It’s been one of those summers.  Busy, hot, busy…and between trying to stay cool and keep up with the schedule that summer throws at you, about the only thing I’ve been able to finish this summer has been dishcloths.  Dishcloths whose patterns are relatively easy to memorize, and whose rhythmic knit can relax and cool you down at the end of a long hot day.

I started off with a cone of one of my favorite variegated colors of dishcloth yarn, and have nearly depleted my supply of that.  It still has enough on it for a couple more.  Then, I found some solids and decided to make kind of a chili-pepper colored cloth or two.  I’m almost out of red tho, so this last one may have an interesting ending. I am probably going to keep the entrelac cloth.  They are one of my favorite textures for kitchen cloths.  I think the zig-zag edge is kind of cool too.

I’m always entertained by the fact that, just depending on the way you knit it, you can change the look of a variegated yarn into stripes, pools of color or mottled splotches.

So…the dishcloth gift pile has grown this summer.  I’m about to send off a few to a friend – gotta make room in the stash bin for more!

I have a few wool projects beginning to percolate in the recesses of my feeble little mind currently.  Haven’t started anything yet – and still have a couple of unfinished works in progress that I could go back to if I had a mind to – just haven’t been in the hibernate and knit mode lately.  Soon tho.

Rumor has it Fall is just around the corner!

Patterns:

• Waffle Knit Dishcloth Pattern
• Entrelac explained.

So, it seems the reason I have not felt like knitting is because – I was in the mood to sew. I was actually in need of new PJs. I use them for something comfortable to wear around the house – and often spend much of the working day wearing them. One of the perks of working from home – your work “uniform” is whatever you decide upon.

We have a flock of hummingbirds that we keep up with, so I’m often seen out front changing feeders – fortunately there is not a lot of traffic in my neighborhood – but it is usually a good idea to keep things presentable. I made an extra pair of pants to wear with the top.  I actually have a few older pair of these PJs that I have made in the past from my favorite pattern “Day and Night” from Dana Marie Design Co (formerly called Purrfection Artistic Wearables dot com).   I found them years ago when I was doing crazy quilting quite a bit, and their Kimono vest was featured in a magazine like Threads.  They have always been a great place to shop.  Their stamps and stencils are pretty cool too, and everything there lends itself quite well to wearable art if that’s your thing.  The patterns are multi-sized so they go from the small sizes to big girl sizes and everything in between quite nicely, and this PJ pattern is simple and fits comfortably.  The instructions with their patterns are written very well too.

So, yeah, I’ve been in the mood to sew – moody sew-er that I am.   Still at it too.  Well, in between “life” I’m sewing.  And making the odd dishcloth while the knitting mood comes back around.

The new KnitPicks catalog that came in the mail yesterday seems to be helping with that, I have noticed.

Meanwhile, I’ve found another “favorite” dishcloth pattern.  It’s free, and it’s knitting up quick!  Here’s a link to the PDF for eLoomanator’s Diagonal Knit Dishcloth.  The pattern suggests a solid color cotton worsted weight yarn – but I’m really enjoying it in this variegated yarn.  It’s great TV knitting – really easy pattern to memorise.  Just put a stitch marker on your “right side” end so you dont lose track of which row you’re on – which really isn’t a problem since you can just look at what you just knit – but if you wanted to make it even easier, that’s my hint.

Happy knitting/or sewing – depending upon your mood.