Knit Dishcloths to Clean Up Your Holiday Meal

It may be a little late to knit much for the table for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, but you still have time to whip up a dishcloth or two to help you with the cleanup. And I don’t know about you, but I feel a little better about cleaning when I have nice tools, and nothing’s better than handknit cloths for scrubbing off the last bits of potatoes and pecan pie.

Here are some great options for easy but pretty knit dishcloths.

Of course I couldn’t resist sharing the classic Ball Band Dishcloth from Peaches & Creme, made famous by Mason-Dixon Knitting. Such a fun, easy pattern and it looks great in bold colors. There’s also the hanging version from stitcher Cheryl if you have a place to hang your towel from.

The perfect scrubbie stash buster comes in the form of this garter stitch dishcloth from Lion Brand Yarn, which changes colors every two rows.

These lovely slip stitch dishcloths from the Purl Bee are a great introduction to slip stitch knitting if you’ve never done it before. It looks a lot more complicated than it is because you’re only working with one color on each row.

The Triangles Towel from Knit Picks is another cute one that has a section that folds over and attaches with buttons to keep it secure.

Lizard Ridge is an addictive stitch pattern, and this free Raverly download pattern from Laura Aylor shows it off to great effect. This is another one that would be fun as a stash buster.

The Gridded Kitchen Towel from 3 Sleeves to the Wind is a fun combo of a solid and multicolored cotton yarn in a nice textured stitch pattern that’s great for scrubbing.

And while technically not a dishtowel, the Ravelry download Tribble is a great little scrubby that’s fun to knit and is stitched into a circle to finish.

I can’t resist sharing one of mine, too, and among my faves is the easy Mistake Rib Dishcloth, which comes together quickly and has nice texture for cleaning or drying dishes.

Why use dishcloths? Dishcloths are re-useable and save on kitchen waste. Most dishcloths are made using cotton yarn and can be thrown into the washing machine when dirty. This makes them very hygienic, especially when compared to kitchen sponges, which sit on the sinks for days if not weeks. Another great thing about dishcloths is when it comes to knitting the knit up quickly and are great for gift giving. Everyone needs a dishcloth. For gifting, It’s not something that has to be in fashion or a certain colour for the recipient to like it, though there are so many great dishcloth pattern designs out there.

Looking to knit more dishcloth patterns ? Check out these dishcloth patterns on Etsy

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Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

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