Stash Buster Thursday - Knitted Dishcloth!

One of the best ways to learn new crochet and knit stitches is in making test squares.  I do it all the time when I am learning a stitch - I make a square.  After awhile if you are like me, you tend to end up with totes full of  squares - of course with the intention of someday putting them together for a fabulous sampler afghan - or two - or three ...

Help is on the way!  If you really want to make the afghan - or 2 or 3 - then by all means go ahead and use up your yarn stash in this way.  Personally I favour the idea of making those test squares into something a bit more useful - like for instance - dishcloths!

Can you ever have enough dishcloths?  I don't think so!

So if I see some Handicrafter Cotton on sale in the pound-sized balls I buy a couple.  I love the variegated ones, but for my own kitchen I prefer the white or ivory  because I tend to bleach my dishcloths to death - so no sense waisting all that pretty color.

I'm going to start the dishcloth series with a couple of fairly basic stitches.  Today's will be a knit square using knit and purl stitches only- and creating a cute striped and checked pattern.  If you don't want your dishcloth as large as mine ( 8"x 6.5")  reduce the number of stitches you cast on in  multiples of 2!  This is a perfect beginner dishcloth, and when finished has some nice texture to scrub those dishes clean!

Knitted Dishcloth.

Worsted Weight Cotton
Size 7 (4.5mm) straight needles.

Cast on 42 stitches.

ROW 1 & 2 - Knit

ROW 3 (RS) - K2, *P2, K2; rep from * across

ROW 4  - P2 *K2,P2; rep from * across

ROW 5 & 6 - Knit

ROW 7 - Repeat ROW 4

ROW 8 - Repeat ROW3

Repeat ROWS 1-8  (5) times, and then ROWS 1-6 once more.  Bind off.


Next week I will have a pattern for a very pretty round dishcloth in Knit. 

Happy knitting!