Knit Cotton Washcloths & cast on rag

These gems are easy to make and you're friends will love you if you make them a dozen for Christmas.  Tie a bow around them and give them to everyone.

Machine:  Standard Gauge, I used Brother 970

Material:  100% cotton, I've found people like the natural color or white so they can bleach them if necessary.   Use 1 strand 8/2 cotton or 2 strands 16/2 (available from weaving shops or Stephanie's Yarn Shop, Bybee TN).

Directions:  Begin by making yourself a cast on rag using  100 needles.  I used Cotton Crochet thread for mine. Tension--whatever knits easily with the yarn you bought.

Pull forward every other needle and thread up your crochet thread.  Knit across, right to left, hang cast on comb on the loops.

Pull forward every other alternate needle and knit back to the right.  Now you have all 100 needles in work with a stitch on them.  Continue knitting for 50 rows.  Pull forward Every other needle and bring up the cast on loops that are on the cast on comb tryto keep the loops in the cast on comb.  Hang the loops on every other needle.  You should now have a loop on every other needle along with a stitch on every needle.  Pull forward all needles and knit across.   Knit 30 or 40 more rows and latch tool bind off.

Now you have a cast on rag.  Its so handy to use this rather than waste yarn every time you want to start a washcloth.    Go to the hardware store and get yourself a round metal bar that is a few inches longer than the cast on rag and weighs about 8 ozs.  You can hang it in the hem you created when you hung the loops and that will take the place of a cast on comb for your wash cloth. (If you have a Bond you can of course use one of your weighted metal bars.

WASHCLOTH DIRECTIONS:

These are knitted using the tuck buttons as well as the slip buttons at the beginning and end of the cloth to create a pattern.  I don't change the pattern row count as I push in the different buttons.

Machine tension loose, I used 8 on my carriage and a medium antenna tension

Pattern:   xoxoxo

              oxoxox  (x is tuck (or black), o is plain (or white)

Hang cast on rag on the bound off edge directly on needles.  Place weighted bar in the hem.

Knit across with ravel cord

Ewrap cast on with your washcloth cotton.  

Set up machine for 1x1 tuck stitch shown above

Turn on KC button and knit across.  Every other needle should be selected.

Push in both tuck buttons and continue knitting for 17 rows (total 18 rows counting 1st row)

About this time I add claw weights to each edge to make sure the edge stitches knit off properly.

Push in slip buttons and continue knitting for 10 rows

Push in tuck buttons and continue knitting for 162 more rows

Push in slip buttons and continue knitting for 10 rows

Push in tuck buttons and knit for 17 rows, ending on right.

Turn off KC button and knit 1 row to the left.   Latch tool bind off.

Washcloths will be loosely knit but shrink when washed.  

Wash and dry your washcloths and  steam them if you wish fold them and they're ready to give to friends.