Welcome to Day 30 of the Newbie Series! Since it’s our last day, this ripple dish towel crochet pattern is kind of like your final exam, and combines a lot of the techniques we’ve learned this month. The Ripple Dish Towel pattern primarily uses double crochets and a combination of increases and decreases to create a rolling ripple pattern. You’ll also use single crochets and your color-changing skills to create skinny accent stripes.
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Inspiration for the Ripple Dish Towel Crochet Pattern
I love repetitive patterns like ripples because the stitch repeat is easy to remember (lots of twos!) and you can space out and watch TV or listen to an audiobook. Some crocheters like challenging, complicated patterns or intricate laces, but I’m more into the meditative, repetitive rhythm of a classic stitch. If this is your first time crocheting the ripple stitch (like most of you in the Newbie Series) – enjoy it! It might take a row or two to get the hang of the pattern, but it’ll be smooth sailing once you memorize the counts.
Since we’re always learning, there are a couple objectives for today’s pattern. Crocheters will be able to:
- decrease using double crochets (dc2tog)
- crochet the ripple stitch
This is just one of many ways to crochet ripples. However, you’ll find that other variations (like my Mystic Ripple Blanket or this Thin Stripes Ripple Baby Blanket from Daisy Farm Crafts), use similar increases/decreases in order to achieve the ripple/chevron pattern.
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The Tools
Since this crochet dish towel will be getting wet/dirty in my kitchen, I went with Dishie yarn. It’s my favorite worsted weight cotton yarn. Dishie is reasonably priced (only $2.99 for 100g!), comes in lots of colors (I used Azure and Kenai), and washes well.
Update (November 2022): I released the Ripple Dish Towel crochet pattern one year ago, and have been using my towel in my kitchen ever since. It’s cleaned counters, caught bean rinse drips, carried veggies in from the garden, and been through the wash dozens of times. It still looks wonderful!
I paired Dishie with a J 6.0 mm crochet hook, which gave my towel some drape so it can hang from the handle on my fridge or oven. My red J hook is from the Bright set from WeCrochet, a quality starter set that includes nine ergonomic hooks in cute bright colors.
Share your Ripple Dish Towel Crochet Projects!
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How to Crochet the Dish Towel
Supplies / Materials
- 290 yards of Dishie in 2 colors (I used Azure and Kenai) – I used about 1 1/3 balls of my primary color and a small amount of my accent color
- or 280 – 300 yards of #4 worsted weight cotton yarn
- J 6.0 mm crochet hook
- Tapestry needle
- Scissors
Size / Gauge
4×4 inches of ripples ~ 6 rows of 16 dc
NOTE: Gauge is not critical for this project, but If you notice there are large gaps between your stitches, you may need to use a smaller hook.
Finished Dish Towel Size: 20.5 inches long x 14.5 inches wide
Abbreviations / Techniques
- ch – chain
- sc – single crochet
- dc – double crochet
- dc2tog – double crochet two together
- sc2tog – single crochet two together
- st – stitch
- increasing
- decreasing
- changing colors
- weaving in ends
NOTE: This pattern uses US crochet terminology.
Ripple Dish Towel Crochet Video Tutorial
How to Decrease in Double Crochet (dc2tog)
This pattern decreases using both the sc2tog and dc2tog stitches. We learned how to sc2tog in the decreasing tutorial, but we haven’t officially learned how to dc2tog yet. Here’s a quick tutorial! If you need more, I have a full post and dc2tog video here.
- a.) yarn over and insert hook into first stitch in the decrease, pull up a loop
- b.) yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook (there should be two loops left)
- c.) yarn over and insert hook into the second stitch in the decrease, pull up a loop
- d.) yarn over and pull through the first two loops on your hook (now there should be three loops left). Yarn over and pull through all three loops.
Image (d.) shows what it will look like before you pull through all the loops — notice how there are two 2/3 double crochets on the hook? The last step will complete both of those stitches and combine them into one stitch.
The image below shows what a dc2tog will look like when you’re done. The dc’s lean into each other and only have one “V” at the top, so they count as one stitch.
Ripple Dish Towel Crochet Pattern Notes
- ch 2 counts as dc
- “2 dc” signifies an increase – so you’ll crochet two dc in the same st
- To adjust the size of your ripple dish towel, ch a multiple of 10 + 2
- In the pictures and videos, the colors are:
- Color A: Azure (blue/aqua)
- Color B: Kenai (teal)
Ripple Dish Towel Crochet Pattern
ch 50 + 2 with Color A (Azure)
ROW 1: dc in third ch from hook, dc in next 2 ch, dc2tog, *dc2tog, dc in next 2 ch, 2 dc in each of the next 2 ch, dc in next 2 ch, dc2tog* four times, dc2tog, dc in next 2 ch, 2 dc in last ch (50)
ROWS 2 – 6: ch 2 and turn, dc in first st, dc in next 2 st, dc2tog, *dc2tog, dc in next 2 st, 2 dc in each of the next 2 st, dc in next 2 st, dc2tog* four times, dc2tog, dc in next 2 st, 2 dc in last st (50)
Switch to Color B (Kenai)
ROW 7: ch 1 and turn, 2 sc in first st, sc in next 2 st, sc2tog, *sc2tog, sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in each of the next 2 st, sc in next 2 st, sc2tog* four times, sc2tog, sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in last st (50)
Switch to Color A
ROW 8: Repeat Row 2
Switch to Color B
ROW 9: Repeat Row 7
Switch to Color A
ROWS 10 – 24: Repeat Row 2
ROWS 25 – 27: Repeat Rows 7-9
ROWS 28 – 33: Repeat Row 2
That’s all, y’all! If you’re dying for more dishcloth and dish towel crochet patterns, check out my round-up of 16 freebies.
