Hooked on Needles

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Free Pattern -- Knitted Apple Dishcloth

Have you ever had an idea that seemed so simple at first, but then when you tried to execute it, you discovered that it was much more involved than you thought? That's exactly what happened when I decided the Tunisian Crochet Apple Dishcloth pattern was going to be the one I would convert to a knitting pattern.

This is how my final sample turned out, still not quite what I wanted, but certainly better than the first sample I made which is shown further on.

Knitted Apple DishclothFor the knitted design of this apple pattern, I included a garter stitch border knitted right into the pattern so I would not have to crochet a border on the cloth after the knitting was complete. To accomplish the garter stitch border, I simply knitted the first two rows to begin, then knitted two stitches at the beginning and end of every row. At the end I knitted the last two rows before binding off.

The apple part of this pattern was not quite so straight forward! Here's what my first attempt looked like, worked directly from the chart for the crocheted version:


Not quite Apple DishclothIt was clear pretty early on in the knitting process that the proportions would not be right using the crochet chart for the knitted cloth, but I had to finish the whole pattern anyway so I could see just how far off the measurements were and know how much adjustment was necessary. You can see here that the cloth only measures about 5 inches from top to bottom, not nearly enough for a nice cloth even with a generous border added. Besides the 'apple' looks more like a squished tomato! That would never do!

So after some measurements and figuring, it was determined that for every 3 rows of the crochet pattern, I had to add 2 more rows for the knitted pattern. I went back to my chart and reworked it, adding the appropriate number of new rows and filling in the design where necessary. I also added the garter stitch border to the final version after realizing on the 'tomato' version that it would be a nicer finish to the cloth. The apple dishcloth you see in the first picture is the result of those adjustments.

Now that it is finished and I can get a good look at it, I have decided that the sides of the apple are too straight and the bottom half of the apple is too square. I did not have any more red cotton to knit yet another cloth, and I'm such a slow knitter that this would have had to wait another week for posting, so I have made what I think will be just the right adjustments to the chart below to produce a more rounded and properly shaped apple.


Apple chart for knittingIf you click on this chart, you will see a larger version of it which you can then print from your browser toolbar. You can see that I have included instructions at the bottom of the chart for the number of stitches to cast on and how to read the chart. This is the type of project where I find my magnetic board invaluable in keeping track of which row I am working at any given time. I have also marked the right side of the chart with the odd row numbers and the left side with the even row numbers. You will work each row from the side where its number is as indicated at the bottom of the chart.

If you decide to make a dishcloth from this chart, I would truly appreciate receiving a picture of it and your feedback about how you liked working the pattern from this chart. If I make this pattern with the updated chart, I will be sure to share it with you too.

Happy Stitching!


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