So pretty, you won’t want to do dishes with it! The Nautilus Dishcloth crochet pattern is the perfect accent for your kitchen and will be a great housewarming gift too!
“Nautilus Dishcloth” free crochet pattern by Kim Guzman © Nov. 2024. All rights reserved.
Technique: Tunisian crochet.
Skill Level: Intermediate.
Crochet Pattern At A Glance
Nautilus Dishcloth Free Crochet Pattern
Designer: Kim Guzman © 2022-24. All rights reserved.Rate the Pattern
Yarn
- Lily “Sugar’n Cream“, size 4 weight, 100% cotton. Ball Size (Solids): 113g / 4oz, 184m / 200yd, Ball Size (Ombres): 85g / 3oz, 138m / 150yd.
Other Materials
- Suggested Crochet Hook Size K-10 ½ [6.5mm], or size needed to meet gauge
- Yarn Needle for weaving ends
Instructions
- Work Row 1 to establish foundation.
- Work Row 2 to establish repeat.
- Repeat Row 2 until 23 rows completed.
- Work a slip stitch bind off row to fill in the tops of the stitches.
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Full Free Crochet Pattern Below
This is a free crochet pattern and the written instructions are below. If you prefer a printable download, a PDF is also available for purchase.
My Crochet Pattern Notes
This Tunisian crochet pattern is made up of a 1-row repeat. Ordinarily I would say that’s an Easy skill level (2 out of 4), but not this time. Because that one row has so many stitches in the same row, I’m moving this one up to Intermediate.
It’s not difficult; you just need to pay attention, especially when you first start out. Who wants to do an entire project in only one stitch anyway? We need some action in our lives and in our crochet.
About The Stitch Pattern
I recently designed a Tunisian ripple baby afghan. I’ve done ripples so many times that I didn’t follow a stitch pattern, but most of the time, a ripple is a ripple, right? It’s all a matter of counting.
Well, maybe not ALL ripples. My Sweetheart Ripple design is pretty special, even if I say so myself. See my About Page for more information on my published books.
While I was stitching up the Tunisian Ripple Baby Afghan, I started wondering what would happen if I just did the top of the rise and the valley, omitting the straight lines: just the 3-up and the 3-down. The Nautilus Stitch Pattern is the outcome of that thought process.
Other Nautilus Crochet Patterns
If you find that you like this stitch pattern as much as I do, check out this Nautilus Twisted Headband. Or, try this Nautilus Scarf free crochet pattern as well.
Pin It For Later
Finished Size
8″ x 8″.
Yarn
Lily “Sugar’n Cream“, size 4 weight, 100% cotton. Ball Size (Solids): 113g / 4oz, 184m / 200yd, Ball Size (Ombres): 85g / 3oz, 138m / 150yd. Used approx. 40 yards of each color: Bamboo and Sonoma. There’s enough yarn to make 4 dishcloths in these two colors.
Other Materials
Suggested Crochet Hook Size K-10 ½ [6.5mm], or size needed to meet gauge. You don’t need a Tunisian crochet hook since this project is so small. Place a rubber band on the end of your hook to keep the loops from slipping off.
Yarn Needle for weaving ends.
Gauge
Worked in stitch pattern, about 20 stitches for 11 rows measures approximately 4″ x 4″.
Stitch Multiple
If you would like to change the width of this project, you’ll need any multiple of 4, then add 3.
Reading Your Work
Look closely at your work. Each stitch is an inverted rainbow that starts at the bottom, goes up into the chain and then back down the other side. This “rainbow” is made of a front vertical bar and a back vertical bar.
This is just a little cheatsheet, if you’re new to these stitches. There is so much more to Tunisian than the plain simple stitch, or as we’ve called it in the past, the Afghan Stitch.
The front vertical bar is for placement of the simple stitch. The knit stitch goes between the front and back bars of the same stitch. The full stitch goes under the chain between the stitches themselves.
Special Stitches
Puff: Insert hook in chain indicated, yarn over, pull loop through, yarn over, insert hook in same chain, yarn over, pull loop through: creates 3 stitches.
Tunisian Full Stitch (tfs): Insert hook from front of work to back of work, between the stitches, yarn over, pull loop through. Right-Handed Video | Left-Handed Video.
Tunisian Knit Stitch (tks): Insert hook from front of work to back of work, between the front and back vertical bars of the same stitch, yarn over, pull loop through. Right-Handed Video | Left-Handed Video.
Tunisian Simple Stitch (tss): Insert hook from side to side (right to left for right-handers or left to right for left-handers) under the front vertical bar, yarn over, pull loop through. Right-Handed Video | Left-Handed Video.
Horizontal Bar (horiz bar): There is a horizontal bar at the top of 3-stitch groups, insert hook from front of work to back of work under that horizontal bar, yarn over, pull loop through.
Tunisian Crochet Symbol Chart
Tunisian Symbol Charts aren’t all that common in Tunisian crochet patterns but, I’m seeing a bit of confusion about the first row in comments and I wanted to do a chart for two reasons.
First, I wanted to confirm that the stitch count is accurate and second, I want to clarify any confusion with the stitch pattern itself. Now that I know that the stitch multiple is correct, I’m hoping that seeing the chart will help if problems arise.
I’m not new to making Tunisian crochet stitch charts. I wrote an entire book of them. (Read more about my books at About Kim Guzman.) But, even after writing all those stitch pattern symbol charts, nothing prepared me for the looks of this one. Ripples always look funny, don’t they?
It may just be my imagination, but this looks more confusing than the words. Yikes! When read in conjunction, though, I hope this will help anyone having problems working this pattern. Once you get it started, you have to repeat row 2 throughout.
Other Abbreviations
This free Tunisian crochet scarf pattern is written in US crochet terminology.
ch=chain; lp(s)=loop(s); rep=repeat; sk=skip; sl=slip; st(s)=stitch(es); yo=yarn over.
All numbers after the colon at the end of an instruction are stitch counts. Use the stitch count to check your work.
Washcloth of the Month CAL 2024
I’m pleased to be participating in the Washcloth of the Month CAL 2024!
View the pattern from Amy of The Stitchin’ Mommy.
View the pattern from Rhondda of Oombawka Design Crochet.
New Pattern Free PDF Download Limited Time
The PDF download for the Nautilus Dishcloth pattern is available for free two days only. This promotion ends at 11:59pm CST, Monday, November 11.
This promotion is concluded. Please sign up for the email newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any weekly promotions. Scroll down for the free online pattern.
Free Crochet Pattern Instructions
For best results, make your first row in the back horizontal bar of the chains.
Note: Ordinarily when you close a Tunisian crochet row, you will “yarn over and pull through 1”, also known as a chain 1 at the beginning, to close the first stitch. Watch your closing carefully here because this one is different. In order to maintain the decreases, the first closing is a “yarn over and pull through 2” which closes 2 stitches at the beginning instead of 1. Thereafter, when you see “yarn over and pull through 2”, it closes 1 stitch.
Row 1
A: With color Bamboo, ch 27 loosely, sk 1 ch, puff (see Special Stitches above) in next ch, *[insert hook in next ch, yo, pull lp through] 3 times, puff in next ch, rep from * to last ch, insert hook in last ch, yo, pull lp through: 41 sts on hook.
B: Yo, pull through 2 lps on hook (see Note above), [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 2 times, *yo, pull through 4 lps on hook (closing 3 sts), [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 3 times, rep from * to last 7 sts (8 lps now on hook), yo, pull through 4 lps on hook, [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 2 times, drop color Bamboo, now with color Sonoma, yo, pull through 3 lps on hook (closing 2 sts): 1 lp remains on hook. Do not cut off unused color.
Row 2
Note: This row calls for several abbreviations which can all be found in Special Stitches above. I would normally call it out each time, but it would make it difficult to read the instructions on this one.
A: Now with color Sonoma, sk 2 vertical bars, *tfs, tks, tfs, tss, horiz bar, tss, rep from * to last 3 sts, tfs, tks, tfs, insert hook as for tss under last 2 vertical bars: 41 sts.
B: Yo, pull through 2 lps on hook, [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 2 times, *yo, pull through 4 lps on hook (closing 3 sts), [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 3 times, rep from * to last 7 sts (8 lps now on hook), yo, pull through 4 lps on hook, [yo, pull through 2 lps on hook] 2 times, drop color Sonoma, now with color Bamboo, yo, pull through 3 lps on hook (closing 2 sts): 1 lp remains on hook.
Rows 3-22: Rep row 2, changing color after each row as specified, ending with a final change of color to Bamboo.
Row 23: Now with color Bamboo, rep row 2, except at the end, yo and pull through 3 lps with Bamboo so the Binding Off will now be in color Bamboo. Do not fasten off.
Binding Off
Note: This is a slip stitch bind off. Work the slip stitches loosely. If it’s more comfortable, you can use a regular hook for binding off in Tunisian crochet.
With color Bamboo, sk 2 vertical bars, insert hook in next vertical bar as for tss, yo, pull lp through then pull through the lp on hook (slip stitch made), sl st as for tss in next vertical bar, sl st in horiz bar, *[sl st as for tss] 3 times, sl st in horiz bar, rep from * to last 4 sts, [sl st as for tss] 2 times, sl st as for tss under last 2 vertical bars at the same time, fasten off.
Finishing
Cut off both colors and weave in all ends securely.
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