Kitchen Bench Cloth

When I was small my family always had a mesh cotton cloth on the bench. It was used for everything from mopping up spills, washing dishes, and wiping down the bench and surfaces. This design is my attempt to reproduce this article in crochet using unbleached cotton cooking string (generally used for tying up roasts) which is food-safe and available in most supermarkets.

What has resulted is a very tough and useful bench cloth. The loose open structure traps particles but rinses clean easily; and the cotton is completely machine washable. Crochet has given the cloth a solid scrubby texture which is useful for wiping stubborn marks or dried spills. I have also used one to scrub the bath! The cloth doesn’t pill or shed lint, also a plus!

Cooking string comes in various gauges, therefore I have given measurements and guidelines in this pattern rather than exact stitch counts.