Casting On and Setting Your Width
Okay. You've got your cotton yarn, you've got a hook, and now we're going to actually start the washcloth. This is the fun part where it stops being practice and starts being a thing you'll use at your sink.
First job: the foundation chain. That chain sets the width of your whole washcloth, so we're going to be a little careful about it, even though I just spent a whole lesson telling you gauge doesn't matter much for this project. It doesn't. But you still need to decide how big you want the thing to be, and the chain is where that gets decided.
How many chains
Most washcloths land somewhere between 30 and 36 stitches wide, depending on your yarn weight and your hook size. I like mine around 32 with worsted cotton and a size H hook. That gives you something around 8 inches across, which is a good workable size — big enough to actually scrub a dish, small enough to dry overnight on the towel bar.
Chain a few extra, honestly. If you chain 34 and decide partway through row one that it's too wide, you can leave the last couple unworked. Nobody's going to check. This is not a test.
Real talk on counting: count your chain twice before you turn and start row one. Lay it flat on the table, spread it out, count the V shapes, not the loop still on your hook. That loop doesn't count as a stitch. I still see people count it and end up one off, every single class.
Getting your first row started
Skip the first chain from your hook (that's your turning chain, remember from a few lessons back) and single crochet into the second chain from the hook. Then straight across, one single crochet in each chain, all the way down the row.
This is the part where a lot of people's washcloths turn into trapezoids, so let me say the thing again: don't crochet into the same chain twice, and don't skip one by accident either. Both of those change your count and you won't notice until three rows later when one side is climbing wider than the other. Ask me how I know. My first project ever was a scarf shaped like a trapezoid and I wore the dang thing all winter and told people it was "modern." It was not modern. It was a counting error.
Setting your width and sticking with it
Whatever number you land on for row one — 30, 32, 34, whatever — that's your width now. Every single row after this needs to come out to that same number. This is the whole game of keeping your edges straight, which we already talked about, but now you're doing it for real, on a project that's going home with you.
I'd actually stop and count your stitches at the end of every row for the first four or five rows. Out loud if you need to. Once you get a feel for it you can ease off, but right now, count. It's not calming, it's counting, and counting is what keeps your washcloth square instead of shaped like a piece of pie.
A quick honest opinion: if you get to the end of row one and you're off by a stitch or two and you truly cannot figure out where you lost it or gained it, just frog it and start the chain over. Don't try to fudge it into working. I know that sounds like a lot for row one, but it's a five-minute fix now versus a fight with yourself for the next twenty rows. Ripping out isn't failure. It's the whole skill.
A story, because this is where people usually quit
I had a woman named Jasmine in a class years back who wanted to learn granny squares, which is a whole different animal from what we're doing, but the same thing applied. She got through two squares and quit, and I did not blame her one bit. Granny squares are fussy, there's a lot of counting and turning and joining, and some people just don't like that kind of project. That's fine. Not every craft has to be your craft.
I bring it up because this is usually the moment in washcloth-making where somebody decides counting stitches is annoying and starts eyeballing it instead. If that's you, that's okay, but know that eyeballing is exactly how you end up with a trapezoid washcloth, and trapezoid washcloths don't fit nicely over your hand at the sink. They just don't lay right. Counting is the boring part that makes the rest of it work.
What you should have when we're done today
A foundation chain, and one full row of single crochet across it, counted and confirmed straight. That's it. That's today's whole job. It doesn't need to be exciting. It needs to be even.
Before next time: get through at least five or six rows at home, counting stitches at the end of each one, and bring it back even if it's a little wonky in spots. Wonky is normal. We'll square it up together.