Friday, August 24, 2012

Hook and Needle Club dishcloths

Speaking of dishcloths... Yes, we were talking about dishcloths yesterday.

I received my second Hook and Needle Club kit and it is a set of three dishcloths. This time, however, the yarn skeins have labels. It is Lily Sugar 'n Cream in tea rose, yellow, and country green.

The pattern instructions say F hook but there was no way I'm using an F hook with worsted weight cotton - that's my excuse. That is a small hook! That would be a pain and so stiff. So I am going to use an H, which is what is suggested for that yarn.

One of the patterns is simply sc in back loop only to make a rib. I'm not going to do that because well, I've done it many times. I may do it eventually, but for now I'll just keep the yarn.

The other is a cross-over long stitch. I started it, but didn't like the way my long stitches were coming out, so I changed it to a sort of long back cross-stitch? I don't know if that's a stitch, but it is working for me. :-)



What I actually do is skip 3 stitches. In the 4th stitch I worked an extended double crochet. Then I went back and worked double crochets in the skipped stitches, going behind the edc that I made previously. Make sense? I do that on every row so the dishcloth is actually reversible and it appears similarly to the original pattern though worked in a different manner. It uses the same number of stitches.

The other pattern is a version of the seed stitch. It's not one I've worked before but once you get going it's easy to do. I like it! I am making it a little smaller than the pattern in hopes of enough yarn for my daughter to make the knitted one as well if she cares to. I used a chain of 29 rather than 39 and it worked.


I compared the two Sugar 'n Cream dishcloths to the I Love This Cotton crochet on the double sample I'd put together the day before. The difference was amazing. The SNCs were much stiffer and the cotd was much stretchier and softer. Don't get me wrong. The two SNCs were very pretty. I love them, and a dishcloth really doesn't have to be that soft. The colors of the SNC are also really nice. I am partial to the peachy tea rose color. I love it. The yellow is a nice shade too. But for softness, ILTC wins. At least before washing, it does.

Was this kit worth $23? The yarn itself I could probably get for under $10. I only used one of the patterns, but the other one did give me a good idea for the change, which I liked and enjoyed working. I also got knit patterns for my daughter which I would never purchase ordinarily since I don't knit. I'm counting it a win. Can't wait to see what the next one holds.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

3 comments:

  1. I've done the cross stitch thing several times with scarves, and I think a washcloth, always liked the way it looked. I love the peachy color too. Pricey for 3 cloths. I like sugarn cream as it hold up well, but agree it's a bit hard on the hands when you're working with it. Rounding today from Sandy's Space

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  2. I did the Hook & Needle monthly for a while. But I found that there were too many things that I just didn't have use for and didn't know anyone who did. It's hard to get people interested in using "warm" crocheted items in Arizona; our winters get down to the 50's. I have found that making small to medium afghans for a children's hospital is the best use for my crochet. Unless I am making a gift or working on a request. Puts me in kind of a rut though...

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  3. We'll see how it works for me too. I may discontinue if I find too many kits don't hold interest for me. These two were okay, some new experiences.

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