Free Pattern: The Perfect Loofah

At long last, here it is... the pattern for my Perfect Loofah! But first, some pictures.

The most important component of this pattern is the yarn. I used Bernat Cool Crochet, which unfortunately has been discontinued. Here are the things that make this the perfect yarn for The Perfect Loofah:

1. Cotton is ridiculously absorbent. Nylon is not. This yarn is 70% cotton and 30% nylon, creating a nice balance between being soft (yay cotton!) and not sucking up all your soap never to be seen again (yay nylon!).

2. Nylon is resistant to mildew/mold. This is very useful for something that's going to be wet a lot.

3. It's sport weight. Worsted weight is just too heavy to make a good loofah. You need some air between the stitches in order to create suds.

4. Did I mention nylon dries faster than cotton? I guess this is a subsidiary of #1. The low absorbency of the nylon helps it dry out between uses.

5. It's machine-washable. The label says "dry flat" but seriously, I'd like to see you try to get a loofah to dry flat. I test washed mine before putting my first one up for sale and I put it in the dryer. It came out okay but looking a little rougher, so I'd recommend hanging it up to try. Low heat tumble drying might be okay - mine went in on permanent press. 

Right, so the perfect yarn is no longer for sale, so what the heck are you supposed to do then? Well, if you're super lucky, you have some Cool Crochet hanging out in your stash, but if not, I've seen it for sale on both etsy and ebay. But I bought it, so it might be all gone :). You might also be able to swap with someone on Ravelry. (Hmm... maybe I shouldn't be telling you all this). 

I have had a lot of trouble finding another yarn that is a sport (or fingering) weight cotton/nylon blend that doesn't have something else in it - like wool. It's possible that there are sock yarns out there that might fit the bill, but I haven't found any yet. Another option might be trying a cotton/acrylic blend. The acrylic should still help with the super-soap-sucking power of cotton, make the loofah lighter/less dense, and help it dry faster. But, as far as I know it's not mildew-resistant. 

If you try a different yarn, PLEASE  let me know how it works out for you! I'm making these for my etsy shop, and I only have so much Cool Crochet, so having another type of yarn to use would be awesome. 

And now for the actual pattern. 

I ask that you respect the time and creativity I put into developing this pattern by giving credit where credit is due. Please contact me first if you are interested in selling your finished products. Thanks.

Materials:

35 g Bernat Cool Crochet (see above for reasons why this is the perfect yarn)

Size I9 (5.5mm) crochet hook

Yarn needle

Abbreviations:

st: stitch ch: chain sl st: slip stitch dc: double crochet

Instructions:

ch 4, form a ring by joining with a sl st in first st 

ch 40 

sl st into center of ring (this forms the loop for hanging the loofah)

R1: ch2, dc 4o into center of ring, join with sl st (4o st)

R2: ch2, dc 3 in each st around, join with sl st (120 st)

R3: ch2, dc 3 in each st around, join with sl st (360 st)

R4: ch2, dc 3 in each st around, join with sl st (1080 st)

Bind off. Weave in ends. 

Fuzz Monster the Second

A couple months ago, I made one of the Mini Rectangle Creatures from the free crochet pattern on the Lion Brand website. It was the very first item I listed in my etsy shop, and also the first item that sold. (Yay for sales!) I had only taken up crochet recently, so this was one of my first crochet projects (actually, come to think of it, it may have been the first). And boy, crocheting two strands of fun fur really was not fun. I kept hooking only one of the strands (or extra strands), and the fuzziness makes it rather challenging to see what the heck is going on.

So I decided to make another one of these guys, but much bigger (I was actually going for throw pillow size, but ran out of yarn, so the body is only about 8" tall), AND, most importantly, with a KNIT body. Granted, fun fur isn't much fun to knit either, but it was a lot less torturous than crocheting. Anywho, here's my (heavily) modified version of this pattern.

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Materials:

1 skein fun fur in "confetti"

1 skein fun fur in "raspberry"

¼ skein Lily sugar 'n' cream in "hot blue" – or any worsted weight cotton or acrylic of your choice

Small amount Lane Cervinia Amalfi in "black" – or any sport weight cotton or acrylic of your choice

Fiberfill stuffing

Size 10 straight knitting needles

Size 4 (E) crochet hook

Yarn needle

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Skills Required:

Knitting: Cast on, knit stitch, cast off (purl stitch NOT required)

Crochet: magic ring technique for starting a circle, single crochet (sc), increases (sc2 in st), decreases (sc2tog), slip stitch (sl st)

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Notes:

The black yarn I used is considerably thinner than the blue I used. This is for no other reason than it's what I happened to have around. If you have sport weight yarn for the outer eye & pupil, great - no changes necessary! If, however, you have worsted weight for the outer eye and pupil, you might need to adjust the pattern by doing one less round on these pieces. Just lay your three eye pieces on top of each other to see if the relative sizes are giving you the desired effect.

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Body:

Holding one strand of each skein of fun fur together, CO 40 st

Knit until piece measures approx. 8" (Make sure you have enough yarn left to sew the body together!)

Bind off

Fold piece in half

Using crochet hook, slip stitch edges together, leaving one end open.

 

Outer Eye (make 2):

With black yarn, using magic ring technique, sc 6 in a circle

R1: sc2 in each st around (12 st)

R2: (sc, sc2 in next st) six times (18 st)

R3: (sc 2, sc2 in next st) six times (24 st)

R4: (sc 3, sc2 in next st) six times (30 st)

Bind off, leaving long tail

Inner Eye (make 2):

With blue yarn, using magic ring technique, sc 6 in a circle

R1: sc2 in each st around (12 st)

R2: (sc, sc2 in next st) six times (18 st)

Bind off, leaving long tail

Pupil (make 2):

With black yarn, using magic ring technique, sc 6 in a circle

R1: sc2 in each st around (12 st)

Bind off, leaving long tail

Legs and Arms (make 4)

With blue yarn, using magic ring technique, sc 6 in a circle

R1: sc2 in each st around (12 st)

R2: (sc 2, sc2 in next st) four times (16 st)

R3: (sc 3, sc2 in next st) four times (20 st)

R4-13: sc around (20 st)

R14: (sc 8, sc2tog) two times (18 st)

R15: (sc 7, sc2tog) two times (16 st)

R16: (sc 6, sc2tog) two times (14 st)

R17: (sc 5, sc2tog) two times (12 st)

***Begin stuffing***

R18: (sc 4, sc2tog) two times (10 st)

R19: (sc 3, sc2tog) two times (8 st)

***Finish stuffing***

Sl st closed

Bind off, leaving long tail

Finishing:

Attach pupil to inner eye, as follows (Pictures show inner eye being attached to outer eye):

~Using yarn needle, pull center tail of pupil through center hole of inner eye. Remove needle.

~Thread needle with edge tail (the one you left when you bound off). Use thistail to sew down edges of pupil to inner eye.

~Once you have gone all the way around the pupil, bring the yarn to the back and tie both tails in a square knot (R over L, L over R). Trim ends.

Attach inner eye to outer eye using the same method.

Attach outer eye to body using the same method.

Stuff

Sl st top edge closed

Using yarn needle and tails, attach arms and legs to body.

Weave in ends.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE DONE!