Memories of a rose colored Lazy Boy recliner with the foot rest up, crochet hook in hand, her grandmother watched her stories. There was The Bold & the Beautiful, along with The Young & the Restless. If others were watched, the little brown-haired girl didn’t recognize them. She would reenact these stories with her sister and their Barbie Dolls, dressing them up and driving them around their Playskool doll house. The Barbie’s were of course too tall for the house, but the girls didn’t seem to care.
They would all break for lunch, which was filled with tomato soup and grilled cheese, or even peanut butter sandwiches. Her grandmother’s favorite was a ham sandwich, made out of the leftovers from dinner the night before. Cookies for dessert, especially if there were Girl Scout cookies still stored in the freezer. Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Patties were the favorites.
The afternoons were filled with coloring or playing house in the backyard. They had all their little plastic dishes with their Playskool kitchen, concocting recipes out of leaves, sycamore balls, and Crepe Myrtle flowers. No swimming was allowed until their parents got home because Grandma never learned how. Hand towel after hand towel was made. Sometimes with simple red yarn, other times with the fancy color changing kind used for special projects like Christmas towels. She sat there quietly, working her crochet hook, while the girls played together in the background.
The Pattern
– After cutting the hand towel in half, use scissors or a crochet hook to poke holes along the cut top 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch apart
– Row 1: use the hook size indicated by the yarn you selected to sc along the top row, ch 1, turn
– Row 2: sc across the second row, ch 1, turn. The number of sc will be dependent on how many holes you initially poked in the towel.
– Row 3: dc across, ch 1, turn
– Row 4: dc2tog across, ch 1 turn
– Rows 5-7: continue using “dc2tog across, ch 1, turn” on each row until you have a row of only 5 stitches (This may happen after 6 rows or even 8 rows, depending on how many scissor holes were made in the beginning.)
– Handle: Once narrowed down to 5 stitches, “dc 5 across, ch 1, turn” for 9 rows (If you want a longer handle, do more rows here.)
– Button hole row: dc in next 2 dc, skip 1 dc, dc in last 3 dc, ch 1, turn
– Second to last row: dc 5 across, ch 1, turn
– Last row: dc 5 across, tie off and weave in ends.
– Attaching button: I like to place my button between rows 2 & 3 of the handle, but do what you think looks right for your towel
The White Hat Journal 