nice pattern. 

Phew! So many beautiful dishcloths from you all.  I'm not sure how many I'll complete over the next few days as I have work, kitchen renovating and Bella's upcoming birthday this weekend.  I'm also feeling a little under the weather tonight, so we'll see how I go.  I'm really enjoying all these beautiful designs that you're all working on though - so much colour! Makes me wish I had beautiful coloured yarn to play with instead of that 400 grams of Latte cotton that I'm working my way through.  Maybe I can treat myself to something pretty once I use it all up!

Dishcloth giving

The rewards of my dishcloth stash were being able to wrap up a couple for Beth's birthday.  This year I think I might have mentioned in a previous post that I'm going to try really hard to give something handmade with everybody's birthday gift.  I'm also allowing books in my birthday giving, because everyone needs nice books for their bookshelves.  The soap I've included here is by Beauty & the bees (they have the best products) and the book is one of my most favourite cookbooks, Afternoon Tea.

I tied the package up using some yummy Retro Mummy fabric and then got to work on another dishcloth:

It's a basket weave pattern that I found HERE.

Ta-da! Knitting + giving = fun!  How is your dishcloth/washcloth stash coming along?  We're nearly half way there.  How many have you managed?  I've squeezed in five which is not quite as many as I'd have liked, but it's a start - especially since there is still another week to go in the create-a-long.

I spy

I spy with my little eye, several lovely washcloths that you've all been busy making!

This one by the sweet Cee - I love the pattern, it's so pretty. 

This one is by Tracy, but there are LOTS more beautiful ones on her blog that she has already whipped up for the create-a-long!! Tracy, can you move in with me please and crochet all of my dishcloths too??!!  Go HERE to see them all.  It was so hard to pick a favourite to post a photo of.

More sweet cloths, this time from Anne.  I love your pretty new cotton yarn too Anne, can't wait to see how that knits up!

This one (by Bron) looks so inviting with that yummy soap on top, I love seeing how everyone is photographing their cloths.

Happy yellow sunshine.  That's what this one reminds me of - wishing I had cute yellow yarn right this minute so I could whip up one too.  Cloth by Carol.

These are clever, three cute matching fish - love them Jasmine!

Lisa has also been going crazy with cloths, just look at her little pile of cuteness growing in the background.  So good.

That's all for tonight as I need to get back to my crocheting.  I'll be trawling around tomorrow looking for more sweet cloths to share!

Knit + crochet

How are you all going with the create-a-long?  Having fun?  Knitting & crocheting lots?  

I've only just finished my first cloth and started my second a little while ago.  It was Bella's last day home today (school starts tomorrow) and we spent the day hanging out and also having a major de-clutter!  We've also started ripping out our old kitchen, so the place looks like a bit of a bomb has gone off tonight.  Nevertheless, I'm slowly plodding along and hope to perhaps finish the second dishcloth before bed tonight. 

As I said yesterday, I was going to whip up a cute apple dishcloth using Salihan's pattern, but I really want to acquire some red cotton yarn to do the edging (because I think it looks so cute), so I moved onto another one while I'm waiting for the yarn.  This pattern is called 'Easy Crocheted Dishcloth' and you can find the link HERE.  I'm not yet capable of complicated crochet patterns, so I've been on the lookout for easy peasy ones to add in my favourite folder.

It's lovely to see some of you already blogging your dishcloths/washcloths.  Some of you have already made 4 or more, so good!  I also see that there are more names from today to add into my sidebar -  I'll add you all tonight.  Welcome and thanks for joining in :-)

See you all tomorrow and happy cloth making.  I'll share some of YOUR creations in my next post :-)

Washcloth/dishcloth create-a-long - part 2

Ready...set...knit!  Ready....set...crochet!  

Have you all started working on your handmade stash yet?  We have 19 participants in my sidebar now, plus a few more people that I haven't had a chance to add (but I will by tomorrow morning, promise).  I have my first washcloth on my needles and it's about 3/4 finished. I'm even thinking of crocheting the next one too, so it's a little faster.  I found this super cute pattern today, which I might give a whirl:

It's so cute and there's a free tutorial by the super lovely Salihan HERE, just incase you'd like to make one too.  

There are also some fabulous links for more free tutorials on my washcloth/dishcloth post HERE - scroll down to read the comments at the bottom to find the links and there are also some nice discussions going on there.  Please leave a comment on this post if you've been super speedy and already finished your first one (or second or third even) - we'd love to see photos if you are able to do a post on your blog and link it back here.

This one above isn't technically a washcloth (it's a pot holder), but I wanted to share the link just incase you found it as cute as I do.  Pattern available HERE. 

These ones are really pretty too - pattern available HERE. 

Well, just a quick post tonight because I'm off to bed now.  I'll be sure to update the list tomorrow morning - I wonder how many cloths we will have between us at the end of the two weeks?  Let's do an end tally, that should be fun!

Happy knitting and crocheting :-)

Washcloth/dishcloth create-a-long - part 1

Thanks for joining in everybody! We have thirteen lovely girls signed up and I've popped a list of everybody in my sidebar (in the right hand side).  Please let me know if I've accidentally left you off the sign up list.

It's nice to see that there is going to be a good mix of knitters and crocheters working on cloths! Tonight I thought I'd post a few links for patterns that I've come across over the last few days.  Perhaps you have others that you'd like to share with everyone?  Leave a comment in this post with a link if you do, so others can see them :-)

Knitting pattern: Dirty girl washcloths - includes a pattern for garter stitch, stockinette & basket weave.  Pattern HERE. 

 

Crochet pattern: X Marks the washcloth - Pattern HERE.

Knitting pattern: Simple cable washcloth - Pattern HERE.

 

Crochet pattern: Pattern HERE.

Knitting pattern: Wedding washcloths (I'm casting this one on myself for Monday) - Pattern HERE. 

Crochet pattern: Circular face cloth - Pattern HERE. 

Knitting: Hex-a-cloth - Pattern HERE.  This one is a free pattern from Sew Funky (who is also joining in with the create-a-long) - there are lots more gorgeous free ones HERE too (click on cloth patterns up the top).

Crochet: Snapdragon washcloth - Pattern HERE. 

That's it for today - I'll share more during the create-a-long.  I have my cotton yarn and pattern ready to go.  Which pattern are you using?

Washcloth/dishcloth create-a-long

 

I'm pretty hopeless at staying committed to really long term crafting ideas.  I like to create simple and fast projects so that I can move onto the next thing quickly.  So, with my recently purchased 400 grams of cotton yarn ready to roll on a series of washcloths, it's also sitting in the back of my mind that if I don't get moving and conquer a big batch of them soon, then one or two may get knitted up and rest of the balls might be popped in my knitting basket to gather dust.

So, for the next two weeks I'm going on a knitting washcloth frenzy!  I'm going to knit until I can't stand the word 'washcloth' anymore or until I make myself overdose on cotton yarn.  The best bit though, is that at the end of the two weeks I will have a lovely pile of washcloths ready for handmade giving throughout the year.

I'm not sure if I have many knitting/crocheting readers, so it might be just me on this crazy knitting mission, but if I do and some of you would like to join me in my washcloth frenzy, then I'd love to have you.  They make great presents, especially if you add some nice soap and tie them up all sweet with fabric strips or ribbon. 

I plan to start knitting on Monday (8th Feb) and if anybody would like to join in then leave a message on this post.  I'll create a list of participants in my side bar and will also do some blog posts sharing free pattern links from around the net.  I'm going to be knitting mine, but you can crochet them if you prefer.

This should be fun!

Mama & me knitting.

Making my heart full.  We've been knitting, side by side on the couch. 

Me: a scarf for Bella to match her new leg warmers.

Bella: a scarf for her Blythe dolly.

I let her use some really special left over yarn that I had in the cupboard.  She thinks it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful that she thinks it's wonderful.