Although I love getting hand-made items, I have in the past received hand-knit
or hand-crocheted dishcloths that are just too thick. I was on a quest for the
perfect weight in dishcloths. Not too thick, but not too thin either.
I had in my stash, 100% unmercerized cotton in several different weights.
Thought I'd try different combinations of these yarns, different tensions,
different cast-on #'s. and see what I liked best. Please note that some of these dishcloths, while still on the machine look waaay too long but actually once the weights are off, remove from the machine, wash & dry them - they are the correct size. The length shrinks more than the width does.
Using my Brother KH-965i knitting machine, here are the results of my scientific (?) study of making
dish cloths.
First I found 3 very good patterns:
http://www.daisyknits.com/freemkpats.htm
http://rozspot.blogspot.com/2010/11/knit-cotton-washcloths-cast-on-rag.html
http://www.eileenmontgomery.com/freebies/patterns/dishcloth.html
All of these patterns are great. Because I was trying different thicknesses of yarn,
I tried all of them as written, then I combined parts of them to make the pattern I
preferred. I wanted my dishcloths to end up about the same size and thickness no
matter what yarn I used(11" square before washing). I kept track of all the different yarn combinations in hopes it may help others that have oddball cones of cotton that they want to use.
Here are the results so far of what I have made and what I like best.
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Using 1 strand of 8/3
Tension 8
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 68 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC172 .
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC206. Bind off.
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Using 1 strand of 3.5/1 PLUS 1 strand of 16/2
Tension 8
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 66 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC168 .
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC202. Bind off.
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Using 1 strand of 8/2 PLUS 1 strand of 16/2
Tension 8
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 68 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC172 .
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC206. Bind off.
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Using 1 strand of 12/4
Tension 6++
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 68 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC164 .
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC198. Bind off.
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Using 2 strands of 16/2
Tension 7
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 68 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC168.
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC202. Bind off.
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Using 1 strand of 16/2 PLUS 1 strand of 3.5/1 cotton slub
Tension 8
RC000. E-wrap cast on over 64 sts.
• Knit 1 row to the left, weave tail in. Hang the cast-on comb and weights.
• Set to KCII and program the pattern to #461 or #256 Double length.
• Knit 1 row to the right. Push both the tuck buttons in and push the rubber wheels on the bottom of the carriage to tucking position. I also employed the weaving brushes.
• Knit in tuck until RC030.
• RC030. Release the tuck buttons, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• RC034. Release the slip buttons and Push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit in tuck until RC168 .
• Release the tuck button, push in both slip buttons and knit 4 rows.
• Release the slip buttons and push in both tuck buttons.
• Knit 29 rows in tuck.
• Set Change knob to N-L and release the tuck buttons. Knit 1 row in stocking st.
RC202. Bind off.
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Each Dishcloth took about 12 minutes on average to knit on the machine. I then washed and dried them to make them shrink to a nice size. If you give them to friends or family you may want to then block them nice and square.
That's all for my "scientific study" for now! If I try other weights of yarn and
find them to my liking I will post those results as well.
Happy knitting!
Kris
UPDATE: 8/30/17
I hadn't knit any of these in quite a while. I am about to take a trip to go visit some relatives and wanted to knit a bunch up to take along as gifts. I had a small amount of time to get as many knit up as I could before leaving.
For all of these I used 1 strand of 8/2 (Valley Yarns purchased on yarn.com), and 1 strand of 16/2 (purchased from the Yarn Barn). Most I used the plating yarn feeder to do a plated tuck, a few others I twisted the 2 strands together before knitting. I used pattern #256 for all of them, double length. Tension 8, cast on 68 sts, knit 205 rows then bind off. Note, I didn't do the rows of slip stitch and actually I found that these came out more square in the end than the ones above with the slip rows. These also look VERY long when you knit them but remarkably after being washed and dried in the machine the shrink up to approx. 11" sq.
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