Not Your Ordinary Knitted Dishcloth
Thursday, 28 May 2009
I love hand knitted dishcloths. But I’m not a huge fan of the kind made from worsted weight cotton. Yes, they are better than store bought dishcloths, but they can get very bulky.
I noticed a friend of mine knitting a dishcloth from a single strand of crochet cotton. Of course I had to try my hand at knitting some, and I was well rewarded. The scrubbing power was wonderful, and they were closer to the size of a store-bought dishcloth.
But they took so long to knit.
Then, at a friend’s bridal shower, I was struck by a certain gift: dishcloths knitted from two strands of crochet cotton. Brilliant!
So, I created this pattern. It knits up much quicker than using a single strand, but it still has that lovely scrubbing action!
This pattern is a very good “mindless” knitting project. Grab yourself some crochet cotton and knitting needles, and take it wherever you go!
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Not Your Ordinary Knitted Dishcloth Pattern
Materials:
- 2 balls of size 10 crochet cotton in contrasting colors of choice
- 1 pair of straight knitting needles, US size 2 or 3, depending on how tightly you knit
Gauge:
Not critical
Directions:
Holding the 2 strands of crochet cotton together, cast on 3 stitches.
Begin increasing:
Row 1: knit.
Row 2: knit 1, yarn over, knit to end of row.
Repeat row 2 until you have 77 stitches, or until desired size is obtained.
Begin decreasing:
Next row: knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.
Repeat this row until there are 4 stitches remaining.
Next row: knit 2 together, bind off all stitches.
Finishing:
Weave in all loose ends. Wash before first use.
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© 2009 by Erica Lea
No. 1 — May 28th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
This is a great idea. I’ll have to try using 2 strands soon!
No. 2 — May 28th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
2 strands of #10 cotton are about equal to #3 crochet cotton, you can use that too!
No. 3 — May 28th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Very nice! I just turned down an offer of colored crochet cotton - what would I do with it? lol. But it’s true about the bulkiness of the other ones. Will have to try this!
No. 4 — May 28th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
What a fantastic idea. I’ve been buying the grabbag from peaches and creme…and I have fantastic PLANS on making something someday….and now I know WHAT I’m going to make. You ROCK!
No. 5 — May 29th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I have tons of crochet cotton - used to make a lot of doilies and barbie doll dresses - girls are all grown up now ! Recently have been making dishcloths - these are great for the powder room as well!
You can make almost anything with your idea! Just adjust for stitches used!
Thanks so much for sharing - definately going to hit my stash drawer full of this crochet cotton!
Vanessa in Upstate NY
No. 6 — May 29th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Vanessa: I didn’t know that 2 strand of size 10 equals size 3! I’ll have to keep that in mind.
Thank you all for your comments - they are much appreciated.
No. 7 — May 29th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Thanks for this great pattern. I think I will try a size 4 needle instead. What a great way to use up all that leftover crochet thread that I have accumalated over the years.
No. 8 — May 30th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I was just about to start this when I realized I might be misreading row 2. Is it that you only yarn over once in the beginning of the row and knit straight until the end, or is it *k, yo, k* repeated to end of row?
It seems to be the first, but then, your decreasing row seems to be *k2tog, yo, k2tog* repeated until the end of the row. So if that is right then wouldn’t row 2 be the second option?
I think I just confused myself even more!
Anyway, it is a great idea, especially since I have exactly two balls of different colored crochet cotton! Can’t wait to start it.
No. 9 — May 30th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Elizabeth,
Row 2 is correct as you first interpreted it: knit, yo, knit, and then continue knitting each stitch until the end of the row. The decreasing row is correctly *k2tog, yo, k2tog* then knit to the end of the row. This is because if you k2tog, and yo, you will end up with the same number of stitches as the previous row. The initial k2 decreases by 1 st, but then the yo adds a st, so you need the second k2tog to end up with one less st by the end of that row. If the stitch pattern for the washcloth didn’t include the yo, you would only need to k2tog once on the decrease rows. Hope that helps!
No. 10 — May 31st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Elizabeth: Yes, your first interpretation is the correct one. To achieve the proper shape (a square) there must be one increase each row. You could yarn over at each end, but then you would have to knit the next row plain to keep the proper shape.
As for the decreasing row, this was a mistake. I should have written it thus:
Knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of row. I have corrected this row. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! And thank you, Nicole for you explanations!
If you have any further question, please feel free to ask!
No. 11 — May 31st, 2009 at 11:37 pm
This is a great idea! Thank you for sharing it .
No. 12 — June 2nd, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
No. 13 — June 4th, 2009 at 7:02 am
KrisBelucci: you may use a photo, but do not copy the entire pattern. Also, you must link back to this post.
Thanks!
Erica lea
No. 14 — June 16th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
This is so gorgeous! One question….do you know how many dishcloths you can make from the two balls?? I’ve never worked with this before.
I just stumbled across your blog while looking for dishcloth patterns!
No. 15 — June 16th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Adrienne: Thank you! I’m not sure how many dishcloths you can get from two balls - it depends on the size of the balls! I would guess you could make 2-4 out of two “standard” balls.
No. 16 — June 21st, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Thank you!!! I picked some up tonight !I’m about to start on them now!!
No. 17 — August 3rd, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m so glad I stumbled on this! I have lots of odds and ends of crochet cotton in different sizes - I can just make scrubby cloths with the leftovers, and they don’t have to match! Awesome!
No. 18 — August 6th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I had used 2 strands of crochet cotton to crochet a dishcloth awhile back and it held up SO much better than any of the bulkier ones I had knit or crocheted! Thank you for sharing this lovely pattern with us. What a great way to use up some of that size 10 I’ve got in my stash!
No. 19 — August 24th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Erica,
Thanks, I am going to try crochet cotton for the dishcloths, will let you know how I make out. Thanks again.
Leonora
No. 20 — October 4th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Thank you for such an easy to follow and easy to make dishcloth pattern. I haven’t finished it yet but I am really enjoying the process. Thank you.:)
No. 21 — October 7th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Hi Erica! I commented about this pattern on your giveway held on your cooking blog several months ago and have finally completed a dishcloth! I used the only Crochet Cotton I could find at any store around here but mine ended up looking MUCH thicker then yours (Any idea why? ), and doesn’t look floppy like the ones in your photo, but I really like tightness of the rows. Also, the edges on the rows I decreased turned out thicker then the ones I increased on, making it look weird and uneven. Maybe it was the yarn, I don’t know. I think next time I will knit 2 then increase and k 1, k2tog, yo, k2tog when decreasing making a wider, more even edge. What do you think?
Also, I showed the finished cloth to my neighbor, who also knits, and she said she thinks she would like it better then any dishcloth she’s ever made. LOL
Thanks for listening!
In HIS Love,
~*~*~*~*~*~
Samantha
~*~*~*~*~*~
No. 22 — October 8th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Samantha:
Perhaps the yarn you chose was too big…what was the exact yarn you used? I use size 10 crochet cotton.
Because of the knit 2 together on the decrease rounds, the edge should be somewhat larger, but not significantly. If you continue to have trouble, you could try the alteration as you stated.
If your dishcloth continues to be very thick, you could try knitting with a single strand instead of two.
If you have any further questions, just ask!
Yours,
Erica Lea
No. 23 — October 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I’m not sure what the brand name of the yarn I used was, but I do know it was for sure thicker than what you used. Come to think of it, I don’t remember there being anything on the wrapper that said what size it was. Also, I do know that it was Microfiber Crochet Cotton. Maybe that was why the whole thing turned out thicker?
I’ll have to look again…Perhaps I just missed it at the store. LOL Otherwise I’ll try knitting one with a single strand.
Anyway, I’ll let you know what happens!
In HIS Love,
~*~*~*~*~*~
Samantha
~*~*~*~*~*~
No. 24 — October 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Ah ha!!!! I found the exact yarn that I used!!! http://store.knitting-warehouse.com/crochet-thread-dmc-senso-microfiber.html
Hope that helps!
No. 25 — October 13th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Ah, yes! That is size 3 crochet cotton. I’ll bet it would make a nice dishcloth if you used just one strand. I hope it works out for you!
No. 26 — October 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Ok! Thank you Erica, so much for your help!!!!!
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