dizzy dishcloth

There's probably far too many of them and yet you still have to start with a washcloth sometime. Oh, what a boring start.

I have all sorts of terrycloth washcloths I got from the dollar store for doing dishes. They hold soap great and wipe up the spills wonderfully, but they do not scrub well at all. I came upon a site claiming that a bit of seed stitch in a thick cotton yarn is the best scrubber for dish washing. I have a couple based on that, but I personally feel that garter works better. This cloth is not only in garter, but the way I use it, the stitches always seem to be in the correct direction for scrubbing the dishes.

(Another dizzy dishcloth in violet and white.)

Inspired by: Reverse Miter Dishcloth

Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream. About 1/3 skein each of bright blue and sunshine colorways or pick your own colors.
Needles: I've done it on #3 (3.25mm) double pointed needles or a #6 (4mm) 29" circular needle with much the same effect.
Also needs a tapestry needle at the very end.

Gauge: 20 stitches per 4", but not particularly important. In garter stitch, 2 rows take up just about the same length as 1 stitch.

Abbreviations: K = knit, P = purl, YO = yarn over, KC = knit color, PC = purl color.

Pattern:
Provisional cast on 4 stitches of each color. One way to do this is a figure 8 cast on, which should be done tightly on a thin piece of waste yarn since the stitches will only be knit into once. Another way would be a cable cast on. This requires knitting an extra row and some fixing of the first loop after pulling it out to get the live stitches.

Choose one color to knit (KC) and the other to purl (or knit backwards as I do, PC). Distribute the cast on over 4 dpn with 2 stitches each. If using a circular needle instead, the corners where the dpn would have met will eventually need ring markers that loop around the needle and are slipped when come to. It is easiest to avoid tension problems if the ends never catch up to each other, but this can't be done on a circular.

Row 1: Knit KC into the cast on of PC. Join it into a round by purling PC into the cast on of KC, taking care not to twist.

Row2: With KC, K1, YO, K1 on each of two sides. With PC, P1, YO, P1 on the remaining two sides.

Row 3 and all odd rows: With KC, knit each of two sides. With PC, purl each of the remaining two sides.

Row 4 and all even rows: With KC, K1, YO, knit until there is one stitch left on the side, YO, K1 over two sides. With PC, P1, YO, purl until there is one stitch left on the side, YO, P1 for the remaining two sides.

The colors change with each row at the halfway point leading to a swirl pattern and no apparent jog points. Continue knitting until the square is large enough, casting off on an odd row. For an 8" cloth, this should be when the work is 41 stitches on each side. On the last cast off stitch, cut the yarn leaving a few inches, pull the end out of the loop, around the first loop with a tapestry needle and back through the previous loops as it had been before pulling out. Weave in the ends.

At the center of the cloth, run the end of the yarn through the 8 loops a few times and weave in the ends.

Knitting an 8" square of garter stitch on 7" dpn: This can be done even though the garter tends to push out to its entire width. The stitches just need held scrunched up since they won't stay that way by themselves. I managed this with a piece of wire wrapped around each needle I was not using and was able to control the yarn on the needle I was knitting on enough to need no extra help. End caps for the needles could be used if this is not the case.