Dishcloths Galore

Okay, so I finished one of the toys, and have finished the knitting for the other toy. Unfortunately, I've since learned that I HATE post knitting construction and have been procrastinating on it ever since. It's currently sitting in my room, languishing without it's arms, legs, or eyes attached. Instead, I bring you more dishcloths. Because they're my favorite.

First up is a lovely double knit potholder. My boyfriend and I are watching Star Trek from beginning to end, and are currently in the good times for TNG, so I thought this was a rather fitting project. I can't wait to get to Voyager, so I might have a special project to commemorate getting there. Maybe it'll motivate me to watch faster!

Pattern found here.

I've also been interested in making a few little scrubbies, but my attempt at the Tribble ended in a broken string and some severe frustration so I can't show it to you as of now. On the other hand, this little Fleur-de-lis cloth is almost the perfect size for a scrubbie without the difficulty that tightening a string seems to present me.

Pattern found here.

Okay so I haven't sewn in the ends or blocked it yet, shoot me. I've been similarly neglectful of the other two I will be sharing today. It's a small, quick knit and I know several people who either like this elegant design or the football team that uses it as their logo. I can see this being at the top of a stack of homemade, beribboned cloths for a nice present.

This dishcloth is meant to emulate stained glass, and I think it is the best looking variegated yarn usage I've seen yet. Of course, it is helped by the fact that I picked out one with bold colors. Even as I was first joining the color, I knew I loved the vibrant green and blue colors. It was almost decadent to knit.

Pattern found here under April 2011 KAL. Members only, but joining is free.

Back view is pretty too!

Finally, let's talk about the fact that I am still learning to knit. And I might need to work on my pattern following skills. Because when you don't follow the pattern, sometimes bad things happen. Like this:

Same place as last time, it's Aug 2007's mid-month KAL.

Two things went horribly awry in this dishcloth, preventing it from being quite as lovely as it should be. First of all, I held the yarn for the cable in front wrong from the beginning. It is twisting together instead of outwards, and I didn't realize until it was two sets of cabling later and I'm not yet brave enough to undo rows where I've cabled. I thought I could live with it and decided to move on. I even knit some of the middle of this while celebrating St Patrick's Day. No mistakes.

Then I decided to do the last two sets of cabling and finish it off the next morning, and unfortunately made a big mistake. I didn't pay enough attention to my pattern. I obviously cabled too soon, and then ended up knitting the stitches I was supposed to be moving around. Part of the problem is that I didn't listen to what the cloth was telling me.

Back view.

This view is a little difficult, but you might be able to tell that the lines of purling that are on either side of the stitches which are cabled zigzag in a uniform way until the mistake at the top. I saw these while I was knitting. I saw them. And I did nothing. If I'd bothered to look at my pattern as a whole before I got to the last five rows of garter stitch, I would've realized my mistake soon enough to fix it. Instead, I happily knitted along, ignoring my instinct because I totally had the pattern down by the last set of cables.

Obviously I was wrong! I will try to never ignore my instincts again. I don't think this will stop me from ever making another mistake, but it might mean a few fewer. I haven't sewed in the ends and blocked it yet because I'm still debating at least fixing those last two sets of cabling. It's not so very many rows, and I could probably figure out how to backtrack through cabling. Plus, I could document it carefully and make myself a little guide for if/WHEN I need to fix cables again.

I'm heading on another trip next week, during which time I will be giving away several dishcloths. This means I will finally be able to post pictures of them on here! I've done some interesting patterns, and another few picture patterns. I considered saving them for Christmas gifts, but that's just so far away I don't think I can wait that long. I also found a nice deal on some sock weight wool yarn, and I'm going to be attempting to knit a sock or two in the near future. I just need to get myself some size 1 dpns...

Short Update

I disappeared again! This time I have a somewhat legitimate excuse. I was out of town for the funeral of a friend's family member. I wasn't personally close with this person, but my friend needed support afterward so I traveled to my home town for most of a week and was without internet. I was also so busy that I didn't knit at all! Before I left I finished two more dishcloths.

First, since I have plenty of variegated dishcloth material (a Peaches and Creme cone and also two more balls of a different color!) I decided to try out patterns meant specifically for multicolored yarn. The first pattern is fairly simple:

Pattern found here.

I'm not convinced I like it, and feel that despite the intention of the pattern there were still clusters of color. It's easier to see on the back. There are patches of mostly darker colors and patches of lighter colors.

Back view w/color clustering

Then, I decided to take on a more difficult pattern using variegated yarn. I made an entrelac dishcloth! Of course, I don't have cheap cotton dishcloth yarn that has a long variegation, but the pattern I used didn't either. Even so, I think mine had more different colors and I'm a little iffy on using it again for that. I'll have to find another pattern, I suppose!

Pattern found here.

You can see my minor problems with the first decreasing side triangle, which I think was brought about by picking up the wrong stitches. I didn't get quite close enough to the corner to make the triangle fit. Glad I made the mistake on a dishcloth instead of one of those lovely scarves! I think next time, I will make each row a separate color, but otherwise have solid colors. The result is very striking.

To use up a little of the leftover yarn, I decided to fall back on the ever so familiar Grandma's favorite dishcloth. I think it turned out quite well, an am surprised at how great the pattern looks even with the random change of color. I still have a weeeee bit of the purple left, so I think I'll wait until I've used another ball (I have a lot cuz it's my favorite color!) and have a more substantial amount for another leftover dishcloth.

Next time I'll be talking about a few little toys I've been working on. One is done except for a teensy bit of construction and stuffing. The other has one small part to be knit, and a little sewing for assembly before I can show it off. Till then, good luck with your own endeavors!