Make your own dish cloth

Make your own dish cloth

I’ve always been money conscientious. I’m told that is because I’m a Capricorn. Whether you believe in astrology or not, if you want to be self-sufficient then money is an important concern.

There are a lot of important things Covid-19 has taught us and among them is that everyone has a price.

Mine is two dollars.

That’s what the grocery stores were charging per roll for a multipack of paper towels.

While we don’t have little kids running around spilling things, we do use a lot of paper towels. Dennis uses them when he makes cheese. (You would not believe how messy making cheese can be!)

I use them to clean windows and glass or to pick up spills or messes.

And then we throw them away.

We have NEVER paid two dollars a roll and we had always stocked up when they were on sale.

As I stood in the paper aisle and stared at the packages of paper towels and the price I just couldn’t bring myself to buy them.

That’s when I asked the same question I always ask myself in these situations, “What did my mother or grandmother use?”

Of course the answer was easy. They used cotton towels.

We do use an abundance of cotton towels and love the plain white cotton flour sack towels. By the end of the week (and Dennis’ cheese making) we do a whole load of just white towels and hang them out on the clothes line where they dry and whiten in the sunshine.

We also buy sponges for cleaning and then throw those away. It dawned on me that, though these items don’t typically cost a lot of money, it is wasted money.

That’s when I decided I need to make my own towels. I mean how hard could that be, right?

Turns out the hardest part was finding 100% cotton yarn and you will want cotton yarn for absorbency.

Lily’s Sugar n Cream 100% cotton yarn is pretty good. It’s easy to work with and makes a great wash cloth.

Lion’s Brand makes a recycled yarn that is 85% cotton and 15% polyester. It works good in a finished washcloth, but wasn’t the easiest to work with.

Then I found Lily’s Sugar n Cream Scrub Off yarn and thought I would give that a try. If you have never crocheted before, I would not recommend using this yarn to learn.  It can be a little frustrating because of the different textures.

Gray Washcloth

I used Lily’s Sugar N Cream Scrub off yarn for this wash cloth.

I used youtube videos and a book I found at the craft store on how to crochet to teach myself. I used one roll of the Lily’s Sugar n Cream Scrub off yarn in a multi-gray color. The only stitch I used was a simple single crochet.

It took me a couple of days to make this but I didn’t spend a lot of time overall. Whenever I had a few minutes, I just picked it up and crocheted a few rows. That was the good thing about using just the simple single crochet, there was no complex pattern to follow.

Before I did the large gray washcloth, I started off by using the Lion’s Brand recycled cotton blend yarn to make this small dish cloth. I didn’t care how it came out because I was only going to use it to wash dishes and wipe down the counters. I practiced several different stitches to see which one I would like and what would be easiest (and to get practice).

Small wash cloth

This was my practice wash cloth. It’s not perfect, but perfect for us to use around the house.

Dennis loved the little white washcloth but wanted something a little bigger. That’s when I found the Scrub Off yarn and gave that a try.

I am super thrilled with both my projects. Next up is a dish towel. For that I think I’ll use more of the recycled cotton blend yarn and try a more complex pattern. But you don’t have to. Remember, these handmade washcloths and towels are just for you to dirty up and use. It doesn’t matter what they look like as long as they get the job done. But if you get really good at it, you could whip up a few for gifts!

We still use paper towels around the house, but my goal is to use less and rely on my reusable handmade towels as much as possible.

And maybe save a few dollars along the way.

Wash cloth

Gray Multi wash cloth in single crochet pattern.