a little frog in a big pond

My three frog dishcloths are finally done! The two green ones are knit from Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Hot Green (my favourite!) and Sage Green, and the white one is Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Cream.

Normally I'd "start early" with my xmas knitting gifts by starting in July... that has always been considered early for me. But seriously, to have it started in January is setting a new record! The only trick is to not misplace these between now and December!

knitting irony

I'm nearly done a set of 3 frog dishcloths for my niece. Yep, I'm knitting three at a time, each in a different colour. And, believe it or not, these will be part of her Christmas 2015 gift, so I'm really starting early this year!

The thing is, I'd probably be done by now if I didn't make a mistake within the first third of the dishcloth - and the problem with knitting two or more of something at once, is that you're likely to make the mistake on each item. So, I've had to rip back to undo my mistake on all of them, and reknit everything.

That's right, I've had to (partially) frog my froggy dishcloths. Ha.

naturally...

I absolutely love nature and natural things. I always have. I love being among the trees, growing tomatoes in my garden, going camping, and being by the lake. For as long as I can remember, I've always been a bit obsessed with ecology and preserving nature. Thankfully, I grew up in a family where we actively recycled, composted, and gardened, and my parents have always loved camping as well - so the 'nature experience' was something that was ingrained in me very early on.

Preserving nature is something that we can all easily do, and to varying degrees. I truly believe that we can all do even the smallest changes to our daily lives to make a big impact, ecologically. That's part of the reason why I'm immersing myself so deeply in making as many dishcloths as possible - it's a small thing that will (hopefully) encourage the people around me to use reusable dishcloths rather than paper towels.

It only makes sense, with this thinking, to make some nature-themed dishcloths - doesn't it? 

I recently discovered the Garden Dishcloth to Knit (Leisure Arts) book; it has a dozen dishcloth patterns that are - as you may guess just from the title - all garden themed. Each dishcloth has a different image of something you may find in your garden, and they're lovely. I can absolutely see myself making at least half of these dishcloths for my MiL or my grandmother, who both love gardening and being in their gardens.

One pattern did jump out at me, though, that I simply had to start yesterday: the frog dishcloth. I'm making three at once, in two shades of green and one in cream. And, dare I say, I'm starting this early for Christmas. Don't hate, I just start wicked early on my Christmas knitting!

These will be for DH's niece, who grew up obsessed with frogs. She had a collection of frog toys, frogs on her clothes, a frog mural on her bedroom wall, and even pet frogs. Granted, she grew out of her obsession with frogs and moved onto other interests, but she is in university atm earning some kind of degree in science and (almost) living on her own. Dishcloths come in handy for independent living, and I hope that the frog dishcloths will come in handy! 

The only trick is, when I'm done them, I have to not misplace them between now and December so I remember to gift them to her!

classic cables

I love cables, seriously. Those aran sweaters were my motivation to learn to knit in the first place. DH has received his fair share of cabled sweaters, and now my toddler son is acquiring a good collection of cabled sweaters from me too. So, it's no surprise that I'm going to make a dishcloth covered in cables.

This pattern is the celtic cables dishcloth - and so much fun to make.  Unblocked, it measures 7" wide by 9" long, and looks kinda cool with the salt & pepper colourway. 

Maple Leaf Forever

 I've always loved illusion knitting. It's such a cool technique, and it's such a cool surprise when a recipient gets an illusion-knitted item. Looking at it straight on, it's just a dishcloth with stripes, but at a certain angle a magical image appears! 

This pattern is the illusion maple leaf dishcloth, and I knit it with Lily Sugar'n Cream in Wine and Cream.

eyelet dishcloths completed

Using up more Bernat Handicrafter yarn in the salt & pepper colourway, I completed two eyelet dishcloths - a really interesting textured dishcloth. I love ball-band patterns when it comes to dishcloths, to me they have a really fun (and a bit of a vintage-kitch!) feel to them.

My mom will be heading back to France next week; my dad is currently working out there, plus my maternal grandmother is there too and currently going through chemo for breast cancer. My grandmother is an avid cook and baker, and frequently gets together with friends, hosting a lot of events at her home since she's one of the few of her friends who doesn't live in an apartment and can hold a large group of friends. I'll be sending these two dishcloths back with my mom, along with one of the circle dishcloths I finished a few days ago.

I love keeping the paper ball bands from my knitting when I'm gifting my knitwear - mainly so the recipient has the fiber content and washing instructions from the label, plus I also think that it certifies that it is actually handmade. In the case of dishcloths, ball bands are handy in keeping all the dishcloths together, and with these three the ball band barely fits. Coincidentally the eyelet pattern is on the back of this particular label, although I doubt that my grandmother - despite being a knitter herself - will use the pattern. (The little knitting she does now is usually making her brother the occasional sweater.) 

Sometimes the colour of the yarn on the ball band happens to suit the gift that the ball band is wrapped around - in this case, the colour is a variegated colourway called 'love'. <3

circle cloths completed

I'm working through a big skein of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Salt & Pepper, and also a few partial skeins of cotton from my own stash for my first batch of completed dishcloths of the new year. This particular pattern is the circle cloth (which is the same knitting technique incorporated in the very popular Sheldon toy) & I've completed 5 so far.

The black ones is a mix of the salt & pepper yarn plus Lily Sugar & Cream Solids in Black. The variegated ones are a mix of salt & pepper yarn plus Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Ombres & Prints in Love, Beach Ball Blues, Violet Veil Ombre, and a mystery colourway (I lost the label). One of these will be gifted with some extra dishcloths of a different pattern, which I'll blog about later.

I really enjoy this particular pattern because of how thick the dishcloths turn out.They're extra scrubby and very durable. I've gifted these to a couple people who are knitters themselves and are fascinated by the technique used in this pattern - they think that it's two dishcloths made separately and sewn together, and they're surprised that it's knit all in one piece! 

first post of the New Year!

For as long as I've been knitting and crocheting, I've found myself making pretty much everything. I've knitted and crocheted everything from socks and shawls, to baby clothes and baby blankets, to aran sweaters and toys.

I've been involved with online knitting communities for a few years, especially since the dawn of ravelry. Etsy and the knitty chatroom at first, and eventually when ravelry started I spent more time there. Ravelry enabled all sorts of projects beyond knitting – specifically, spinning. I've a small collection of drop spindles, lots of roving that I dye and buy pre-dyed, and even recently bought a spinning wheel. I have even knit a scarf or two made from the yarn that I've spun, and that was such a wonderful accomplishment; I was very proud of these garments that I felt I made truly from scratch by creating my own yarn first.

There are a lot of sub-groups in the ravelry community. It's not just knitters vs crocheters vs spinners. There are sock knitters, shawl lovers, those who knit and crochet only for charity, people who only make baby items, people who love crocheting amigurumi toys... the list goes on and on.

I love the idea of “specializing” in one thing in particular, and amazed at the collections of finished objects some have. How wonderful would it be to have a whole sock drawer filled with handknit socks, or a collection of cabled sweaters, or a whole nursery filled with crocheted blankets and toys.

What I became obsessed with was something very unlikely. There are threads in ravelry that question the very meaning of making them, and even groups formed advocating against making them all together.

They are... DISHCLOTHS!

Let's face it – dishcloth yarn isn't fancy. It's not cultivated from alpacas with a genetic line of prize-winning fiber. It's not so rare like qivuit, which prices nearly as expensive as any decent drug habit. It's common enough that any major big box store that sells yarn has lots of dishcloth cotton, nearly as much inventory as they have baby yarn or acrylic.

So, how on earth did I become so involved with making dishcloths above anything else? Well, this sprouted rather recently, probably in the last 5 years or so.

Like many other knitters, I find myself knitting for everyone. I spend hours, sometimes, searching patterns on ravelry. I love collecting yarn. I love going through my LYS if for no other reason than to feel everything and admire all the new colours and textures. But it's hard to find the knit-worthy people in my life – and even they're not going to use everything I knit simply because I made it.

I've come to an important realization: what is knitted or crocheted also needs to be functional.

One year I started my Christmas knitting late. I really wanted to knit for as many people as possible, but had very limited time. The most affordable thing to make, both financially and timewise, was dishcloths. Everyone I know has a kitchen, and (fortunately for me!) everyone I know loves to cook or bake. Used kitchens are messy kitchens!

I found some mini gift bags at my local dollar store and bought a bunch. I could fit 3 dishcloths in a bag, and went ahead and made the easiest patterns. I used up some of the partial skeins of cotton for log cabin dishcloths, plus some Granny's Favourite dishcloths with the full skeins that I bought. I could complete a dishcloth easily in one evening of tv watching. Every person or couple got a bag of 3 dishcloths under the tree along with their store-bought gifts.

Well, wouldn't you know that everyone loved the dishcloths! At first when they opened the bag I don't think it made much sense as to why they were gifted them. Come Easter a few months later, everyone commented on how functional and durable the dishcloths I made were. My inlaws even kept one dishcloth in the bathroom for shower and sink and counter cleaning, and the other two stayed in the kitchen. Come Thanksgiving of that same year, a few people not-so-subtily hinted that they needed new handknit dishcloths for Christmas because a few of the ones gifted last year were used so much that they had worn down.

So, that's what I did! I began collecting more dishcloth cotton and made more. I could fit 3 more in a mini gift bag, maybe 4 for my inlaws. I filled a small box of dishcloths and sent them to family overseas, using the ball band from used skeins to wrap 6 or so together for each person. I made a few dishcloths with Christmas designs on them as stocking stuffers for a couple people too.

I became immersed in the dishcloth world. They were functional for every day use, and easy to make. My inlaws, who are big paper towel consumers, were slowly buying less wasteful paper products and using dishcloths more. This is why I'm advocating for them – no more paper towels, replace them all with dishcloths!

Why else are dishcloths are awesome? They can be as conservative, funky, plain, elaborate, lacey, cabley, colourful or exuberant as you want them to be. Cotton is an environmentally friendly, renewable resource – and inexpensive. They're functional, and as knitting projects very portable. They can be used any time of the year, aren't hidden under a pair of shoes, customized to any style or décor, and cannot be outgrown.

This is why I've become a dishcloth enthusiast. I love making them, and everyone seems to love receiving them. Not only that, but I also love collecting them for my own kitchen. Mind you, I'm not obsessively neat, but I love pulling out a newly knit dishcloth (or one suited for whatever current holiday) to clean up after cooking or a big meal.

I hope to further explore all the wonderful patterns for dishcloths in this blog and see how many more I can make!