42 Crochet Washcloth

Knit version

• 42 Knit Washcloth

Washcloths may not be quite as versatile as towels, but they're pretty useful. They can't protect you against Vogon poetry, though. Sorry about that.

Materials

Worsted weight cotton (sample was made with Lily Sugar 'n Cream), about 60 yds

Hook that gives you a fabric you like. The sample was made with a US H-8/5mm hook, at 4st/in, and is 8.5" by 8".

Yarn needle for weaving in ends

Optional: Heart of Gold soap from Eclectic Lady

Please note:

• The design alternates rows of USsc(UKdc) and UShdc(UKhtr). The chain spaces are formed on the wrong side rows, which is why the design looks backwards in the chart. If you've ever done filet crochet, this should be fairly easy. (And if you have, I would recommend working from the second chart, since that's more filet crochet-ish.)
• In crochet, stitches are offset a bit. When working rows of the same type of stitch, the offsets balance out, and the overall piece is straight. When working rounds (and joining and chaining up), the seam line will move diagonally along the piece. In addition, different stitches offset differently. Because one side of this piece is consistently USsc/UKdc and the other is UShdc/UKhtr, the cloth as a whole biases. Most of the bias will block out, but if this bothers you, use all UShdc/UShtr.
• I found that the eyelets were crisper if I didn't work into the stitch right before the eyelet on the return row. Instead, I worked two stitches into the chain space.
• I put a round of USsc/UKdc around the entire thing: one stitch into each on the top and bottom, three stitches into each corner, and (mainly) one stitch into the side of each row, with two stitches into every third UShdc/UKhtr row. (If you do the all-hdc variation, alternate one sc, two sc: in other words, 3sc into every two rows.)

Instructions

In pictures

The above is an after-the-fact chart. My working chart looked more like this:

In words