The Knotted Dishcloth

I have wanted to knit the knot stitch pattern ever since I came across it and also because the first post in my previous blogsite was titled “To knit or to knot”. Although this knot stitch pattern is not nålbinding/nålebinding, it is a lovely pattern that I’ve wanted to knit. Being more of a product knitter, a dishcloth with this stitch pattern seemed a perfect project for me to learn more about this knot stitch pattern.

The Knotted Dishcloth Pattern is knit flat with a two row pillared knot stitch pattern. The knots are made by purling, knitting, and then purling the same three stitches together. The edge stitches around the Knotted Dishcloth are picked up with another yarn colorway and bound off using a two stitch I-cord bind off in the round method (several tutorials available on YouTube). I like the crochet look of this stitch pattern and the dense or open lacelike fabric it creates depending on the knitting needle size. Making these knots may cause some hand fatigue if the yarn is held too tightly. By pulling out more yarn while making these knots seemed to reduce some hand fatigue for me.

Yarn: Any cotton worsted yarn. I used Premier Home® Cotton Cone Yarn Colorway: Jelly Dots and a solid color for the I-cord edging
Knitting Needles: US #7 and US #9 (for cast on and bind off only)
Gauge: Not needed for this project
Abbreviations:

• K: Knit
• P: Purl
• *makeknot: Purl three stitches together, then knit the same three stitches together and then purl the three stitches together again
• ssk: slip slip knit (slip 2 stitches to right hand needle then insert the left needle in front of the two slipped stitches and knit them together
• pm: place marker
• sm: slip marker
• wyif S1: with yarn in front slip one stitch purlwise
• RS: right side
• WS: wrong side
• […]: stitch pattern repeats

The Knotted Dishcloth Pattern (text and images for personal use only):

Loosely cast on 47 stitches using the long tail cast on with US #9 knitting needles

With US #7 knitting needles knit the following pillared knot stich pattern

• Row 1 (RS): K1, pm, K1, [*makeknot, K1] repeat […] till 1 stitch before last, pm, wyif S1
• Row 2 (WS): K1, sm, purl to marker, sm, wyif S1
• Row 3 (RS): K1, sm, K1, [*makeknot, K1] repeat […] till 1 stitch before last, sm, wyif S1
• Row 4 (WS): K1, sm, purl to marker, sm, wyif S1

Repeat rows 3 and 4 twenty more times and then bind off loosely in pattern with US #9 knitting needles in the last row (WS)

2 stitch I-cord in the round bind off edging:

• Starting from top left corner of the dishcloth, pick up stitches all around the dishcloth with US #7 knitting needles. Yarn over at each corner for a rounded corner edge.
• Knit the first two stitches, return the two stitches to the left hand needle knitwise.
• Knit the first stitch on the left needle, then ssk the next two stitches. Return the two stitches back to the left hand needle. Repeat this till 4 stitches remain on the left hand needle. This will be around the top left corner of the knitted piece.
• For the hanging loop (optional) knit a 2 stitch I-cord fifteen times then ssk to the same bottom stitch and continue with I-cord in the round till last 2 stitches on the right hand needle.
• Graft the two stitches to the beginning two I-cord stitches (several tutorials on this are available on YouTube)

Weave in ends, wash and block the dishcloth

Enjoy knitting this knot stitch pattern!
~coffeeteaknits