During the past several weeks, I’ve been indulging in some dishcloth knitting. It’s fast and quick to complete, and it’s the perfect thing to relax with when I’ve gotten tired of knitting on my shawls for a while.
This adorable teacup design can be found here. This was a breeze to knit and looks great. It could stand being made a little bigger, I think.
The leaf dishcloth was a mid-month knit-along from the Monthly Dishcloths group here. The original design for this dishcloth continued the lace around all the edges of the cloth except the beginning edge. Alli, on the list, mentioned that she changed the pattern to look the same on both ends, and I thought that was a good idea. I didn’t much like the idea of half leaves hanging off the top edge uncompleted either. Unfortunately, I forgot to copy Alli’s notes on what she did, so when I got to that point, I just free-handed it. I thought it turned out fine.
The cat dishcloth was the October knit along from the same group as the leaf dishcloth above. The girls on the list said to knit it in grey, orange, etc.–one of the cat colors, in other words, but I had none of those colors. Contrary to what your screen may show you, this isn’t grey, it’s blue; I had some left over blue that I wanted to use. So that’s what I used. I think it would look fine in any color. This design is one that you can reverse. The design shows up equally well on the reverse side.
This dishcloth is another illusion design. (If you look in the Categories on the right, you’ll find a link to another cloth I did in this technique.) This pattern can be found here. I really enjoyed making this dishcloth. It’s rather large for a dishcloth, so I’m not sure I’ll use it for that, but I’ll find some use for it. Watching the design begin to pop on an illusion cloth is always fun.
These modular coasters were shown on an episode of Knitty Gritty on the DIY network. You can get the pattern here.
These were a lot of fun to do. You will want to have some peace and quiet when you work the first coaster or two. The rows can be a little confusing. I finally made some notes to myself so that I’d know where I was if I had to leave my knitting for a while. That helped tremendously. I believe that color was from Peaches and Cream, and I got four coasters from a ball with that much yarn left over. They go up very fast, and the more you do, the faster they get.
BTW, Knitty Gritty is a great show for beginning knitters. All the projects I’ve seen on it have been very easy. The show goes fast, but the patterns for the main projects are on the DIY Knitty Gritty website, and you can copy them and do them at your leisure.
Books I’m Reading
I’m still traveling around the world with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. We’re in the Ionian Mission right now. This is such a wonderful series. I got the biggest laugh when Stephen decided to go swimming in the ocean and the ship took off without him. Leave it to Stephen to do the wrong, un-seamanlike thing at the worst time! He’s really out of his element on the oceans.
Troubled Kitties
My last post featured a photo of Peaches, our cat who stays outside much of the time. She began to act strangely a few weeks ago, and we decided she had to go to the vet. His diagnosis was a bladder infection. So for a week, we had to administer a liquid medication to her. Bless her heart, she hates medication worse than anything, but she was a real trouper this time. She took it most nights without a fuss, and for that, I was most grateful. She has recovered now, and she’s back to herself. It worries us so when one of our kitties gets sick.
On the happy side for Lucky and Charming, it’s getting cooler, and we can often leave the doors to the deck open so that they can sit by the screen and enjoy the cool air. They climb up the cat tree and lie up there as long as we can leave the door open, pretending they’re outside. Watching birds and such is a lot more fun when you can clearly hear them calling.