I've been making an extra effort to be more sustainable in my life, at home and work. Not only do I enjoy learning a good craft but usually the result is a better quality product. Something of a bit of an heirloom. An item to be gifted as a housewarming gift. The dish towels shown here I first made as a dish cloth since that is what the pattern calls for. The original tutorial is from Purl Soho. Purl Soho is known for higher quality products and the yarn used here is no exception. Blue Sky Alpacas (Blue Sky Fibers) Worsted Weight cotton yarn is amazing! It feels so good to knit with, almost buttery soft minus the greasiness! It comes in a wide range of colors so you can really go crazy here. And since it is cotton this is a great project to knit during the warm weather months, whether at the beach or in the park you don't have to give up your knitting habit when the heat hits. Made in garter stitch, this is an easy project to travel with since it is small and only uses 2 to 3 colors of yarn.
The pattern calls for casting on 56 stitches and the final measurements are 9" x 16". I followed this and bought 4 skeins of yarn in colors bone, sand, tomato and ladybug. I suggest drawing out your pattern so you know what colors you want to do and what the repeat will be. You can play around and get the French vintage look as in the Purl dish towels. Or go for more monochromatic stripes. I made a few varieties but my favorite turned out to be when the sand or the natural was the majority color. I did do one where ladybug was the majority color and it reminded me too much of a Alabama football team that my husband loves. Not really a dish towel I want. After knitting 4 of them I personally felt that they were not wide enough for dish towels. Although they may be too long for a wash cloth that is what they became. My daughter needed new ones and these are worthy.
So a few questions you might have, what do the wash cloths look like after going thru the laundry? The same as they did before going in, same color and quality, a yummy hand knitted cotton. Colors do not bleed, the stitch did not tighten or loosen. These dish or wash cloths are going to last a long time. I now am going to make a few more in different colors that will be shorter in length. I definitely recommend knitting some of these up for a house warming gift or a baby gift! Please share your photos if you do knit some up. I would love to see the color ways you come up with!
Enjoy!
Tracey