Hello dishcloth lovers!!

Dishcloth, a humble piece of crocheted article, is so versatile and multi-functional. I love the dishcloth! Not only is it an excellent beginner's project, advanced crocheters too can create them while making samplers. Use them in the kitchen to clean up the mess, wipe kids' faces and hands after they've had meals, use as washcloths in the bath or just for general cleaning purposes. Dishcloths always stand up to the rough treatment they are meted out. No doubt some things in life do need to be sturdy and strong enough to brave whatever comes their way!

Generally speaking, there aren't any rules about crocheting a dishcloth. However, if you need your dishcloths to be sturdy, consider the following:

• Use a strong yarn. Save fancy delicate yarns to make other dainty articles such as doilies, laces and party bags.

• Try using 100% cotton yarn. Regular yarns available in stores are typically acrylic, the main problem with which is that many of them are not skin and child friendly. They are also less absorbent in comparison with cotton. Acrylic yarns bobble up after a few washes, whereas cotton remains the same.

Specialty baby yarn is available in stores. Instead of going by their colors and smooth texture, pay attention to the amount of cotton in it. Make sure the yarn used to crochet dishcloths for babies and children is 100% cotton.

• Make the dishcloth last longer by using bulky stitches such as the afghan and shell stitches. Patterns requiring intricate stitches may interfere with the rough usage. Too many meshes may get entangled in hooks, cabinet corners or kids' tiny fingers.

• Crochet dishcloths slightly bigger than the size of your palm so you can hold them easily while using them, especially for cleaning kitchen counter and other surfaces. Too small a dishcloth may get squished and too big may become very bulky. Of course, you will need to crochet bigger dishcloths if they are to be used as towels.

Here are some dishcloth patterns to help you get started:

• Daisy/sunflower kitchen set – http://hometown.aol.com/lffunt/daisy...

• Free patterns for dishcloths – http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/free/d...

• Many links for kitchen related crochet items are available at – http://www.chainedlinks.com/kitchen.html and http://crochet.about.com/od/kitchenp...

Many other sites give dishcloth patterns. Don't forget to checkout the numerous crochet blogs!

If you do not have time to look for patterns, just select a stitch and crochet a 7"x7" square. The basic dishcloth is ready!

Happy crocheting and cleaning!

Hello all,

You are a crocheter. Your hubby and kids are familiar with your idiosyncrasies as a crocheter. They also know what a crochet pattern looks like. One fine day, your child, hubby or friend fell in love with an afghan pattern and asks you to crochet it. It's all lovely and great until you realize that the pattern in question will in reality be an afghan much smaller than what is needed.

What do you do? Tell the person that it cannot be done and you'll make another one? Well, there is a way you can still make the afghan without breaking hearts. It just needs a bit of imagination and creativity. Instead of dropping the idea of making the afghan see if you can crochet smart and combine the pattern with real life requirements.

Read through the pattern instructions and look at its photograph to determine the kind of afghan it is. A simple granny square afghan simplifies your task. All you have to do is make more granny squares and join them together to get the required size.

Some afghan patterns are made by repeatedly joining the basic two or more blocks, just like it is in quilting. Two such afghan patterns are http://crochet.about.com/library/wee... and http://megan.cc/RosesBlanket. Other afghans may first require you to make a specific number of panels of the same pattern as in http://www.acmoore.com/Projects/yarn.... In patterns like these, you can simply crochet the required number of basic motifs or panels and join them lengthwise or width wise as per your needs. Finally, follow the pattern for borders and fringes.

Adding more stitches and crocheting additional rows can increase the size of afghan patterns consisting of ripples, stripes and repeated rows of one or two stitches. An example of such an afghan is http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/....

At times, the pattern may show asymmetric designs such as those of animals, flowers, sun, moon, stars and vehicles on a basic background. Some of these designs may be crocheted. But, instead of you crocheting the designs, just crochet the afghan background and cross-stitch the design on the finished product. Visit http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/proj... for a cute baby zoo afghan done in a similar way.

May be the afghan you need to crochet is something like http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/cc..., where you need to change colors to make the design. If you have access to the pattern graph, like in the example, try copying the design to a larger graph. When doing so, just double up the number of squares dedicated to a specific color or part of the design. For instance, if four squares represent nose as in this example, use eight squares in the larger graph. Complete the graph and see how it looks. In most cases, if you take care of all the proportions and count the squares correctly, you should be getting an afghan twice the size of the original pattern.

At other times, adding a broad border or fringe on all four sides or just the top and bottom can do the trick. An amazing collection of borders and fringes ranging from easy, dainty to real fancy is available online. Hurry and take your pick.

Ciao.