Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Clean Up with the Hopscotch Washcloth or Towel Knitting Pattern

by

My husband and daughter both like using knit washcloths and dishcloths (husband likes them in the kitchen, daughter in the bathroom). Most of the ones I have are many years old, and they’re holding up well, but knitting dishcloths and towels is a great summer activity because they’re relatively small projects and you will use them all year long.

The Hopscotch Washcloth and Towel, designed by Deborah Newton for Purl Soho, is a great addition to your cloth and towel collection. It gets its name from the checkerboard stitch pattern, with blocks of alternating knit and purl stitches and right twists (sort of like a baby cable, but no cable needle required!). It has a simple garter stitch border to keep everything neat.

You can make this pattern as a washcloth or a full on dish towel size, whatever you need. I’m sure you could pretty easily alter the design to make placemats or other gear for the kitchen as well, if you wanted to. Or how about stitching up a bath mat with matching washcloths?

The pattern uses a luscious organic cotton yarn, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Washcloths in particular are a great place to use up all the odd balls of cotton yarn (because a single washcloth never seems to use a whole ball) and no one will ever see the wild color combos and random stripes unless you want them to.

Washcloth knitting patterns are a great way to practice new-to-you stitches, so even if you’ve never worked twisted stitches before, you should give this one a try. There’s also a link to a video tutorial in the pattern post if you need extra help getting the technique down.

You can grab this free pattern from Purl Soho.

[Photo via Purl Soho]

Comments

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.