Review: Learn-a-Stitch Knit Dishcloths

Not too long ago I shared a collection of washcloth knitting patterns and noted that washcloths are great projects for learning new stitches and techniques because they are small and don’t have to come out perfect (they’ll still wash things even if they don’t come out perfectly square).

It turns out I’m not the only person to think this way, and Annie’s has produced a little booklet called Learn-a-Stitch Knit Dishcloths with six different stitch patterns that might teach you something.

The projects are designed by Lena Skvageron, and the booklet is nothing but the patterns and a little bit of technique instruction in the back of the book (long-tail cast on, knit, purl, binding off in knit and purl, and different increase and decreases, many of which are not used in this book).

The patterns are as follows:

Herringbone dishcloth using slipped stitches to make a pattern of vs on the surface of a knit purl fabric
Blooming dishcloth, which has multiple yarn overs and knits worked into the same stitch, resulting in equally large decreases like knit 4 together and slip 3, knit 1, pass 3 slipped stitches over
Golden Coins, a basic cable knitting pattern
Basketweave Waves, a knit and purl pattern that features wavy bands of texture
Reversible Texture dishcloth, another one that’s just knits and purls and a bit more like the simple basketweave you might have worked in alternating blocks of knits and purls
Tree of Life, which uses slipped stitches and tiny cables to make the tree design

All of the patterns are rated easy (even that one that asks you to knit four together in cotton yarn!) and all but the first one include a chart as well as written instructions.

With this handful of patterns you can learn some basic knit and purl patterns, use slipped stitches decoratively, make some cables and play with lace (though, again, not sure that should be your first lace experience because those decreases are not the easiest). Still, this is a fun little book for someone who likes to knit dishcloths or washcloths and wants to try some new things.

About the book: 18 pages, paperback (or PDF), 6 patterns. Published 2022 by Annie’s, suggested retail price $9.99 ($7.99 for PDF linked at Annie’s).

Next Pattern:

Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

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Next Pattern:

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