Stash-Busting Cotton

Ever since I used up a large skein of cotton yarn (603 yards) earlier this month, I have been wanting to do it again.  My cotton yarn stash is my largest stash, so I brought one of my cotton bins in the living room so that I can hopefully use up most of it.  

In an attempt to stash-bust, I knitted these 3 dishcloths using a very large skein of Christmas yarn.  I did make a mistake in the first one, but I kind of like the stockinette stripe in it.  I used up 156 yards making them.  Here is the free pattern.

Yesterday was a big stash-busting day for me (482 yards).  I used up 6 skeins of yarn (of various lengths)!  This crochet basket weave dishcloth used up 1 leftover skein and some of a 2nd (91 yards).
Pattern:
Using a H hook
Chain multiples of 4
Row 1: Dc in 4th ch from hook, dc across.  Ch 3 and turn.
Row 2. *Front post dc (fpdc) in first 4 posts / stitches, back post dc (bpdc) in next 4 posts / stitches*, repeat to the end, and dc in the last chain 3 space.  Ch 3 and turn.
Rows 3 & 4: Repeat row 2, but make sure to fpdc around the fpdc below and bpdc in the bpdc below.
Row 5: Bpdc into the fpdc from the row before, fpdc into the bpdc from the row before. Dc in the last chain 3 space.  Ch 3 and turn.
Rows 6 & 7: Bpdc into the bpdc from the row before, fpdc into the fpdc from the row before. Dc in the last chain 3 space.  Ch 3 and turn.
Repeat Rows 2 - 7 for however long you want.  End on row 4 or 7.

I made this one a bit smaller (chained 32 instead of 36) then the other one.  I used 65 yards to make it.

For this dishcloth I was looking for a pattern that would look ok with different yarns (scrappy).  As it turns out I only used 2 skeins for it.  I extended the pattern a bit so that I could use what I had left of the pink yarn.  This dishcloth used 46 yards of yarn and a H hook.

These super easy coasters were my real stash-busting heros.  I used 6 different skeins of yarn to make them.  These also used an H hook, and I used up 225 yards of yarn.  After making one, you'll have the pattern memorized.

At one point I started to get bored and wanted a bit of a challenge... A new pattern for me.  Well this one filled that boredom easily, because I really had to pay attention to the pattern.  It isn't a hard pattern, but you do have to look at it for each row.  Each repeat of the pattern gets easier to make.  I wish I would have made one more repeat to get the shape that I wanted.  It is to rectangular for me.  I like my dishcloths more square.  Here is the free pattern.  I used an H hook and 54 yards of yarn to make it.