Friday, February 25, 2011

Vintage Design - Ruffled Crocheted Dishmop


This vintage design could have been in my mother’s hope chest. How much more fun it would be to wash the dishes with this charming little scrubbie! I love vintage household items. The pattern for this dishmop appeared in an old newspaper. Here is a link for the original pattern. These old patterns were sometimes very brief! The writer assumed that the reader had enough crochet experience to understand what may come next, without having to write all of it out. In case you don’t have that experience, I’ve added some additional directions to the original pattern. I certainly don’t claim to be the designer, I just want you to be able to understand what the pattern actually means for you to do. The dish mop is not hard to make, but it becomes a wee bit unwieldy as you crochet. You may need to be patient, and just keep pushing the previous stitches aside.

Ruffled Crocheted Dishmop

I used one ball of yellow cotton thread, size 3. I used a size US0/2.55mm (Susan Bates) steel hook. The edging used several yards of green thread of the same size. I considered the project after row 6 and ended up pulling that row out. I thought that it just seemed too thick and ruffly, and I didn’t want the dish mop to mildew before it could dry out. So, I added the final row 7 to row 5 and called it good. With a smaller sized thread, I would probably want to keep row 6.

(abbreviations: ch=chain, dc=double crochet, sl st=slip stitch, sc=single crochet)

Foundation: Chain 10. Join with a slip stitch to the first chain to form a ring. Row 1: Chain 3. Make (dc, ch 1) 29 times in ring. (Catch the thread end under the stitches, then clip.) Join with a sl st in the top of the ch 3 at beginning of the round. (Ch 3 counts as the 1st dc of each row) (30 dc) Row 2: Chain 3. Make (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 space around. Join with a sl st in the top of the ch 3. (60 dc.) Rows 3 through 5: Repeat row 2. (120 dc) (240 dc) (480 dc) Leaving a 3" tail, clip the thread and pull through the loop to finish off this color. Row 6: Add a contrasting color with the chain 3. Make (dc, ch 1) in each ch 1 space around. Join with a sl st in the top of the ch 3. Finish off this color as before. (480 dc) Row 7: Add the main color with a chain 2. Make (sc, ch 1) in each ch 1 space around. Join with a slip stitch in top of ch 2. Fasten off as before and weave in all the thread ends. Hanging Loop: With main color, join between any stitch in the starting ring with a chain 15. Join with a sl st on the opposite side of the ring. Turn. Make (1 sc, 22 dc, 1 sc) over the ch 15. With the edging color, if desired, make 1 sc in each stitch around the hanging loop. Fasten off and weave in the thread ends.

I sometimes wonder if ours is the only household left in America still doing the dishes by hand. Our small kitchen just doesn’t have room for a dishwasher. Doing dishes is not such a chore when I can use pretty dishcloths and dishtowels, and this little dishmop is positively darling. Miss Abigail definitely gets one or two of these in her hope chest.



Edit: If you like this little dish mop, you may be interested in a second rewrite of the pattern, more suited to worsted weight "kitchen cotton" yarn. View that post and get the pattern here. --km

14 comments:

  1. This is so cute!

    We have been hand washing as our dishwasher is broken. Really, it is fun to just stand and think as you wash dishes. The only down side is it takes twice as long to wash up. If I had pretty scrubbers it wouldn't be bad at all! I will have to hint to Sarah to make me one... :D
    Love, Rebecca

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  2. Rebecca, after so many years of dishwashing by hand, I actually don't mind it so much anymore. My older children would gasp! I also like the thinking time. I really should take more advantage of the opportunities presented...

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  3. I did dishes by hand from the time I moved into my first apartment until I had the money to remodel the kitchen in the house I bought and lived in for over 15 years. I made Absolutely Sure that there would be room for a dishwasher in that remodel, and I'm glad I did.

    But we still do some dishes by hand...the china, the pots, and sometimes, when it's just a few and you don't want to leave them in the dishwasher...

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  4. Sioux, perhaps someday I will also get around to a remodel. Probably about the time all my children will have gone from home and there is just the two of us. :o)

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  5. I do have a dishwasher at this time because the parsonage in which we live has one. Previously, I went without one for years and when my parents moved in with us I was cooking three meals a day. Daddy bought me a dishwasher so I had time to spend with them that wasn't in my kitchen :). I felt like a kid at Christmas!!!
    Now I do dishes by hand periodically and recently spent time showing my grand daughter how "we use to ALWAYS do our dishes. She really enjoyed doing them "in the sink".
    I love your idea regarding the revival of "Hope Chests".

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  6. Hi there! This is so cute! :) I hope you don't mind, I included your crocheted dishmop idea in a list of suggestions for reducing household waste on my blog, http://imalousycook.blogspot.com

    If that's a problem, I can remove it, but I think it's a great idea!

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  7. I made this yesterday. I love it!! I end up giving away many many things I make. This is staying here and I am putting old dishcloths to my husbands "rag bag" and only using these in the kitchen.
    My mother has no dishwasher and I'm making a few for her as a happy. Thank you so much for sharing the pattern.

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  8. el trabajo es precioso, pero por favor podria poner un video. a mi se me hace complicado seguir las instrucciones gracias

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  9. We rinse and wash our dishes as we put them in the dishwasher as a habbit. I made mine out of cotton yarn and only did 3 rows which looks like it will be enough. with the handle on it. Its for my future son-inlaw. He has 6 of the square ones but I think he will like the mop better. Also in the cotton it would make nice shower spa body wash cloths.

    .

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  10. I'm trying to find the book this pattern came from. can you shine some light on this for me?

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    1. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. The internet link is the only source I am aware of. The illustration at the link reminds me of the patterns that used to be advertised in the newspaper when I was a young girl. Those patterns were sold individually. But I can't say whether this is one of them. Good luck with your search.

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  11. I made this using cotton yarn. Sugar and cream. My mother suggested I put a row of scrubby nylon netting on it. I did this as the last row of the scrubber. Works great.

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    1. What a great idea to use netting! I'm glad it worked so well.

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