Dishcloth Stitch Patterns

I gave away a load of dishcloths over the weekend, so I can finally share them without the potential recipients seeing them in advance. I’ve been experimenting. First, I made a few seed stitch cloths. The red one has a border, and the blue one has the exact same number of stitches without the border. I think I like the way the blue one looks best, but the boy prefers the red, so that didn’t solve much. They’re both nice, and I’d be fine making quite a few more of them because they’re easy to do while watching TV, they’re quick, and they scrub well. 

Bordered pattern found here.

I also tried out the Chinese Waves pattern. Once you get into the swing of the pattern, it’s almost as easy as the seed stitch cloths and they look like something you’d use at a spa. The purple one has been slipped as if to purl and there’s a variegated one just for kicks. I was going to make a white one with stitches slipped knitwise, but I found after about an inch that I hated it. It hasn’t progressed much since then, and I’m considering instead knitting the slipped stitches through the back loop as an alternative way to twist them. I’ll update you when I’m done!

Pattern found here.

I’ve also tried out a basket weave pattern, but wasn’t such a big fan of it. I had a hard time remembering the pattern, for some reason, despite it’s seeming simplicity. I didn’t get a picture of this, and they’ve been given as part of a wedding present already, along with a nice bar of soap wrapped in the following dishcloth.

Pattern found here.

I also did a triangular stitch, which I similarly couldn’t wrap my brain around the pattern. They’re still quite nice, I just am not certain I’ll be doing them on a regular basis.

Pattern found here.

Scarf Interlude

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I was captivated by the Afternoon Tea shawlette featured in the summer Knitty. I've progressed to the beginning of the first "Branches Lace" section, and it's not going great. I put in a lifeline right before the row of increases, luckily, because I've had to rip back to it twice. The first time I had to get up in the middle of the second pattern row, a bunch of stitches popped off, and there was no way I was going to get them all back on in the proper order. The second was because I messed up the pattern horribly. Now, I'm faced with another yarn over problem. A single, solitary yo is one stitch too early on row 104. I'm just finished row 108. I haven't decided if I'm going to rip back yet or not.

Instead, I threw that shawl in the project bag and cast on for a much simpler lace pattern. It's just a little fan and feathers lace scarf using the leftovers from a honeycomb blanket, and I think it's beautiful!

Pattern found here.

 Here's the Afternoon Tea shawlette, currently too big for me to spread out very well on the needles. I'm also a little disappointed in the way it's pooling. I'm still debating with myself about what to do with it.

Pattern found here.

Short Row Dishcloth

I’ve been busy lately! I was out of town for a wedding, and then I fell and sprained my ankle and spent the next few days mostly in bed reading. I have quite a bit of knitting to catch up on here, but for today I have only a short row dishcloth. I think this is one of my favorite uses of the variegated yarn, because it helps illustrate the different directions so well. I think my next post should be able to talk about the rest of last month’s dishcloth experiments!

Pattern found here.

My only problem with it is the messy way I ended it. It's the upper right corner, and it sticks out a bit from the rest of the cloth. I actually haven't sewn in the ends yet, so I'm hoping to correct for it a little bit before I do so, though I probably won't undo the bind off and reknit it. My boyfriend especially likes it, so I'm considering putting it into rotation in the shower with his other two favorites. I'm definitely making a few more of these!