Knitted moss stitch washcloths - pattern included

Over the past 2 weeks I have been spending a lot of time indoors due to the bad weather. I have been using my list of 20 Winter Comforts from my previous post quite a lot. Mainly spending my time reading and knitting.

I have had the urge to knit since Winter started, but didn't know what to knit. Then I saw knitted washcloths/dishcloths on another blog which looked very pretty and I found a cotton (30%) and bamboo (70%) mix yarn for sale in many different colours.

Later I finally saw cotton washcloths for sale in a gift shop. That made my mind up, I had to knit some washcloths.

I couldn't make my mind up on which colours to choose so I ended up buying 30 balls of 8-ply yarn. Two balls of each colour that I liked!

My reasoning behind buying so much is that the knitted washcloths are eco-friendly, being made from natural materials, and should last a long time. Better than the synthetic dishcloths I usually buy. I also think that cost-wise, in the long run, the knitted washcloths will cost me less. So I am telling myself that I am being thrifty as well.

Here is the pattern that I used to make the moss stitch washcloths:

Pattern

K = knit
P = purl

~ Cast on 57 stitches

~ Knit 8 rows in garter stich (each row knit)

Then work the following 4 row moss stitch pattern until the patterned area is square:

~ Row 1: K6 *P1,K1 Repeat from * to the last 5 stitches then K5

~ Row 2: K5, P1 *K1, P1 Repeat from * to the last 5 stitches then K5

~ Row 3: same as row 2

~ Row 4: same as row 1

Once the patterned area is square and ending on a row 1 or 3,

~ Knit 8 rows in garter stich (each row knit)

~ Cast off all stitches

~ Sew the ends in using a yarn needle.

I used 8-ply yarn which was a mix of 30% cotton and 70% bamboo.

You could also use a 100% cotton yarn instead.

To get the right tension I used 3 1/4 mm needles (the yarn label said to use 4 mm needles, but I found this to be too loose).

The pattern makes one 25 cm x 25 cm (10 inch x 10 inch) washcloth (which could also be used as a dishcloth).

One 50 gram ball of yarn makes one washcloth.

Happy knitting.

Lots of smiles.

Rose x