It’s a dull and overcast day in Sydney, so I thought I’d brighten it up by showing you my gorgeous new cottons from Bendigo Woollen Mills. Look at how pretty they are!
Given that I can make ten dishcloths from each 200g ball, I probably didn’t need to order five, but I found the colours irresistible. Bendigo Mills import their raw cotton from Asia (you know me, I rang to ask!) but they process it all in Victoria. Their wool, on the other hand, is locally grown in central NSW.
The cotton is a joy to work with – the yarn is smooth and doesn’t snag, and the finished cloth wears and launders like iron (we’re still using the ones Rose sent us five years ago). At $12 per 200g ball (that’s equivalent to four regular balls), I think they’re great value.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I’m revisiting crochet and enjoying it immensely, although I’m only attempting a very basic double stitch (which for some strange reason, we call treble stitch in Australia). I’ve lost all my knowledge of crochet terminology, so here are lay instructions for my super simple dishcloth:
- Using 8ply cotton and a 4.00mm hook, make a slip loop and then chain 35 stitches.
- Work one row single crochet (called double crochet here – it’s all very confusing!)
- Work 18 rows double crochet (you’re meant to start each row with three chain stitches, but Maude taught me to do a squiggly stitch at the beginning to get a neater edge – google “chainless starting double crochet”)
- Work one row single crochet, then pull the cotton through the loop. Using a large tapestry needle, weave the ends into the finished cloth and trim them off.
If you’d prefer to knit, you might like this pattern – I don’t like to purl, so it’s knit stitches only.
And if it all sounds too hard, you could just sew some dishcloths. I found an old piece of cotton waffle weave fabric in my stash – I think it was for bedspreads, but we’d used it as an outdoor table cloth at the kids’ birthday parties. I simply cut it into squares and overlocked (serged) the edges. They work a treat…
We need a lot of dishcloths to replace the paper towels in our kitchen, so I’ve upped production. They all sit in a drawstring bag next to the stove…
Are you a knitter or crocheter? My fingers and wrists get quite sore if I do too much (old woman sigh…), so my output is limited to dishcloths. They’re hugely satisfying to make nonetheless!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Those colors are yummy! What a great combination. The only thing needle crafty around here is that I made a yoga mat bag for the hub inspired by your mesh bag tutorial…. so muwah, awesome you! <3
Maz.
Hooray, it worked! I’m glad to hear it! xx
The colors are so vibrant and beautiful. I like to crochet, my knitting is not the best. I am thinking of serging some of my children’s castoff clothing into dishclothes. Reuse and recycle. Lol On the note of mesh bags I was surprised to see them for sale at a local health food store as an alernative to the plastic bags. I have been thinking of sewing some, just need to find something suitable to use for the drawstring.
Shoelaces and grosgrain ribbon work well! xx
Thanks for sharing, Celia. I love those bright colours, and it made me laugh that you could make 500 dishcloths from the yarn balls in the photo! Here we’re using as dishcloths / paper towel replacements a bunch of cloths made from bamboo towelling fabric that my mum overlocked for me over 6 years ago – we used them as baby wipes when our kid was little and they’re still going strong.
I am new again to knitting & crochet having revisited knitting last year – 30+ years since my grandmother taught me. So far I have made a scarf, a beanie, some gauntlets (fingerless gloves) and am currently working on a beret for the grandmother who taught me to knit 😁 I find the process weirdly challenging yet calming and good for mindfulness. So far I’ve only worked with wool but am keen to try other types of yarns and also crochet, would like to try making crochet earrings! Will definitely keep Bendigo Mills cotton in mind. Cheers, Sally at One Family, One Planet blog. https://onefamilyoneplanetblog.wordpress.com/
Not 500…50! :D But even that’s hilarious! Apparently the Bendigo wool is magnificent as well – my friend Maude is a big fan of it. PS. What a lovely blog you have!
Fab colours aren’t they? My cotton dishcloths that I knitted a few years ago are beginning to fall apart though I fear that’s more to do with my knitting than the yarn. After reading of your enthusiasm for making these, I nearly bought a ball of cotton from the market on Saturday. Alas, I couldn’t scrape together enough coins as I’d just spent it all at the butchers. I briefly considered swapping some rashers of bacon, but have instead put off the purchase for a couple of weeks.
You are absolutely hilarious!! :D
I’m just coming to the end of the 10ply cotton, and my much chunkier dishcloths. I’m finding them quite brilliant for very wet spills, the texture of the cotton and the openness of the crochet seems to let them suck up all kinds of liquids very quickly. They’re thick, though, so not so good for getting into tight corners. I’ll probably keep them for the kind of job that sent me flying for multiple sheets of paper towel, and buy some Bendigo-type 8 ply for more everyday uses. I must say, I do fancy some colour-coded cloths for different uses… or is that just me being anal?
It makes perfect sense to me, Kate. If a system like that existed here, Pete wouldn’t have used my FAVOURITE dishcloth to clean the FISH TANK. :D
Oooh, not at ALL a sore subject still, then! The Husband gets to use cloths recycled from all his worn-out blue Chesty Bond singlets for anything he needs to wipe up. Anything found in the kitchen is Mine and Untouchable.
Since reading about cotton dishcloths on your blog and on Rhonda Hetzel’s blog, I’ve been knitting them for myself and friends. I started with cotton from charity shops that was from other’s leftover projects. Then ran out or sources! So bought some from Bendigo Woollen Mills. I love working with it and have started also knitting cotton hand towels which are beautiful to work with.
Shaz, isn’t it a joy to work with? I’ve tried using other cottons, but they split and snag and drive me crazy.
It is lovely!
Beautiful colors, especially the blue—my favorite color. I knit only flat items, such as dishcloths. Haven’t done so in a while, but seeing your pieces has made me want to get back into it.
Laurie, the colours were sooo pretty – there were three different blues in fact! It was actually hard to choose! :)
https://www.bendigowoollenmills.com.au/cotton-crush-8-ply
choosing the colours are so attractive and cute.,. thanks for sharing
Fab colours Celia, especially the peacock one xxx
Hi Celia I love your blog but never have anything to add as I have no time to try and of these projects. They will have to wait until I retire one day. But you did inspire me to buy one of those reusable cups for coffee and I saw this article and I thought you might enjoy it.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/sourdough-starter-love-letter
Cheers Janet (your old school friend)
Those are Great colours!!! Nice to keep you awake too!
I ordered some cotton crush after the bendigo mills link you had in an earlier post. One ball for me and one for my Mum! The colours are just gorgeous. I got a deep chocolate brown and a lovely teal. Some of the dishcloths I have here are so worn out they have holes in them so time to make some new ones! Meg:)
Argh don’t tell me the brown is gorgeous, Meg! That’s the one colour I didn’t order! 😜
I love crocheting and the mill colors look so wonderful. I just recently moved to Iceland, everything is super expensive. Can’t wait to get some pretty colors
It’ll take you a while to convert that lot into very pretty dishcloths but they should last just about forever!
Those colours are so gorgeous, I WISH I was a capable knitter or crocheter. Unfortunately all I seem to produce are snarls. When I have some spare time (ha!) I shall attempt to refresh my crochet ability as I love the idea of making my own dishcloths. You know I’m all aboard the banish single use paper products movement!
Lisa, you could sew them? My waffle weave ones are working well, and I suspect old thin towels cut into squares would as well?
Well that’s an idea too. I do have copious amounts of baby muslins and burp cloths still and there are no more babies coming and only so many food covers I need. They would make really soft absorbent cloths I think. Genius!
Oh dear, I think that you have created a baby monster. I’m obsessed with crocheting hand towels.
I’m definitely a crocheter and lately, I’ve been thinking of exactly the same thing – how to reduce the use of paper towels! Also have my eye on fat flats/fat quarters for dishcloths or some other home use – they are always so gorgeous. They might work for furoshiki too…