Crocheted-top kitchen towels are easy-to-make, inexpensive kitchen accessories. Crocheted-top towels also add a nice touch when added to a gift basket that includes baked or home-canned goods. Kitchen towels, or dish towels, often can be found for about $1 at discount stores, and because the towel is cut in half before the crocheted top is added, you get two finished towels for one low price.
Prepare the Towel
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Purchase a kitchen towel that is printed with a mirror image, and cut the towel in half so you have two small towels with matching centered designs. Work with one half now, and save the second half for another time. Fold over the top cut edge to create a 1/4-inch hem, and stitch down. Directly below the hem, use a sharp, pointed object to punch small holes into the towel approximately every 1/4 inch apart across the top of the towel. Suggested items to use for punching include an awl, a large upholstery or tapestry needle, the pointed end of a drawing compass or a thin steel crochet hook.
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Crochet the Top
Use four-ply, worsted-weight yarn in a color to match one of the colors in the kitchen towel design. With a size F crochet hook, make the base row by single crocheting across the top of the towel, placing one stitch into each of the holes you punched. Crochet the remaining part of the towel topper as follows: Row 1: Ch 3, turn, dc in each sc across. Row 2: Ch 3, turn, * dc in next dc, skip next dc, dc in next 2 dc, skip next dc, repeat from * across. Rows 3-4: Ch 3, turn, * skip 1 dc, dc in next dc, repeat from * across. Row 5: Ch 3, turn. 8 dc evenly spaced across the row (total of 9 dc, including first ch 3). Rows 6-11: Ch 3, turn, dc in each dc. Row 12: Ch 3, turn, dc in next 3 dc, ch 1, skip 1 dc and dc in next 4 dc (buttonhole made). Row 13: Ch 3, turn, dc in next 3 dc, dc in ch 1 space, dc in next 4 dc. Fasten off yarn and weave in loose ends. Fold over the narrow strip you made by crocheting rows 5-13 so that row 13 touches row 5. Position a 3/4-inch button under the buttonhole made in row 12, and sew the button in place.
Alternate, No-Button Design
If you prefer a crocheted top that does not have a button but rather simply has a hole near the top for hanging on a hook, follow the directions above through row 6. Then skip to row 12 to make a hole, which you will use for hanging rather than buttoning. Complete row 13, fasten off and weave in ends.