Grandma's Dishcloth Pattern

This is the pattern for the dishcloths that I've been knitting. The sample in the picture was made with three kinds of cotton worsted: Lily, Bernat and Bear Brand.

Grandma's Dishcloth
An easy to do pattern and that gives a classic look, Grandma's Dishcloth is a garter stitch square with a openwork edge created with a yarn-over placed at the beginning of each row.

Remember when you make the dishcloth that 100% cotton yarn will shrink when washed (10-15%), so make it a bit bigger than you want the finished piece. I figured I wanted a 12 inch cloth so I'm making it 13.5 inches before washing. Thirteen and one half inches will give a maximum width of 60 stitches using worsted weight yarn on 3.75 mm needles. (I have found these to remain HUGE, so I now do a 40-50 stitch dishcloth. 25 stitches makes a drink coaster. Make it larger and stop at the last increase and you have a shawl!  I have also found my favorite yarn for dishcloths is Sinfonia from Hobby Lobby. It is a sport weight instead of a worsted weight cotton yarn. The cloths made with Sinfonia are tighter and more delicate.)

The pattern: 

Cast on 3 st.

Increase Row: K1, YO [yarn over], knit to end

Repeat increase row until cloth is desired width (I use 40-50 for dishcloth).

Decrease Row: K1, YO, K2 tog [knit 2 together], knit to the last 3 sts, K2 tog, K1.

Repeat decrease row until row is 3 sts.

Bind off loosely.

I've seen variations of this that knit three or four stitches before the YO, then do the YO three or four stitches before the end. I have also seen variations that did rows of alternating YOs every 1 1/2-2 inches in the cloth. I tried both of these variations. The wider border was easy. Decreasing and doing the YO rows took more concentration. If you aren't careful you have added instead of decreased at the end of the row. Knowing how many stitches I should have at the end and counting each row kept me on target.

YO (Yarn Over) = wrap yarn around the needle from front to back and proceed to next stitch. This equals one increase. This will leave a opening in the next row. In this case it creates the eyelet edging for the dishcloth.

K2Together = insert needle in the first and second stitches at the same time. Yarn over and finish knit stitch. This equals one decrease.

This is a very versatile pattern. The baby blanket shown at the right is a 36" dishcloth made with cotton worsted.

Barbie's shawl, made with Sinfonia, is a dishcloth that stopped at the largest dimension just before the decreases began. Fringe was added in each of the eyelets. 

 I recently (2017) made a full-sized shawl using the same technique as the Barbie shawl. I added the continuous row of eyelets about every 25 rows. The eyelet row was made this way: K1, *YO, K2together*. Repeat between the *s until the end. Finish with K1. The YO adds a stitch and the K2together removes the extra stitch so you end up with the right count at the end.I will post a photo of the finished shawl soon.