Water Bottle Holder/Carriers and Some Knitting

I've haven't been doing a lot of crafting lately.  The Christmas cookie plates have finally cured and I gave Dear Daughter three of the four that I made.  I kept the red snowflake plate for myself.


I dug into my fabric stash and pulled out some bigger pieces to make water bottle holders/carriers.  I already have some water bottle carriers, but I wanted to make some in different colors and bigger sizes to fit a larger bottle.  It was nice to find a good use for this fabric and the insulbrite.  Here are the sizes of the fabric pieces to put this together.

I made these five carriers in the last couple of weeks and I'm loving the bright happy colors just in time for spring and summer.

My waiting room knitting  has been dishcloths.  My daughter and I have enough dishcloths for the foreseeable future, but I need to knit up my cotton yarn, so I continue to make them.  I will store them at my house until they are needed.

Washcloth Project

    I knit more dishcloths, but I'm going to use them as wash cloths in the bathroom.  I made a set of 8 washcloths but I have more yarn so I going to make as many as I can with the yarn I have.  I bought four skeins of I Love This Cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby.  I like to use that brand of cotton yarn because it's a little softer than the Lily Sugar 'n Cream or Peaches & Creme cotton yarn. 

Homemade Kitchen Gifts

   I finished making the potholders, hanging dishtowels, and knitted dishcloths for my niece who is getting married in June.  I sent a picture to her parents last night to let them know what is going on and to verify an address to mail and her Mom said she will love the colors.

   I made one change to the potholders binding.  I cut the binding 2.75" wide and it fit a lot better since it was binding two layers of fabric, two layers of batting, and one layer of Insul-Brite.

    This is eight knitted dishcloths, 4 quilted potholders, and 4 hanging dishtowels.  It turned out to be a nice set.

Gift Set

    I made a gift set for a friend this week.  I knitted her three dishcloths and made her two quilted potholders for her kitchen.  She loves handmade items and will enjoy having these in her kitchen.

    I had everything I needed for the potholders in my stash of fabric, Insul-brite and cotton batting.  I put a layer of Insul-brite in between two layers of cotton batting in the sandwich of my potholders.  It wasn't too thick to sew using my Accu-feed foot on my Janome machine.  The yellow cotton yarn was a new purchase bought specifically to make sunny dishcloths for my friends and family.

Dishcloth Update

So here is an update on my dishcloth project.  I didn't commit to making one dishcloth a week, but I have been knitting dishcloths pretty regularly.  I have 11 dishcloths made, although the ends need to be woven in, I'm considering them finished and I have two more on the needles.  I will have plenty of dishcloths to share with DD at the holidays.

I Made Some Dishcloths . . .

   Actually, I made a bunch of dishcloths.  I've been crocheting dishcloths on and off since last week and I think I've made about 12 so far.  I've given some to dear daughter and I kept some.

   In keeping with my cotton yarn dishcloth project, I received my Dishie (190 yards, worsted weight, cost is $2.99, lots of colors to choose from)  yarn from Knit Picks.com yesterday in the Honeydew colorway.  I love this color and the yarn is pretty soft for a 100% cotton workhorse yarn.

   I couldn't resist winding* up a skein to try it out last night.  I crocheted five dishcloths, with a little leftover, from one skein of this yarn with my size I (also known as size 9 or 5.5 mm) crochet hook.  I could use a smaller hook, but I like my size I hook and I love the loose fabric that it produces.  I think the loose fabric is better for dishcloths (pattern link here) so they can dry quicker.  It takes me about 45 minutes to work up one of these dishcloths and it's time well spent while watching TV or podcasts on YouTube.

  I really liked working with this yarn and I would buy it again.

     *I always hand wind my yarn into balls to make it easier to use and to check for defects.
       I learned this from the first book I ever read on crochet in 1973.

My Finished Dishcloth Shawl

  I finished my super simple Dishcloth shawl.  This shawl is a very simple triangular shaped shawl that is made by using Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth pattern (all garter stitch with one yarn over at the beginning of each row) which is worked on the bias.  You just keep knitting until you get a nice size shawl or just until you feel like you have enough yarn to bind off the long end.  This is a free pattern on the Internet.  I found the pattern in a couple of places, this website has instructions for finishing off the last row with yarn overs to match the other two sides, which I did not do.  

 I tried to make one of these a couple of years ago using lace weight wool yarn held double but it didn't turn out very well and I abandoned it after a year of working on it.  

   I made this shawl with almost 5 skeins of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn (my favorite acrylic yarn) in the Linen colorway.  I used a size 8 circular needle with a 60" cable which was just big enough when the shawl was finished.  I already had the needles and the yarn cost me about $20.00.  I started this project on March 26th and finished this morning, knitting on it here and there until the other day when I brought it out and really got going on it.  

   My shawl is very thick and feels great on my shoulders.  I could have used a bigger needle to get a little looser fabric that would have been just as nice.  This pattern is very flexible and you can use any yarn weight and any needles to make this shawl.  

Granny Square Dishcloths Made With Cotton Yarn

       I had a bunch of cotton yarn in my stash (Peaches and Creme Yarn) and it was time for new dishcloths.   Instead of small squares of closely crocheted stitches, I made eight traditional granny squares with lots of open spaces.  I make them with with 6 rounds of crochet and a size G hook.  They are easy to make (each square takes about 45 minutes), very absorbent, good for scrubbing, and last a long time.  You do have to wring them out really well after using and let them dry or they will get mildewed because the cotton yarn hangs onto moisture.