Free Crochet Pattern...Fabulous Fish Dishcloth!

Here is a cute little fish that will bring some summery fun to your kitchen.  It can be used as a dishcloth, but also works as a large coaster or a trivet too!  Whip a few up to take to your next barbecue to give to your hostess.  A great way to experiment with color and use up all of that extra cotton yarn leftover from other projects.  The fabulous fish dishcloth starts with a basic circle and then tail, lips, and fins are added later.  

Materials:

• H Crochet Hook (5.0 mm)
• Small amounts of cotton yarn (I used Peaches n' Creme solids in apple green, pink, and peacock)
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Sizing:

• 7.5 inches from lips to tail
• 6.5 inches from fin to fin

To begin, start with a basic round:

Foundation: Chain 6 and slip stitch into the first chain to form a ring.
Round 1: Make 12 dc into center of ring, join with a sl st to join round.
Round 2: Ch 2, *2 dc into the next stitch, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 3: Ch 2, *1 dc into next stitch, ch 1, repeat from * to end of round.
Round 4: Ch 2 *2 dc into the next stitch, repeat from * to end of round.
Fasten off...now time to begin the tail...

To make the tail, choose a starting point (anywhere you like), tie on your tail color, and make 1 sc in each of the next 9 spaces, here's what it will look like below...then chain 3 and turn.  

Work 1 dc in first space, 2 dc in next space, 1 dc in next space and so on in this sequence until you come to the last space, then ch 3 and turn.  Repeat for the next row (omitting the ch 3 and turn part) and fasten off...voila! A tail!

To make the lips, flip your fish over so that the wrong side/back side is facing. Then I simply folded the green circle in half and found my center across from the tail (if you want to be more precise than that you could count the stitches to find your center).  Again, this part will be on the "wrong" or back side of the green circle.  

The foundation of our lips will be 4 sc wide, so after you find your center, hop over two spaces to the right and tie your lip color on (as shown below) Remember we will be stitching from right to left to place accordingly.  

Important!  We will be making our sc row on the back side/wrong side of the circle, so be sure that the placement of your knot looks like this when it is flipped over,

Here's what it looks like unfolded and on the back side/wrong side,

Now, working from right to left, sc in each space 4 times as shown,

Now flip your fish back over to the front side/right side, and in the first sc space, ch 4 and work 4 dc all in the same space.  In the next space, work 1 sc, and in the next space work, 5 dc.  Fasten off...and now you have cute fish lips!

The fins are worked the same way we did the tail, but are just a little smaller.  To work the fins, I folded the circle to find my center (as I did before) and working right to left, did 5 sc, turn, ch 3 and work 1 dc in the first space, 2 dc in next space, 1 dc in next space and so on in this sequence until you come to the last space, then ch 3 and turn.  Repeat for the next row (omitting the ch 3 and turn part) and fasten off.

Repeat for the other fin, fasten off, weave in the ends, and you're all finished!

© Jennifer Dickerson 2013
Please note: Patterns are for personal and charity use only.  In addition, if you enjoy the pattern, please link to it, but do not copy the pattern to your own website or blog (including other languages).  Thank you!

The fabulous fish dishcloth would be fun to crochet in a multitude of colors to make a whole school of them, I also think it would be pretty to make a few fish that has each round of the circle in a different color, you could do some serious stash busting here!  Have fun!