I diligently strive to meet the daily goal of my 2022 Create Daily tracker—doing something creative in stitch or mixed media every day. Portable projects that can accompany me on the road make achieving this goal possible. Over the last 3 months, knitted dishcloths have become my standard take-along stitch project... and they've been an intriguing study in color as well!
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| Three knitted dishcloths in linen stitch. |
Attributes of the linen stitch
Most of my knitted dishcloths are knit in linen stitch. Below is a photo showing 9 of them. The stitch pattern's attributes are reasons why I like this pattern for this project:
- the linen stitch pattern is easy to remember;
- the slip stitch in the sequence makes a tighter fabric structure that is conducive for using this knitted fabric in water... to wash dishes;
- it adapts well to using multiple colors of yarn;
- the slip stitches cause different colors of yarn to interact with each other in a single row.
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| Linen stitch dishcloths using variou yarn color combinations. |
A fun stash buster project
Using up partial skeins and leftover yarns works well for these small pieces.
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| Cotton yarn stash. |
The smaller yarn lengths allow experimenting with various color combinations on one dishcloth or perhaps on only a few rows. Because the slip stitch brings one color up (from the row below) into another, interesting things happen with color.
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| Color play with linen stitch. |
Depending on the lengths of the yarn leftovers, I'll work with two or three solid colors, two variegated yarns, a solid and a variegated, or use one main yarn and work stripes with limited yards of other colors. It's fun to watch the textures emerge as the yarn slips through your fingers.
The linen stitch also offers interesting color play—and a knubby texture—on the back side of the work.
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| Linen stitch back side. |
Other slip stitch patterns
The knitted dishcloths project was prompted by the Modern Daily Dishcloth Knit-along this summer. Other slip stitch patterns I've used for dishcloths are the brick stitch and Three-and-One Tweed. I've made 12 additional dishcloths since fulfilling the Slow Stitching prompt for Make Nine 2022 in early September.
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| Brick stitch (left) and Three-and-One Tweed (right) stitch patterns. |
My most recent dishcloth used up a leftover ball of the turquoise yarn. Talk about playing "yarn chicken!" The last row was completed with only a few inches of yarn remaining.
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| Three-in-One Tweed dishcloth: one variegated yarn and one solid. |
The edges of the dishcloths are crocheted—usually with two rows of single crochet.
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| Knitted dishcloths—a portable colorwork project. |
As the yarn stash dwindles, the dishcloth stack continues to grow...
