Dishcloths!
You won't believe it, but I discovered the appeal of the dishcloth! They are super cheap (one skein is about $2 and you can make 1-3 cloths!!) and super fast (I made an extra-large one in two hours!!) and a super way to try out a new pattern or stitch and they are super useful. Super!
At first, I scoffed at this unholy love people had for dishcloths. I mean, there are a lot of interweb dishcloth groups out there! Incredible!! But, through a weird set of circumstances I found myself searching Knitting Pattern Central for dishcloth patterns. (OK, OK, to be brief, I had a small amount of cotton chenille-like yarn left over, very orange, and had no clue what to do with it until I read a thread on my WeightWatchers board about knitting dishcloths, and so there you go).
After knitting this pattern in my orange yarn, I was pretty happy. Not with the pattern, but with the idea of making something small and useful. Sadly, you couldn't really see the coffee cup through all the yarn's texture, and it was a bit small, but it was soft and dried off my hands beautifully. Therefore I had no choice but to go to the yarn store and purchase a less textured yarn (in a nice sage green) and try it again which is what I did today. I doubled the pattern (for more length as Tim pointed out) and reversed it, making two coffee cups in opposite directions. The length is good but you still can't really see the coffee cups so I may have to get some smaller needles or just do some other pattern. But, the finished product is now draped over one of the doors under the kitchen sink waiting to dry off a pot, pan, or wipe up a spill on the counter.
I think what really sold me on the whole dishcloth thing, and made people's making so many of them make sense, is that a long, long, long time ago there was no such thing as "paper towels," if you can imagine. What did they do? Well, they made dishcloths. They're reusable, which makes them environmentally friendly, and if you stick to the basic pattern they are quickly made and not so pretty as much as they are functional.
Of course, they can also be used as washcloths and there are tons and tons of patterns for pretty dish/wash cloths out there. And the gift giving possibilities---handknitted washcloth with fancy handmade soap or a set of handknitted dishcloths in a kitchen gift basket---at last! something that you can knit up quickly but looks pretty neat when done.
Anyway, I'm about to use the little bit of green I have left to make a small basic dishcloth.
At first, I scoffed at this unholy love people had for dishcloths. I mean, there are a lot of interweb dishcloth groups out there! Incredible!! But, through a weird set of circumstances I found myself searching Knitting Pattern Central for dishcloth patterns. (OK, OK, to be brief, I had a small amount of cotton chenille-like yarn left over, very orange, and had no clue what to do with it until I read a thread on my WeightWatchers board about knitting dishcloths, and so there you go).
After knitting this pattern in my orange yarn, I was pretty happy. Not with the pattern, but with the idea of making something small and useful. Sadly, you couldn't really see the coffee cup through all the yarn's texture, and it was a bit small, but it was soft and dried off my hands beautifully. Therefore I had no choice but to go to the yarn store and purchase a less textured yarn (in a nice sage green) and try it again which is what I did today. I doubled the pattern (for more length as Tim pointed out) and reversed it, making two coffee cups in opposite directions. The length is good but you still can't really see the coffee cups so I may have to get some smaller needles or just do some other pattern. But, the finished product is now draped over one of the doors under the kitchen sink waiting to dry off a pot, pan, or wipe up a spill on the counter.
I think what really sold me on the whole dishcloth thing, and made people's making so many of them make sense, is that a long, long, long time ago there was no such thing as "paper towels," if you can imagine. What did they do? Well, they made dishcloths. They're reusable, which makes them environmentally friendly, and if you stick to the basic pattern they are quickly made and not so pretty as much as they are functional.
Of course, they can also be used as washcloths and there are tons and tons of patterns for pretty dish/wash cloths out there. And the gift giving possibilities---handknitted washcloth with fancy handmade soap or a set of handknitted dishcloths in a kitchen gift basket---at last! something that you can knit up quickly but looks pretty neat when done.
Anyway, I'm about to use the little bit of green I have left to make a small basic dishcloth.
posted by Hi! I'm Janola. at 5:00 PM
1 Comments:
The dishcloths will get you every time.
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