Homewares: the next episode

The not-quite-scrubby-enough bath mitt that I knitted from nettle earlier this year lasted about 6 months then started to wear out.

Time for version 2.0

This time I used some of the Nutscene jute string from String Harvest. I'd bought a 40m ball of the forest green and a 130m ball of the natural colourway

I just made this one up as I went, using a "ripple" stitch on the front side (reference was my crochet stitch bible book, looking for something in the "texture" section) and a simple treble crochet on the back side

The two pieces were then crocheted together using slip stitches in the green yarn, with a second row in the other direction to make it look good from both sides, and some slip stitching into the stitches on the free edges.

In hindsight it was too dense a technique for the thicker, heavier yarn. This one should probably have been a looser knitted mitt. It also used up almost the whole, larger ball of jute. It's scrubby enough alright, but is quite heavy and solid for a bath mitt, especially when wet. I'm predicting it will last quite some time.

Meanwhile I picked up the Dishie yarn again and made a few dishcloths for our house

I used the free Nordic Dishcloth pattern on the KnitPicks website (where the Dishie yarn came from).

It was fun as I had to learn to knit cables. A new first. It would obviously be easier with a cable needle, but I made do just using another small circular needle.

They look great. Until you get them wet that is! Then something happens to the cable pattern and you end up with dense vertical lines of knitting with thin, sparse horizontal ladders between.

Even though this might not be the best stitch pattern for a practical dischloth, I am sold on the idea of knitted cotton dishcloths as they work well and don't get smelly at nearly the same rate as a sponge or commercial cloth. These three on rotation from the cupboard to the sink to the wash basket is working well. When they wear out I'll try a different stitch pattern and make some more!