Gauge Lessons Learned

The scrubbie knitting saga continues. The second attempt at the scrubbie is better than the first, but still not great.

Double knitting seemed like the answer with scrubber on one side and cotton on the other. This is the first double knitting I’ve ever attempted. And being the stubborn woman that I am I just had to figure out how to do it without looking anything up. So here’s how i did it.

Cast on 20 with both strands together using long tail.

Plastic string is A. Cotton yarn is B.

First row: Knit the first stitch with both strands together. Separate the A and B strands for the next 36 sts. Hold A always in back after the stitch and B always in front after the stitch. Using A, purl the single strand of A then put working yarn in back. Using B, knit the single strand of B then put B working yarn in front. Continue this across all 36 sts. Knit the last stitch with both strands held together.

KABtog, (PA, KB)repeat 18x, KABtog

Second row: Knit the first stitch with both strands together. The next 36 sts are already separated. Move both working yarns to the front. Purl B then move B working yarn to back. Knit A then move working A yarn to front. Continue this across 36 sts. Knit the last stitch with both strands held together.

KABtog, (PB, KA)repeat 18x, KABtog

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have a square.

Cast off row: Knit first stitch with both strands together. Knit Strands A and B together with both strands held together. Pass first stitch over second. Knit strands A and B together with both strands held together, pass previous stitch over new stitch. Continue in this manner until only 1 stitch remains. Pull strands through last stitch. Weave in ends.

Now what does this have to do with gauge? As I was about 1/3 of the way through I thought I should change so that the purl side should be visible on the plastic side to make a bumpier surface for scrubbing. So I adjusted for that and went on my merry way then when I got to 2/3rds I switched back to knit on the plastic side so that it would be even on both sides. Seems like a good idea right? Wrong, well kinda wrong. Yes it was a good idea to have the purl side out, but doing this changed my gauge so now I have a somewhat square, but wrinkly piece that certainly will clean dishes, but won’t look great doing it.

If I were to do this double knit scrubbie again I would do purl side out for both the plastic and cotton sides. I would also use DK weight cotton or two strands of plastic together with worsted cotton to even out the tension on each side.

To create the purl side out knitting follow the instructions as above with these changes:

Row 1: KABtog, (KA, keep A yarn in back, PB, keep B yarn in front)x18, KABtog
Row 2: KABtog, (KB, keep B yarn in back, PA, keep A yarn in front)x18, KABtog

Please contact me if you find an error in this pattern or have suggestions for a better scrubbie.

Toodle-oo

Unconventional Materials Challenge

Inspiration has struck. Well, maybe it struck someone else and I expanded on it. That’s the same thing right? At my knitting group last night one of the other women was talking about this string she saw at Lowes that she thought could be made into kitchen scrubbies. So I jumped on the idea. For 88 cents at Lowes you can buy a 200 ft ball of Blue Hawk Multi-Color Dazzle Twine. I thought I could knit a rectangle and then cinch the center, but that didn’t work. So all I have now is a swatch. The swatch itself would actually work great just as it is. I think I might have to think a bit more on this.

If you’d like to make the scrubbie swatch, it’s simple. Cast on 20 with the twine described above on US size 6 needles. Knit in garter stitch until you have a square. Cast off in whatever way you like. If you come up with a plan for a better scrubbie please let me know!

Exfoliate!

The best things in life are actually mash ups of two or more of the best things in life. This washcloth is the perfect example of this. Knitting and Dr. Who all rolled into one. The pattern for this can be found on Ravelry and was a free download.

Of course this leads me to muggles. Unfortunately my lovely dalek goes unappreciated by guests. Not that they don’t enjoy a hand knit washcloth. They just don’t know what a dalek is and can’t understand why I would knit something with a robot on it. The Exfoliate! reference is completely lost on them. So what’s a nerd girl to do? Strap them down Clockwork Orange style and run a Who marathon?