Saturday 3 December 2016

Knitted Dishcloths - Christmas 2016

A couple of people asked if I would be making any of my knitted dishcloths this year. Originally made in 2011 and 2012 most, except for Marc’s, which is still in his kitchen, unused, with the linen gift tag attached, have long since worn out and sadly although the original post remains on the blog all the images have since mysteriously disappeared.
Basic knitted dishclothNeeding something to do in the evening other than eating Maltesers while watching my programmes of choice; The Apprentice, I’m A Celebrity or X Factor, I thought why not.  So I bought a pack of 10 balls of Pegasus Craft Dishcloth Cotton Crochet Knitting Yarn from e-bay which I reckoned would make about 25 or so dishcloths.
basis garter stitch knitted dishclothesI also had to buy some new knitting needles as I gave all mine to a charity shop when I moved, deciding that my knitting in the future would probably be pretty limited.  So a new pair cost me 20p from yet another charity shop.
Using size 5 and a half mm needles I cast on 35 stitches and knit in garter stitch until the cloths measure 10 inches, a size that fits in your hands quite comfortably when scrunched up to wash/wipe whatever with.
At first, like the first pancake you cook, my tension was a bit squew-wiff, so the first one is going to be mine, but when I got into the swing of it my tension became a lot more even.
basic knitted garter stitch dishclothesIn all I have made 27 dishcloths, with just one more to go.  Then comes the bit I absolutely hate, a couple of evenings spent sewing in all the ends, it has to be done but aghhhhhh!
scrubby yarnAnd for next year?  I have since discovered that they now make Scrubby, a  “textured yarn that will make scrubbing dirty pots a lot easier than a regular dishcloth”. Well, it would be rude not to try just one ball at least. It comes in a whole rainbow of colours, so colour boredom shouldn’t rear it’s ugly head and there are hundreds of patterns out there to try, so watch this space!