Care to join me?

Having this much yarn sitting by my side, I just couldn't wait any longer to cast on for a hanging dishtowel to use in a kitchen. Got me to thinking, maybe you'd like to join me in knitting this towel? I'm doing my best to avoid paying attention to the date, today. Forgive me for this, but it brings up a lot of memories that were and still are very personal for my family. I'm also trying to keep busy, knowing that my dad is still in the hospital after 11 days. And we're not sure when he's going home. Maybe tomorrow, but then again, the doctor thought he'd go home last Thursday or Friday, too. Poor guy. When I talked to him yesterday, he sounded much stronger than the last phone call. He's now battling yet another infection, so they have him on IV antibiotics every 12 hours. He just can't seem to cut a break. The best news, is that they still proclaim him to be cancer free! I just wish he could go for a longggggggggggg break of time away from the hospital! He'd scheduled a trip back up north to visit some friends at the lake. He really (and we really need for him) needs to get up there and walk around in the fresh air with good company. I just KNOW it would do him a world of good...and Mom, too! Heck, I'd love to join them. I really miss the place. Blessings on my Mom and my brother for stepping in and giving my Mom some time off from the place. There is certainly a place in Heaven for my brother for all he's been able to do for them while the other brother and I live so far away. Hugs love!

OK...let's get started...I'll add pictures of progress as I continue. Now, the last time I made this, I used a 5 oz skein of Lion's Cotton and it made a towel and a dishcloth out of the whole thing. This skein, is ~8 ozs. in size, to give you a comparison for a starting point. I'm using (US) 7's (4.5mm) in bamboo. I like bamboo (or black walnut's) for cotton yarn. I like the way it grabs the cotton without letting it slide off. This is probably one of the only, if not rarely few times I don't use addi turbos.

To give you an idea of the time needed for this project, it generally takes me 5 hours of total knitting time to make this. Now, I don't do this all in one sitting. I like not having my wrists burning and screaming out in pain. But wanted to give you another point of reference for the project.

Cast on 59 stitches, and knit 6 rows. I like to slip the first stitch of each row to give it a more 'finished' appearance.

Begin the pattern.

Row 1) Slip 1 (sl 1) and knit (k) across the row.


Row 2) Sl 1, k3, purl (p) 3 *k 1 through the back loop (tbl), p3 * 12 times, k4.


Repeat rows 1 and 2 for a total of 36 times for the main body section of the towel.

I'll be back when I hit my 36 pattern repeats for the towel topper. Happy knitting! and may your hands stay busy when you need them to.

another comparison

Usually when I make the Grandma's favorite, I stop with the increases when the cloth reaches 45 stitches on the needles. Yesterday I decided to take it up to 50 stitches (wild woman knitting here) to see what the difference in size would be. On the left in the Sun Kissed Ombre colorway, is the cloth at 50 stitches. On the right is the Key Lime Pie colorway that only went to my standard 45 stitches. Now, my mom likes smaller cloths so the 45 count would be good for her. With her age, she's complained about a lack of grip with arthritis in her hands. She wanted smaller cloths. But since I'm making extra cloths for my son's apartment, the 50 might be good. A little larger for a guy with larger hands.

If you notice in the picture, I've put up the left overs of each skein, too. Keep in mind these were the 2 oz size being variegated yarns. A little difference in left overs, but since I've yet to use up any left overs..I guess I'd rather have fewer left overs. Maybe someday I'll get around to making some log cabin cloths and use them all up.

Now, for a 'find' at the store. Granted the comparison is a 2 oz size, and the solid colors come in 2.5 oz sizes. But, for $5.99 for a one pound bag of mill ends I wanted to know how much I had saved. So I did the math. It would cost me $9.536 to buy 6.4 skeins to equal the 16 oz in the bag. Nice savings ifin you like to make up a lot of dishcloths (or hanging towels) out of cotton yarn! (I love me a good bargain when shopping!)

Now, I'll get back to the Feather and Fan blanket with the Blue and Maze colors at some point. Even if the team they're attributed to...really let the fans down big time last weekend. What was the article quote? Historic loss? ULG! OY! Pass me my knitting...it feels better than a stadium full of boos. And here I was prepared to put up the pattern for the hanging kitchen towel with that 'm' knitted into in honor of football season. Guess I'll wait until they win a game before posting that! (ya, that should make them work harder, catch a ball, aim better in the game..huh?)