I am now half way through my Summer Knitting project of knitting a dozen dishcloths. Here are the three I have just finished:
Dishcloth #4 – Crocus Buds
Pattern from the Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, color Banana. This was an interesting openwork pattern. The “crocus buds” are created by pulling a stitch over the next two stitches on the needle. It is a simple 6 stitch pattern over 4 rows with yarn overs creating the open patterning between the “crocus buds”.
Dishcloth #5 – Elfin Lace
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, color Natural. Easy lace pattern, that knits up into a nice dishcloth. The Elfin Lace pattern is an eight stitch pattern done over 8 rows.
Dishcloth #6 – Trinity Stitch
Pattern from Leisure Arts “Knitting Kitchen Brights Dishcloths” brochure. Yarn: Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, color Natural. Lovely textured pattern produced by using the “Trinity Stitch”. I loved knitting this one. The “Trinity Stitch” is a neat textured pattern.
3 thoughts on “Summer Knitting: Dishcloths # 4 – 6”
What an awesome dishcloth. I think you did a great job.
I am interested in the pattern on your front page – the turquoise dishcloth that looks lacy around the edge. Thanks.
MaryAnn — Thanks for the comment. All the dishclothes posted in this blog were knit from patterns from the Leisure Arts book cited in the posts, with the exception of the one that was knit using the pattern on the ball band of the Peaches and Cream yarn.
In my previous post, I discussed the basic structure of a basic beanie hat and how to knit the brim and the body of the hat. Once you have knitted the hat to the desired length before the start of the crown shaping, you have basically knit a cylinder as shown below.
If you look at the top of the cylinder, it is a circle – and this is the area where you shape the crown by gradually decreasing stitches to close the top of the hat. I usually decrease my stitches down to somewhere between 6 to 12 stitches and then finish the top of the hat by breaking the yarn and using the tail to close the very top of the hat.
Shaping the Crown: The shape of the crown is determined by the number of stitches you need to decrease, the type of decreases you use and how frequently you make your decreases.
Basic beanies usually have either a “spiral” shaped crown or a “wedge” shaped crown. Spiral shaped crowns are made by dividing the number of stitches into an equal number of segments where the decreases are made. The number of segments can be 5, 6, 7, or 8. The number you choose depends upon the total number of stitches and whether the total is evenly divisible by the number of segments. For example, 96 stitches can be divided into 6 equal segments of 16 stitches, or it can be divided into 8 equal segments of 12 stitches. If you have a number of stitches that cannot be evenly divided, then you will need to decrease your stitches down to a number that can be evenly segmented.
Typically, the decrease used for crown shaping is K2Tog which is a right-leaning decrease. You can also use the SSK decrease which leans left. However, you need to use only one of these two decreases in order to knit the spiral shape for your crown.
A wedge-shaped crown has only 4 segments. If you want this shape for your crown, you will divide your stitches by 4 and then use double decreases as you shape the crown. Using 96 stitches as an example, you would have 4 segments of 24 stitches.
To decrease you can use a combination of K2Tog and SSK at each point of decrease or you can use a Central Double Decrease(CDD).
I usually place a stitch or 2 between the K2Tog and SSK decrease when making the wedge-shaped crown. This gives the top of the hat a decorative ridge. The CDD makes a decorative line itself.
Rate of Decreases: Typically, I start crown decreases at a rate of every other round – where I decrease in each segment until I have knit approximately 1.5 inches and then I switch to decreasing every round until I am down to somewhere between 12 and 6 stitches. This is based on my experience.
Calculating Decrease Rates: I know it’s a lot of math, but here goes: To calculate your own rate of decrease, you need to know the number of rows that remain for the crown of the hat and your row gauge. The crown of the hat is approximately 1/3 of the total length of the hat. For example, the total length of the hat is 11 inches — and 1/3 of this is 3.7 inches. Using a row gauge of 7 rounds per inch. 3.7 x 7 equals 25.9 rounds (round up to 26 rounds). I need to decrease from 96 stitches to 12 stitches at a rate of 6 sts per decrease round. This gives me 14 sets of decreases (96-12 = 84, 84/6 = 14). Dividing the total number of rounds by the number of decrease rounds gives me 1.9. Now I can opt to decrease EOR over 28 rows, which makes my hat slightly longer, or I can decrease EOR for 20 rows (decreasing 60 sts) and then decrease every row for 6 rows (decreasing 36 sts) and end with 10 sts to close the top of the hat. Either way will give me a hat with a close-fitting crown.
I have now covered how to make a basic beanie hat without using a pattern. Give it a try using your choice of yarn and your gauge. Happy Knitting. 🙂
I’ve signed on for a Ravelry group called “10 in 2010”. The idea is to identify 10 knitting projects you want to complete in 2010 and share your progress with the group. It’s a variation of a knit along.
Hat & matching scarf for me — yarn and pattern to be determined
This is an easy way to set some goals for knitting projects. If you are on Ravelry and are interested in joining, go to Groups and look for “10 in 2010”. Happy Knitting.
I’m back after a 9 week hiatus. Life sometime intervenes in personal activities and I haven’t had time to blog since just after my son’s wedding. Things seem to be settling down and since we have hit that time of the summer when there’s not much on TV to watch, I may have some time in the evenings to work on my blog and my website.
For the next few posts, I’m going to focus on the topic of “Summer Knitting”. Summer is that time of year when I like to have a few smaller projects going on my needles. Small projects are very portable and can be easily tossed into the car or suitcase when heading out of town on a trip. These projects also need to be fairly simple patterns — I don’t like having to concentrate on a complex pattern when traveling or sitting with friends/relatives.
My first summer knitting project was a knitted doily. Knitted doilies are a bit of novelty for me — since I also crochet, I have always crocheted my doilies and never really gave much thought to the possibility that doilies could also be knitted. However, I have recently discovered two lovely patterns for knitted doilies on the web and I knit them up using size 10 crochet cotton thread and size US 3 needles.
Doily 1 is “Liz Snella’s Heirloom Doily”. Finished it measured 12 inches in diameter. I used double point needles to start and then switched to a 24 inch circular needle. As with all doilies, this pattern knit up quickly and I was able to finish it in a couple of evenings.
Doily 2 is named “Doily with Star”. Finished it measured 10 inches in diameter. With this doily, I used two circular needles rather than double points and a circular needle. Again, I was able to finish this doily in only a few hours of knitting.
I gave both of these doilies to my MIL for Mother’s Day. She was delighted – and since she doesn’t knit, she was also surprised that I had knitted them rather than crocheted them.
So – if you are looking for a small summer project: try knitting a doily. It’s a great way to practice using double points and/or two circular needles. I’ve included links to the two patterns below.
What an awesome dishcloth. I think you did a great job.
I am interested in the pattern on your front page – the turquoise dishcloth that looks lacy around the edge. Thanks.
MaryAnn — Thanks for the comment. All the dishclothes posted in this blog were knit from patterns from the Leisure Arts book cited in the posts, with the exception of the one that was knit using the pattern on the ball band of the Peaches and Cream yarn.