Oh, the things we will do when avoiding .....

marking
house cleaning
work
sewing
mending
laundry
.....




It started, of course, with a KAL. March's second KAL for the dishclothknitting group. The cloth was one I recognized, although I had never knit it. Round, doily-ish, and just plain fun. After two days, being the impatient soul I am, I raced ahead (despite the disaproval of the teenage daughter) and knit the whole thing. Lovely.

Then, feeling guilty, I started a second one--and finished it, because it was way too fun. Of course, I had to go to the store and pick up a second ball of the yarn because one ball was 5 yards too short to finish the cloth. Then I started a third one, which is still on day two's KAL...

The pattern for the round cloth is here:
http://www.knittingknonsense.com/lacyround.html

Then, I got to thinking...
What if I played with the lace? What if I tried to knit a tea towel for the stove with the same/kind of the same lace edging? What if I didn't want it so gatherered? What about something like a cool hand towel for the bath room? Wouldn't it be neat to make something pretty.

Kitchen Tea set.
This set includes a Button top hand towel, a square dish cloth, and a larger hand towel. The round cloth is copyrighted to the link mentioned above.

These are all made of worsted weight cotton yarn, on size 6 (4 mm) needles, although you can use size 7 (4.5 mm) needles.


I used two 85 g balls of Lily peaches and cream to make the 3 pieces.








Button top kitchen towel:
There are two choices of edging on this hand towel, a ruffled edge, and a straight edging. The length of the edging on this towel creates the width of the towel. The body of the towel is then picked up across the top of the edging and knit to the desired depth before the button band and tab.





Ruffled Edging:
Cast on 15 sts.
row 1: k2, * yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, k to end.
row 2: sl 1, knit to end
row 3: k2, *yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, k to end
row 4: sl 1, knit to end
row 5: k2, *yo, k2 tog * 3 times, yo, k7, turn
row 6: knit to end
row 7: k2, *yo k2 tog * 3 times, yo, k7, turn
row 8: knit to end
row 9: bind off 4 sts, knit to end
row 10: sl1, knit to end.
Repeat these 10 rows for 12 points, or desired width of tea towel, measured along straight edge. Bind off all sts except the last one. Pick up 3 sts for each repeat (total of 38 sts across).

Straight Edging:
Cast on 12 sts.
row 1: k2, * yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, k to end.
row 2, and all wrong side rows: sl 1, knit to end
row 3: k2, *yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, k to end
row 5: k2, *yo, k2 tog * 3 times, yo, k7, turn
row 7: k2, *yo k2 tog * 3 times, yo, k7, turn
row 9: bind off 4 sts, knit to end
row 11: k2, *yo, k2 tog * twice, knit to end
Repeat these 12 rows for 8 points, or desired width of tea towel, and then bind off all sts except the last one. Pick up 5 sts for each repeat, total of 40 sts across. Decrease to 38 sts in first knit row of eyelet row.

Eyelet edging: This is optional, but it makes the cloth look pretty, and you can thread a ribbon through it for a totally lacy look.
row 1: knit across
row 2: knit across (right side)
row 3: knit across
row 4: k3, *yo, k2 tog * across row to last 3 sts, k3
row 5: knit across
row 6: knit across
row 7: knit across

Body of towel:
row 1: (right side) knit
row 2: (wrong side), k3, purl to last 3 sts, k3.
repeat rows 1 and 2 for 6 inches above the border, or until desired depth has been reached, ending with a right side row.
Repeat eyelets pattern if desired.

Top of kitchen towel (button band)
row 1: (right side) k3, *k2 tog * to last 3 sts, k3
row 2: knit
row 3, 4, 5, and 6: knit across
row 7: k3, * k2 tog * to last 3 sts, k3
row 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12: knit
row 13: k 2, * k2 tog* to last 2 sts, k2
row 14: knit
row 15: k2, k2 tog, k2, k2 tog, k2 (8 sts total).
row 16: knit
Continue knitting on these 8 sts for 17 ridges (34 rows total) or desired length to button hole.
For Button hole:
row 1: k2, k2 tog, wrap yarn around needle twice, k2 tog, k2
row 2: k 3, knit into each wrap of the needle once (creates 2 sts), k 3
row 3: knit across
row 4: knit acros
row 5: k 2, k2 tog, k2, k2 tog, k2
row 6: knit across
row 7: k2, * k2 tog * twice, k2
row 8: knit across
row 9: k1, * k2 tog * twice, k1
row 10: knit across
row 11: bind off all sts.
Sew on button just above the last gather before the tap.




Face cloth, or tea towel.
The edging is knit on either side of this flat cloth. For a wash cloth, cast on 36 sts. For a medium tea towel, cast on 80 sts. For a larger cloth, cast on 100 sts.








row 1 and 2: k2, * yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, knit to end
row 3 and 4: k2, * yo, k2 tog * twice, yo, knit to end
row 5 and 6: k2, * yo, k2 tog * three times, yo, knit to end
row 7 and 8: k2, * yo, k2 tog * three times, yo, knit to end
row 9 and 10: bind off 4 sts, knit to end.
row 11 and 12: k2, *yo, k2 tog * twice, knit to end
Repeat these 12 rows until towel is desired width. Bind off.

My face cloth was 6 repeats.