Dishcloths

My Mom taught me how to crochet when I was young.  I remember making her a crochet square that said 'I love you' in the middle.  Like most things I did I winged it and it came out looking like something only a mother could love, but I was proud and so was she.  I also remember learning how to knit.  I tried to make a scarf a few different times and as rough as my crocheting was, it was better than my knitting. 

These childhood memories lead me to my recent desire to learn to crochet.  I was looking for a portable hobby.  I LOVE sewing, but it does have its drawbacks, namely, I have to be sitting in front of my sewing machine to do it and there can be a lot of clean up.  Don't get me wrong I have a few projects on the go and more in my head, I just thought crocheting would be a nice addiction addition to my life.

This past Christmas my Mom bought me a few essentials to start me on my new hobby of crocheting.  One of those things was a book of patterns for dishcloths.  They turned out to be pretty fun and easy.  It is nice to work on a nice quick project and see immediate results.  I love how colourful yarn is and how beautiful a grouping of colourful crochet items look, like these dishcloths I made for the kids teachers this year:

The pattern I used turned out to be one I found online and not one from the book I have, I wish I could remember which site I found it on.  I found so many great looking patterns and ideas, so far I have been keeping my projects pretty simple.  One pattern I did try was a pattern for dish scrubbies made out of tulle or netting.  How fun is that, and I had left over netting at home, so free to try.  The pattern I used left a little to be desired and all 7 or so scrubbies i have made look a little different, but hey they are for washing dishes so who is going to complain.  3 of the nicer ones will be going with the dishcloths to the kids' teachers.

I also found another use for them, my fish tank had a little algae build up on the sides, so I was looking in the pet store at all the options I had to clean the tank.  One of the tools they had looked exactly like a kitchen scrubbie.  As luck would have it I already had one made and unused at home, so off I went to clean the tank.  Beautiful.  My fish tank looks sparkly new again.