Crochet Towel Topper Pattern

First of all, let me apologize for the crappy pictures, I tend to take a bunch of pictures when I'm doing something along these lines, and then pick the best ones to upload so you will get to see the steps and stuff...BUT These were the only two pictures I got. I dropped my digital camera...seriously..I dropped it...just slipped right out of my fingers...so I got out the other digital camera that I haven't used in forever, and never took the batteries out of, and well, stuff came out of the batteries, and I can't figure out how to clean it off of the things that touch the batteries...and then I got out the other digital camera we have...it works..but we hate it. It's an Apex, and takes the worst pictures ever...its great if you want to take a video or something, but the picture quality is awful..in fact I couldn't get the flash to turn on, and the pictures were dark and shadowy even with all the lights on!!! So, these are the two pictures you will get to go with this basic, easy to follow pattern, for something that crocheters have been making for ever and ever, that makes a great little gift, for a friend, or just for yourself to brighten up your kitchen. Plus its great to be able to have one hanging on the stove to wipe your hands on when you've been doing dishes...or whatever. They work up so quickly, that its easy to make a dozen in a sitting depending on what you are watching on tv...lol

Alright, now, let me say about this pattern, that there is no point in counting stitches, because not all dish towels are created equal. I am constantly buying dish towels to do this with, and I realized that some are much wider than others, and some are just plain skinny. We will however count the rows, because that makes life easier.

You don't have to cut your dishtowels in half, some people do and some people don't. I was given a bag full of these that somebody had bought to put toppers on, and had already cut them in half. I do them both ways, but find it's more fun to be able to make a set of two to give to somebody, and I think they look nicer hanging on the stove when they've been cut in half. But again, that's up to you.

for this you will need, a small amount of WW yarn, an H hook, a yarn needle, and a nice big button. (I have a bad habit of buying buttons, and have a couple of jars full, different shapes and sizes, so I can't exactly tell you the size of the button per say...but if you know buttons, you will have an idea as to what size you will need.)

First, sew a row evenly across the top (or folded middle) of your dish towel. (If you have cut it in half, you will probably want to fold the top edge down and sew through to make it a little neater). You will have between 37 and 42 stitches depending on the length of the dishtowel. (Or tea towel as some people call them.)

Row 1, With H hook, and yarn, join with a sl st, and single crochet in first stitch, and then each st across, ch 2

Row 2. Dc Dec first 2 st together *Dc in next st, Dc Dec next 2 st together* repeat across, (NOTE: if you have an extra st left over at the end, just do a dc in that st, don't worry about there being 2 dc side by side, it will all work out in the end) Ch 1 at end of the row

Row 3. sc dec next 2 st tog and all the way across, (if there is a remaining st, just sc in that st) Ch 2

Row 4. dc dec first 2 st tog *dc in next st, dc dc next 2 st tog* rep across, ch 2

NOTE: you should have somewhere between 7 and 10 st remaining at this point, this is where we will begin working on the strap

Row 5-14 dc in each dc across, ch 2

Row 15.  Dc in each dc across, ch 1

Row 16. sc in first 2 to 3 st, ch 3, skip middle 3 stitches, and then sc in last 2-3 stitches. (just try to make it even, but you do need to skip the middle 3 stitches)

Row 17.  sc in each sc across, and 3 crochet in ch 3 chain. finish off and weave in ends.

Sew button onto row 4.

So, these are more general instructions than a pattern. I've never really followed a pattern to make these. Mostly because I'm just one of those people. This however is what I do, and I wanted so very much to share it with you all. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you can follow. If not, please feel free to email me at crochetbrandi@gmail.com I will be more than happy to answer any questions you have. If there is a pattern you would like to see, I enjoy a good crochet challenge!!!