Easy Crochet Wash Cloths for Baby

Going to a baby shower? Add a quick and easy personal touch to a "Baby Bath Time" themed gift by crocheting a set of cotton wash cloths!

What you need - 100% cotton yarn like Lily Sugar 'n Cream (cost is under $2 per skein), organic cotton yarn, or bamboo yarn, and a large crochet hook (size I or J). You can get about two of these wash cloths out of one skein of the Lily Sugar 'n Cream and have a little left over.

Pattern -

Chain 30

-double crochet in third chain from hook and in every chain to end

chain 1 and turn

-single crochet in back loop of next double crochet and in all back loops of double crochet row

chain 2 and turn

-double crochet in back loop of next single crochet and in all back loops of single crochet row

chain 1 and turn

-repeat double and single crochet rows until there are 9 double crochet rows and 8 single crochet rows

NOTE: Always chain 1 at the end of a double crochet row and chain 2 at the end of a single crochet row before turning

Edge -

At the end of the last double crochet row just continue around edge with a single crochet. Work edge single crochet in both loops. Work three single crochet stitches in corner turns. Slip stitch to connect at end. Tie off and thread ends of yarn through.

Edge in different color yarn -

At the end of the last double crochet row tie off end and thread end of yarn through. With another color yarn work a single crochet around the edge. Slip stitch to connect at end. Tie off and thread ends of yarn through.

Finished size - about 8.5 inches by about 8 inches.

Another great hand-made bath gift - make the wash cloths to match a hooded towel with ribbon trim! Check back soon for some easy directions.

A Jeep Theme Toddler Room

With our second baby on the way we decided that it was time to move Robert (who turned 3 last June) into his "Big Boy Room". The theme for his room was decided long ago - Jeep! With two of them in the driveway we are a Jeep family after all...

Projects for decorating his new room (on a budget) -

• Cargo Pocket Wall Hanging / Organizer - for small toys and winter hats + mittens
• 12 inch letters (to spell Jeep of course!) decoupaged with scrapbook paper to hang over the closet
• Jeep poster - already have this, it just needs to be framed
• Smaller Jeep pictures - printed at home and framed with... not sure yet
• Dark brown tire tread paint marks on the walls

The First Project - Cargo Pocket Wall Hanging / Organizer

My husband is very hard on his clothing; pants and shorts especially! He presented me with four pairs of old "cargo" shorts in different shades of tan and green several months ago and said, "I'm sure you can make something cool with these big pockets" so I held onto them. Then one day I cut the pockets off of them and came up with this idea.

Notice that the cuts are very rough - I'm not trying for "pretty" here. It's supposed to be for a little boy's rough n' tumble Jeep room after all! With the pockets laid out I decided the order of the pockets and stitched tops and bottoms together with a zig-zag stitch in Army green colored thread. Since I want the stitching to show I just overlapped the tops and bottoms of the pockets.

Once the two rows of pockets are sewn together I overlapped and stitched the two rows together. Yes, this is a lot of fabric to sew through! If you plan to try this make sure you have a heavy duty denim needle. I then used some left over dark brown canvas weight material to make loops on the top edge. My husband painted a small metal rod brown, threaded it through the loops, and screwed it to the wall.

I keep my son's winter hats, scarves, and gloves in the bottom row and use the rest for his little toys and stuffed animals. It's interesting and functional! If I ever make another one for him I'm going to go to the Army surplus store for cool camo print pockets!

Overall Costs - the shorts were a few years old and I really don't remember what they cost new... If I had gotten them at Goodwill they would have cost something like $4 a piece. The thread, a buck or two. The canvas remnant, not even a buck... and the hardware was just stuff the hubby had in the garage. Technically I did not have to buy a thing to make this but if I had to purchase all of the materials it wouldn't have cost more than $20.

Check back soon for my next project - 12 inch letters decoupaged with scrapbook paper!