A single crochet dishcloth is the ideal project to learn on. It uses one stitch, it finishes in an evening, and at the end you have something you will genuinely use.
Because it is simply a rectangle worked to whatever size you want, the same approach scales up to a scarf or a blanket without changing anything but the numbers.
What you need
Worsted weight cotton yarn and a hook around 5.00mm (H-8).
Cotton is not optional for a dishcloth. Its job is to take up water and release it as it dries – acrylic pushes water around and goes slimy. Cotton also survives repeated hot washing.
The idea
Chain to the width you want, then work single crochet back and forth until it is square.
That is the whole construction. The only skills involved are making a chain, working single crochet, and keeping the same number of stitches on every row.
Getting the size right
About eight or nine inches square is standard, and it wants to be square rather than rectangular so it folds neatly.
Rather than guessing at a chain length, make a chain, work a few rows, and measure. Adjust before committing – it is much easier than discovering at row twenty that it is too narrow.
Cotton shrinks a little, so make it slightly larger than the finished size you want.
The thing that goes wrong
Dishcloths come out as trapezoids because stitches are accidentally added or lost at the edges.
The usual cause is the turning chain – the chain you make at the end of a row before turning. Whether it counts as a stitch varies, and getting it wrong consistently adds or loses one every row.
Count your stitches at the end of every row for the first ten rows. After that you will feel when something is wrong.
Scaling it up
The same pattern is a scarf if you make it long and narrow, and a blanket if you make it large.
For a blanket, work out the chain length from a swatch rather than guessing, and buy all the yarn at once in matching dye lots.
Variations once you are comfortable
Working into the back or front loop only gives a ribbed texture and a softer fabric – a single change to where the hook goes.
A round of a contrast colour around the edge finishes it neatly and takes five minutes.
Making a set
Dishcloths use very little yarn and go quickly. Three or four in coordinating colours with a bar of decent soap make a good gift, and making several in a row is the fastest way to even out your tension.
