Dishcloth Central

Dear Shayne,

The Dishcloth Train continues to blow through this station:


As I mentioned before, each ball of yarn yields about 1 1/4 - 1 3/4 dishcloths. (If we want to get technical, each ball weighs 2 oz and I use 1.2 oz per dishcloth. So I'm .4 oz short on the second dishcloth. So each ball makes 1 2/3 dishcloths. So...what I said before, basically. :) )

Anywho... the result of this is that the second dishcloth in each pair usually has some funky stripe action going on. I really liked this one:


Okay. Back to the dishcloths!

love,
kelly

Knitting with a cloud

Dear Shayne,

As well you know, I've been hooked on knitting dishcloths lately -- I recently dug into the stash and found some organic cotton yarn that feels like clouds look like they should feel... soft, fluffy, wonderful.

And way too good for dishes.

So I made some washcloths for my face:


These are soooo soft. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. There are not enough words to describe how soft this yarn is. So, so soft. Love it!

love,
kelly

I'm in a book!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Kelly,

Last year I found out that I might be one of 60 crafters included in Vickie Howell's new book Craft Corps. I pretty much stayed mum about it because the publisher said that anyone could be cut during the final edits. But the book came out a couple weeks ago and I'm in it! On page 206! Me!



I'm in a real, live book!

Love,
Shayne

P.S. There's a link to our blog :)

Beachy dishcloths

Dear Shayne,

Yes, my Dishcloth Odyssey continues. I love this variegated beige yarn. When I got to the end of the ball, I used variegated blue from the giveaway dishcloth and I like how it came out kind of beach-y looking:



Sand and sky or water and sand? Something. Just kind of beachy/summery.

Which is nice, because winter has decided to stay in Northern California this year and I'm tired of it. Perhaps my beachy dishcloths will chase it away!

love,
kelly

Sallypaper, you've won a dishcloth!

Dear Shayne,

The Random Number Generator picked "2" as our winner, so Sallypaper, you've won this dishcloth!



I couldn't find contact info for you on your blog, so email me at onetomatotwo [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll send it off to ya!

I love givin' stuff away!
[looks around for more stuff...]
Stay tuned.

love,
kelly

Amazing crafty gift

Dear Shayne,

I love to receive craft supplies as a gift -- it's a gift that keeps on giving!

My friend Katie (Hi, Katie!) went to New York this past week-end and visited the famed Purl Soho (beautiful yarns + beautiful fabrics = heaven!) and she brought me back this beautiful bundle of fat quarters:


Gorgeous, eh? I'm not sure yet what I am going to make with them. For now, they're a piece of art all on their own. LOVE.

love,
kelly

Dishcloth GIVEAWAY!

Dear Shayne,

Since everyone has been so positive and supportive of my Crazed Dishcloth Obsession of late, I thought I'd say "Thank you!" with a giveaway.

Of... what else? A dishcloth!


Made from Lion Brand cotton, it's a variegated denim-to-sky blue -- good for washing dishes or faces (although maybe not at the same time...)

Leave a comment on this post before Thursday, May 20 at 5pm PDT to enter. This giveaway is open anyone across the globe. I'll use the Random Number Generator to pick a winner on Thursday night.

Good luck!

love,
kelly

Smells like team spirit

Dear Shayne,

The Dishcloth Parade continues... these particular beauties are in full support of my favorite football team, the Cleveland Browns:


I like the look on the "back side" of them -- they remind me of old school jersey stitching:


Yes, more dishcloths to come...

love,
kelly

Cute little squirrels

Dear Shayne,

I interrupt this Dishcloth Mania with... cute little squirrels!


Purchased from Etsy seller BROOKLYNrehab, these dudes are So. Flipping. CUTE. They're about 2" tall and fit perfectly under my monitor at work. I smile every time I see them there, which is always appreciated.

If you need a set for your very own, there are more for sale right here. While you're there, check out the rest of the shop -- super great stuff!

love,
kelly

Party in the sink!

Dear Shayne,

Yes, yes. Another dishcloth!


As I mentioned yesterday, one ball of yarn yields 1.5-1.75 dishcloths. I had some of this great pink-orange-yellow yarn left over from this dishrag, documented in June 2007, in a post entitled "Most. Boring. Post. EVER." (Little did I know that 2010 Kelly would out-bore 2007 Kelly with a series of posts about dishcloths!)

Fortunately, I also had some awesome matching orange yarn from this dishcloth (an alternative style that was not ideal for my favorite dishcloth user, although it did get pressed into service as a washcloth, so all was not lost.)

So I feel like the stripe in this one works better than some of my other odd combos.

Never fear, though -- more odd combos to come!

love,
kelly

Not kidding about the dishcloths

Dear Shayne,

The dishcloth obsession continues...


Most balls of dishcloth cotton only yield about 1.5 - 1.75 dishcloths, so I am forced to get wacky with the second one in each series. I typically use Peaches & Creme (Goodness! Click that link and behold the amazing possibilities of color!) and I am trying to only use my "stash" cotton, so I end up with some slightly odd combos:

Again, I must remind myself: It's a dishcloth! If you can't get weird with a dishcloth, when can you get weird?

Are you bored of dishcloths yet?
(Too bad if you are... there's more to come...)

love,
kelly

The Cinch

Dear Kelly,

Uh oh.



Love,
Shayne

Circus dishcloth

Dear Shayne,

This one got a little weird... I only had a little bit of the rainbow yarn left, so I was going to combine it with either lavender or blue yarn as a stripe.

I ended up combining it with both and making a weird "circus" dishcloth -- it looks like the Big Top to me:



Not my best work. Oh, well.
It's a dishcloth, right?

love,
kelly

Wine bottle tags

Dear Shayne,

This one barely counts as a craft, but I did use my Cricut to cut the rectangle shapes (soooo much easier than a paper cutter -- love that thing!) and then a trusty hole punch for the holes.

Living so close to wine country, we will often buy a few (or many...) bottles when we go to wineries. We've got them in the basement ("wine cellar," if we're feeling fancy) on their sides, cork end out, which makes it difficult to easily see which wine is which.

Enter... wine tags!


They hook on the neck of the bottle and we can write whatever we want on there -- the name of the wine, or what it pairs well with, or the day of the week on which it should be drunk (certain wines are definitely "Monday wines.")

I actually saw something like this for sale at a local winery a few months ago and thought, "I can make those," and for once, I actually did. Yay!

love
kelly

Edited to add: At some point, I will run out of these and forget what settings I used to make them, so... Dear Future Kelly, You used the 2 1/2 inch rectangles on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. The circles were made with a 1 1/4 inch punch. Enjoy the wine! love, kelly

My "Dishcloth Period"

Dear Shayne,

Well, I've been totally hooked on making dishcloths lately. I'm calling this my "Dishcloth Period." Here is yet another one:



These are the perfect complement to hockey playoffs -- I can complete one in the time it takes to watch a game. (Of which I have been doing quite a bit lately, it being playoffs n' all.)

So I'll probably have a few more dishcloths to show you in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

love,
kelly

Sending fun mail

Dear Shayne,

I have a couple of packages to send tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to dress up their boring ol' Priority Mail boxes:


This was kind of a time consuming project -- Sharpies + a rather detailed stencil from the book Stencil 101 -- but totally worth it.


I think the recipients will be happy to find sparrows delivering their mail. Don't you?

love,
kelly