Category: Knitting

I love knitted washcloths. The cloths featured in this post are made from cotton. They are thick, exfoliating, absorbent and extremely soft. I like them a lot better than terry washcloths.

Knit two washcloths/dishcloths weekly?

Since I now have so much cotton yarn, I really have no excuse not to honor my commitment of making to handmade cloths (washcloth or dishcloth) per week, right?

Last week, I mentioned that I would attempt to make a minimum of two washcloths per week.

If you’re wondering if I achieved that goal last week the answer would be yes. In fact, I knitted five. Yeah… that’s right three more than than the minimum amount. Two don’t count count towards our stash since they were gifts for a co-worker.  I was her Secret Santa. By the way, she loved them! I also gave her a American Express gift card, chocolate covered pretzels, and some honey from out beehive.

I was thrilled that I was able to knit five. It showed that even with my busy schedule, sneaking in moments here and there to knit a few rows is doable.

 

 

You see the knitted facecloth on top? The yellow and lime green? I call that my “craptastic” washcloth. I remember my mother had a dishtowel like that when I was a child. I hated those colors together! Why I felt the urge to knit an almost exact replica (in knitted form) is something I’m still questioning.

 

 

I’ve given myself a bit of leniency with the two washcloth per week rule. If I make more than two washcloths per week, the extra can carry over until the next week in case I get super busy. Currently, I’m ahead of the game, since I’ve already knitted two washcloths this week.  Remember I really only had to make one, since one knitted washcloth carried over from last week. I’ll be featuring the washcloths I made this week in an advanced post that’s scheduled to be published over the weekend. Now you know, I’ll have to include some woven washcloths into the mix, right? Knitting can’t have all the fun! Since I’ll be learning weaving, I’ve decided that loom woven washcloths can also be included since they are handmade after all. After I work out the kinks and get fairly decent at using my 32″ Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle Loom, I’ll be setting up my loom and weaving a few of these lovely spa washcloths.

I love the texture and the style of the hemp washcloths featured in the above video. Initially, I believe I’ll try weaving this in cotton since I have that in abundance, afterwards I’ll move on to hemp and perhaps I’ll add bamboo to the mix too.

This comic makes me chuckle….

I’m sure many crochet/knitters can identify with this picture, right? But, I know I don’t look that crazy, when I’m playing with mine.

Earlier this week, I finally was able to rewind those 20 skeins of yarn I’d purchased last weekend.

In total, it took over two hours to rewind the yarn into the yarn cakes above.  Aren’t the colors lovely? The rewinding went fairly smoothly and I only encountered one skein of yarn that had tangles, but I was able to remove the tangles quickly. If I’d encountered these tangles while knitting a project it would have been annoying. To avoid unpleasant surprises, I always rewind my yarn with my Boye Electric Yarn Ball Winder.

Tip for attaching labels after they’ve been rewound

The yarn skeins were much fatter after they were rewound, but I was still able to reattach the yarn label by taping bits of printer paper to the label. This made the label longer, so I was able to wrap it easily around the bigger yarn cake.

 

As you can see, the knitted washcloths are coming along nicely. I knit two natural colored washcloths to accompany the two white ones that I’d made over the Thanksgiving holiday. The white knitted washcloths were originally going to be given to my co-worker, but I’ve decided to gift her with the natural colored washcloths instead.

Limited stash of hand knit washcloths/dishcloths

We now have four knitted washcloths in our home; Two lime green and two white. Last year, I had knitted and crocheted washcloths, but my daughter used them as blankets/afghans for her Monster High dolls. Interestingly enough my daughter and I have both only been using these four washcloths. That should tell you how good these feel against your skin. So yes… these washcloths are getting washed several times weekly. Once I finish knitting more we won’t have to focus solely on these knitted cloths.

Now that my “Secret Santa gift” is complete, I’m going to knit some brightly colored washcloths and dishcloths for our home!

My title, ‘rewind’, makes me think of this…

Take that and rewind it back, Lil’ Jon got the beat to make ya booty go (clap)

It’s from Ushers song, Yeah…

Usher: Yeah! featuring Lil’ John and Ludicrous

[Usher:]
Peace up! A Town Down!

[Lil’ Jon:]
Yeah, (Yeah!) OK!

(Usher! Usher! Usher! Usher!)

[Lil’ Jon:]
Lil’ Jon!

[Usher:]
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Yeaah!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Yeaah!

[Usher (Verse 1):]
Up in the club with my homies, tryna get a lil’ V-I, but keep it down on the low key, ’cause you know how it is.
I saw shorty she was checkin’ up on me, from the game she was spittin’ in my ear you would think that she knew me.
So we decided to chill

Conversation got heavy, she had me feelin’ like she’s ready to blow!
(Watch Out! Oh! Watch Out!)
She’s saying “Come get me! Come get me”,
So I got up and followed her to the floor, she said “Baby, let’s go”,
That’s when I told her I said

[Usher (Chorus):]
Yeah (yeah) Shorty got down low and said come and get me
Yeah (yeah) I got so caught up I forgot she told me
Yeah (yeah) Her and my girl used to be the best of homies
Yeah (yeah) Next thing I knew she was all up on me screaming:

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Yeaah!
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Yeaah!

[Usher (Verse 2):]
So she’s all up in my head now, got me thinking that it might good idea to take her with me,
‘Cause she’s ready to leave (ready to leave)
But I gotta keep it real now, ’cause on a one to ten she’s a certified twenty, but that just ain’t me. Hey.

Because I don’t know if I take that chance just where it’s gonna lead,
But what I do know is the way she dance makes shorty alright with me.
The way she (get low!)
I’m like yeah, just work that out for me.
She asked for one more dance and I’m
Like yeah, how the hell am I supposed to leave?
And I said

[Chorus]

[Lil’ Jon:]
Hey, Luda!

[Ludacris (Verse 3):]
Watch out!
My outfit’s ridiculous, in the club lookin’ so conspicuous.
And Rowl! These women all on the prowl, if you hold the head steady I’m a milk the cow.
Forget about the game, I’m a spit the truth, I won’t stop till I get ’em in they birthday suits.
So gimmie the rhythm and it’ll be off with their clothes, then bend over to the front and touch your toes.
I left the Jag and I took the Rolls, if they aint cutting then I put em on foot patrol.
How you like me now, when my pinky’s valued over three hundred thousand,
Lets drank you the one to please, Ludacris fill cups like double D’s.
Me and Ursh once more and we leave ’em dead, we want a lady in the street but a freak in the bed to say

[Chorus]

[Ludacris (Bridge):]
Take that and rewind it back, Lil’ Jon got the beat to make ya booty go (clap)
Take that and rewind it back, Ursher got the voice to make ya booty go (clap)
Take that and rewind it back, Ludacris got the flow to make ya booty go (clap)
Take that and rewind it back, Lil’ Jon got the beat to make ya booty go (clap)

Since my last post, about washcloths/facecloths, I’ve made two more washcloths. So…. a total of five were knitted (four washcloths and one dishcloth) while I was on Thanksgiving holiday.

 

Two of the facecloths will be gifted to a coworker. I’m her ‘Secret Santa.’The rest are staying at the house! These aren’t the first dishcloths and washcloths I’ve knitted. I did make some last year,  but one day they disappeared! Of course, I knew where to look, in my daughters room. I found them on the beds of a few of my daughter’s Monster High dolls. I didn’t mind her using them, but I told her she needed to ask me first. Since that time she has.

 

Yarn sales are awesome

The above photo shows all the yarn I caught on sale recently. While I normally don’t purchase yarn from craft stores, AC Moore had a sale on Paton’s Classic Wool and Lily’s Sugar N’ Creme Yarn; 4 for $5. I use Sugar N’ Creme along with Peaches  for knitting washcloths/dishcloths. That day, I purchased 20 skeins of yarn. By the way, Paton’s Classic wool felts wonderfully.  I have a few felting projects that I’d like to do within a few weeks so the sale came at the appropriate time.

Rewinding the yarn…

You know… I might go back and purchase more cotton before the sale ends. Once my gifts for my coworker are complete, I’ll pull out my yarn winder and rewind all the yarn. If you want to know why I rewind the yarn, check out my reason for doing just that in the post I wrote about my Boye electric ball winder.

Knitting washcloths/dishcloths are the perfect small project to try new knitting techniques

Since the cloths are so small they make the perfect tool for trying out new techniques. When I’m playing with new stitches/techniques the items made are usually made into something doll size so I can give to my daughter, but now since I have a great supply of cotton, I’ll be trying a few techniques with the various washcloths that I knit. The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting has many wonderful stitches and I plan to try a few on the various cloths that I make.

Knit two washcloths/dishcloths weekly?

Since I now have so much cotton yarn, I really have no excuse not to honor my commitment of making to handmade cloths (washcloth or dishcloth) per week, right? If I hold to that commitment, I should have a nice collection of both in about six months.

This has been a very relaxing Thanksgiving holiday for my daughter and myself. Besides the daily cooking and other household chores we have done nothing. Well… I take that back our ‘nothing’ has been creative. I’ve been knitting and my daughter has been writing and drawing with her Wacom Splash tablet.

 

The past few days I’ve been knitting dishcloths for our house and this morning, I set aside a few hours and started knitting a few facecloths for a coworker. I drew her name and so I’m her Secret Santa.

 

I wanted something a bit fancy, so I decided to make checkered facecloths. I used my own pattern. The face cloths are a combination of purl and stockinette stitch done in small blocks, giving it a checkered appearance. You might recall that this past July, I’d knitted a checkered cowl. In that pattern I alternated between purl and seed stitch. Do you know that my daughter has already claimed that for her own? Now that the weather is cold, she wears it to school daily.

But back to those washcloths/facecloths…

Since I don’t know the color scheme of her home, I chose white cotton for my yarn. I must say, I really enjoyed knitting for a few hours today and since my project is small I easily completed one facecloth and am almost finished the second. Besides this present, I will add some homemade bath salts, sugar scrubs, a sew an embroidered bag to carry everything. I think this will make a very nice spa gift package, don’t you? We all deserve to be pampered now and again. I most likely will add a gift card too.  I’ll be sure to post a picture once everything is finished.

The urge to create is strong…

Often times I get the desire to sew on one of my numerous Brother sewing machines, knit with my Hiya Hiya Knitting needles or crochet hooks and make something. There are times when I really don’t know what I want to create, I just want my hands to stay busy.

What will I knit next? I’m not sure, but I would love to knit something with cables or lace… perhaps I’ll start on something this evening!

Recently, I’ve been thinking about knitting lace… A LOT!  More specifically, I’ve been thinking about creating an ‘heirloom blanket’ made entirely out of lace. It’s a long term project, that most likely would take a few years and I’m fine with that. Finding what exactly I’d like to make and the type of yarn to use is the issue.

I’ve read great reviews about Knitting Lace: A Workshop with Patterns and Projects by Susanna Lewis, I’ve decided to purchase a copy. I immediately thought of Curls & Q, when I read about this book. They’ve shown some knitted lace on their website and I imagine they’d  enjoy this book also.

I prefer hard cover books, this was only available in soft cover. I most likely will take it to my local print shop to get a cover more to my liking. I must say that I’m thrilled that I found this out of print copy on Amazon. From what I’ve read, it can be hard to find and some have mentioned that the price for this out of print book has been high.

While checking on other bloggers, who have this book, I stumbled upon the O! Jolly! knitting website. She made a comment on another bloggers site and since I liked  what she wrote (and her gorgeous locs) I checked out her website. I’m so glad I did! She’s a knitting designer, and uses a knitting machine to create some of her gorgeous knitwear. I must say, that I love her sense of style and will definitely bookmark and return to her site for knitting inspiration.

I normally have a lot of grey yarn in my yarn stash.

However, this past year I went through most of it with Christmas and various other occasions crocheting and knitting items for the fiber worthy. A few weeks ago when I looked through my yarn stash I realized I had only about 45 yards of grey yarn (I’m being generous) left.

While I haven’t found the appropriate shade of grey to upgrade my stash, it hasn’t stopped me from doing a lot of online yarn browsing. I’ve seen a lot of lovely yarn, that has caught my attention, but I haven’t purchased any. Tempted? Of course, but I’m very good at resisting yarn temptation.

My post title shares the same name as the song ‘Touch of Grey’ by the Grateful Dead. I loved the band and have listened to many of their songs.