Mason Dixon Ballband Dish Towel Pattern

This is my own pattern that I modified from the Mason-Dixon Ballband (MDBB) Dishcloth. It makes a nice compliment to the MDBB Dishcloth for a knitted matching set.

Rating: Easy - Medium

Materials: Any kind of worsted weight cotton yarn, 2 colors, size 7 needles.

Gage: Doesn’t matter.

Directions:

Cast on 51 stitches with color A, (When asked to slip a stitch do so purlwise)
Row 1: (color A) knit
Row 2: purl
Row 3: (color B) K 4 slip 1 *K5 slip 1 * Continue between *'s across to last 4 stitches, K4.
Row 4: K4, yf, slip 1, yb, * K5, yf, slip 1, yb, * continue between *'s across to last 4 sts, K4
Row 5: P4, yb, slip 1, yf, * P5, yb, slip 1, yf, * continue between *'s across to last 4 sts, P4.
Row 6: Repeat Row 4.
Row 7: (Color A) Knit.
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: (Color B) K1, slip 1, * K5, slip 1, * continue between *'s across to 1 sts, K1
Row 10: K1, yf, slip 1, yb, * K5, yf, slip 1, yb, * continue between *'s across to 1 sts, K1
Row 11: P1, yb, slip 1, yf, * P5, yb, slip 1, yf, * continue between *'s across to 1 sts, P1.
Row 12: Repeat Row 10.

Rows 13 – 20: Repeat Rows 1 through 8. (for three total "stripes"#)

Knit each row (garter stitch) until your work measures approximately 17-inches# from the cast on edge making sure that you end on the RS of your work.

Repeat Rows 2 through 20. Bind off.

Variations:

#You can make this towel any size. If you want the towel to be wider, add stitches in increments of 6 stitches. Length-wise, you can knit it as long as you want it to be.





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I'm in love

I just received my Interweave Knits and came across this beautiful cardigan (It's the Morris Fern Cardigan by Annie Modesitt):



It'll have to wait, as I have other projects I have to finish, but the pattern is written in my size. I just don't know where I could get the yarn.

Dish towel FINALLY done

I finished my MIL's birthday gift - just in time. Her birthday is in two days.


The dishcloths went really quickly. The dish towels, not so fast. These were my own modifications from the Mason Dixon Ballband dishcloths. Basically, I cast on 6 more stitches than what was called for with the dishcloths. Knitted three stripes, gartered the rest, then put another three striped on the top.

The two little round things are scrubbies. These go FAST!

(UPDATE: I've received a couple of requests for the dishtowel pattern. I've written it out here.)

Not dealing

Well, this weekend was a total wash when it came to staying on the WW program.

What's terrible is I totally allowed myself to go off - went to Costco and bought huge bags of potato chips and ice cream for a game day - and proceeded to pig out.

What's worse, I have a good friend who was gently trying to focus me into eating the fruit. I totally ignored her - and only now understand what it was that she was trying to do. Thanks, GOAM. You can lead a horse to drink. . .

WhenI got home I felt really awful. Today I actually feel hung over - and I never drank. I know it's dehydration, but still.

I am going to write down what I ate (if I can remember). I have to face it. I just have to.

Secret Pal - You Rock!

Just received my second package from my SP8.

WOW!

She sent me the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns

Six cable needles

and a skein of Cascade Superwash Wool (it's a beautiful teal).

She also sends the CUTEST cards - they have patterns on them - this one had baby toes! Oh, so cute.

She has suggested that I try the cables and rib pattern. Okay! I will!

I am SO happy!

I just bought an unhealthy amount of Sugar n Cream Cotton yarn as it's on sale at Michaels for $1 a skein. I was just thinking about getting a stitch pattern book to practise different techniques on and my SP had already thought of it! Wonderful, wonderful.

Why does this knitting thing get so far under my skin? I'm truly obsessed.

Thanks again!!

Robot piece

Here's the front of another robot. This time I'm using Brown Sheep wool - it does make a difference from the acrylic I've knitted this in the past.


I do want to try to knit one out of cotton.

Dishcloths on my mind. . .

M's pink heart washcloth - my first attempt at knitting with a cable needle. She loves this - it's in her favorite color with her favorite shape.

Here's my first monthly dishcloth knit-a-long. It's a lacy mock cable. Isn't it impressive?

Here's the inspiration of all these dishcloths - the Mason Dixon Ballband dishcloths. I also attempted to make a dish towel version of this pattern, but I ran out of navy cotton yarn - and now I can't find any anywhere to finish my dish towel!

Facing my demons

I am not working the Weight Watchers plan. I'm sneaking food and am not writing down my food intake.

I HAVE to get this addiction under control. I have to. My hips are starting to hurt now.

I started Curves, and it makes me feel really good after a work out. I love that feeling.

So.

No more excuses. No more ignoring my health. I will take better care of myself. I have to take better care of myself. No momentary food gratification is worth debilitating myself in the long run. I just know if I continue in this manner, I'm going to end up in a wheelchair - and that would truely suck because I'd sit in that wheelchair knowing that I ate my way there.

Get it together!

Foodie Swap

I forgot to post about the "3 things you can't live without" food swap.

It took a while, but my partner did send her items:

Thai chili sauce (Or "cock sauce" as it's called around here)
Hot mustard (very tasty)
Pesto

It was really nice to get and the family is really happy with the hot sauce! Thanks, Bev!

Okay, I get it now.

I now understand the draw of dishcloths. I used to think they were quite boring to knit - and they don't require a lot of thought.

But you know, people who receive them as a gift really, really appreciate them. I made a dishcloth for my folks this weekend while I was visiting - really - it took me no time to make it. Simple knit and purl - double diamonds. It was for their kitchen - where they just upgraded the counter tops to granite. The counter tops are really beautiful.

I also just finished up knitting a pink one - this time double hearts. But instead of knit/purl, this one was based on cable back/cable front. It was my first time using a cable needle - even though I've had it sitting in my little notions box for about six months. I've been too chicken to try to do any type of cabling. My thought about the dish cloth is that if I screw it up, then it'll still be a handy dishcloth.

It was ever so easy! Now I'll have to try to do an actual cable - there's a dishcloth pattern with some traditional cabling on it, so I'll give it a go.

But first, my mother-in-law's birthday is coming up - August 2nd. I think I'm going to knit her a couple of dishcloths. Her kitchen color is red and white. I have some red Lion's Brand Cotton, so I'll just punch out a couple of those.

This past weekend I also went to one of M's school mates birthday party. Since I didn't know many people, I sat quietly and knitted on the pink dishcloth. Some of the parents who went to the school's baby shower said that my gift won the cutest gift prize. Made me feel really great!.

I'm so sick of knitting on M's mermaid skirt. I just have to push through it. Summer is almost over and it's looking like it's going to be relegated to becoming a dress up instead of a bathing suit wrap! :(

I also hope that I can sometime get into the zen of knitting lace. It seems like it would be cheaper for me to do that since it takes so long to knit.

I also need to figure out what I'm going to do with the wonderful Shine worsted cotton yarn I just frogged. I would love to have a tank, but I'm a little worried the Shine will have too much drape to it.

I also feel like it'd be a good time to start knitting a cardigan type sweater for myself. Right now I'm leaning towards knitting the Knitting Nature Hex coat.

I'm number one

I'm number one!

I'm number one!

Yes, I'm number one - twice!

J has a daily high score table that gets tabulated - and as I said in a previous post, even though I have the stand alone versions, I have found that I like to see how I rank against others playing the same puzzle.

I like to play Confuse Box but haven't quite wrapped my head around it. I still take long and have a large number of moves. Plus I don't cheat. I know some folks are solving it but not registering it and then opening another window to do it at the minimal number of moves as quickly as they can. That's fine with me - I guess I'll never be #1 on that game.

I was very pleased to see I was #1 on Pop Pies. I've been struggling with a good strategy on this as it's not the same as Pop it. Pop it requires you to try to eliminate all the balloons. Pop Pies actually requires some strategy and planning to make very large chains of pies. Plus, I don't really pay attention to the score I get on Pop it. I do with Pop Pies because of J's high score table. I also like J's new feature where you score extra points for eliminating a column. Oh, and I came up with the name of the game - neat, huh?

Whoo Hoo!

J went live today on his stand alone games. You can now purchase full versions of his games instead of waiting each day for a new game board to play. $10 for 6 original games - what a deal!

http://www.thecodezone.com/pp1.html

I'm really proud of him as he's worked really hard on them - and better yet, the games are a lot of fun to play.

Frogged

Well, I pulled the Brioche Bodice apart last night. I'm just not getting into the zen of it - you have to pay too much attention to knitting the stitch, and yet it doesn't change.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with all that beautiful green yarn. I'm leaning towards the Cherry Bomb in the BGK's book - and possibly adding some cap sleeves.

I also finished the Mason Dixon baby kimono. I really liked it, but if I knit it again, I'm going to knit it without the sleeves - or shorten them up quite a bit. The 4-inches they say to knit it to is just not wide enough and I know the new mother is going to have trouble getting the silly thing on her daughter. I forgot to take a picture of all the finished items: two bib's (from Mason Dixon), a kimono, a ruffle hat, and a pair of booties. All knitted in one weeks time. I'm still working on M's mermaid skirt - I have 6-inches knitted - 6 more to go. I just hope I finish this in time for her to be able to use in this summer! :)

Will I ever finish?

I have way too many projects going at once.

Mermaid Skirt

I'm making good progress on the mermaid skirt. This shows how the blue looks 100 times better than the green I had swatched earlier.


I also wanted to show the back of the skirt.


This shows the great scale effect that I've been working towards. I like how the palliettes reflect blue and green. I'm about halfway there with this project.



Brioche Bodice

I've been struggling with this little project for a while now. I definitely have the hang of the stitch, but it's something I have to pay close attention to while I knit - and it's not all that interesting to knit. This is the back and I'm 10-inches in. 6 more to go before I start shaping the bodice part.

Oh, and I finally figured out that you have to switch yarn at the end of a row. There is no easy way to do this in the middle of the work as you'd traditionally do it with stockinette as there's no place that you could weave the ends in and have it not show.




Baby Kimono

M's summer school teacher is getting ready to have a little girl. I keep seeing this baby kimono on other peoples blogs and find it to be adorable. Here's my attempt at it and it's going SO quickly. I started this last night.

It's being done in Sugar n Cream Rosewood. J said it looked like Neapolitan ice cream. If I have enough time/yarn, I'd like to get a set of booties or a bib knitted. The booties would be helpful now, but the bib would be helpful later when she's teething. I'll keep you posted.

I also finished another Noni bag. I'm blogging about them on a different blog.

So I guess not all is lost. I finished the bag, am almost done with the baby kimono (the shower is next week), and will be finished with the skirt by the end of July (which will be just in time for M's summer vacation). The Brioche Bodice is a project that I'm doing with the Bluebonnet Knitting Guild. I'm supposed to have the back finished by next Thursday.