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).

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn.

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small.

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches.

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come.

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you.

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?).

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry.

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns.

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]

Have you read?