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Sunday, November 30, 2008
The $185 Dishcloth
After Dancing sent me a handmade dishcloth, I thought that it would be fun to try to make one myself. After all, in 1963 or so, I earned a Girl Scout Knitting Badge (can't believe that I admitted that) and I've knitted three scarves in the 45 years since then. Knitting is just like riding a bike, right? One never forgets...
Undaunted by my lack of recent experience, I dove into this project and finally came out with TWO HANDMADE COTTON DISHCLOTHS.
To Dancing: Proof that I did it!
I'm figuring a low estimate of 12 hours to make the first one due to the time it took me to start it, tear it apart, start again, tear it apart again, look up how to purl in order to see what I was doing wrong, start again, tear it apart... over and over. At $15 an hour (a figure I just pulled out of the air) plus materials, I've now got a $185 square of twisted yarn. I mean A $185 PIECE OF FINE ARTISTRY.
I flew through the second dishcloth. I got the knit/purl groove going. It was a meditation. A dance of the fingers. I was in The Zone. That was fun!
I don't think that this will become a knitting blog, though. It's hard to knit and hike at the same time and I've got my priorities!
Undaunted by my lack of recent experience, I dove into this project and finally came out with TWO HANDMADE COTTON DISHCLOTHS.
To Dancing: Proof that I did it!I'm figuring a low estimate of 12 hours to make the first one due to the time it took me to start it, tear it apart, start again, tear it apart again, look up how to purl in order to see what I was doing wrong, start again, tear it apart... over and over. At $15 an hour (a figure I just pulled out of the air) plus materials, I've now got a $185 square of twisted yarn. I mean A $185 PIECE OF FINE ARTISTRY.
I flew through the second dishcloth. I got the knit/purl groove going. It was a meditation. A dance of the fingers. I was in The Zone. That was fun!
I don't think that this will become a knitting blog, though. It's hard to knit and hike at the same time and I've got my priorities!
posted by Carol at 10:07 PM
19 Comments:
This post has been removed by the author.
Your dish cloths sound like most of my projects. I believe that it was Senator Soaper who said that any such project will take at least 3 times the estimated time, will cost 4 times what was expected, and will require at least 5 trips to the store for additional materials or to exchange the wrong ones purchased on a previous trip.
Reasonable, huh Carol!
This post made me laugh A LOT!!!
I hope that you now realise what a valuable dishcloth I sent you ... although I think you might have guessed that because I sent it by Royal Mail!!
This post made me laugh A LOT!!!
I hope that you now realise what a valuable dishcloth I sent you ... although I think you might have guessed that because I sent it by Royal Mail!!
I think it is really beautiful looking!
As you can tell by my duplicated comment, I was having trouble posting.
What I wanted to add is I think you've made a wonderful job - they look great! Mine is working well - I don't get through so many of those sponge scrub things and so there's less waste.
Nick,
I should have listened to the wise Senator Soaper BEFORE I began my project. Oh well... I think that I got a lot more than just a couple of dishcloths out of the process. And I did it with 4 less trips to the store than Soaper predicted!
Dancing,
Did you laugh because I'm a sad knitter or because you related to my misadventures? For some reason, I think that it's the first one, because I'm pretty sure that you are a confident knitter.
I have to apologize for my lack of awareness regarding the value of the dishcloth that you sent me. Until I tried it myself, I had no idea!
Thanks for your nice words. The second dishcloth came out pretty close to perfect. The first one... well, there's a reason that it's folded in the photo. :-)
Thank you for sharing the pattern. I think that if I hadn't told you I was going to try a dishcloth, I might have been tempted to give up after the 5th or 6th attempt.
Thank you, Otowi.
Like I told Dancing, the first dishcloth looks pretty good in this photo because it's folded. It has a lot of CHARACTER.
I certainly didn't consider you to be a sad knitter.
"I flew through the second dishcloth. I got the knit/purl groove going. It was a meditation. A dance of the fingers. I was in The Zone. That was fun!" This is the bit that made me laugh ... I was delighted that you enjoyed it so much!
Thanks Dancing.
I WAS a very sad knitter on that first one, but the second was very fun. Thanks for enjoying it with me!
Well they look nice!
One square of twisted yarn: $185.
A meditation. A dance of the fingers. Being in The Zone: Priceless.
Kudos to you Carol--this is lovely work.
Wayfarer - The Knitting, Crocheting, Sewing, Crafts Master,
Thank you!
Thank you, San.
I like the way you framed it all. I should have thought of that!
That looks lovely! And the title concept is hilarious. I knit dishcloths in the car while husband drives. Would you share this pattern with me?
Hey B.E.,
Dancing gave me the link to the pattern: http://homespunliving.blogspot.com/2007/11/waffle-knit-dishcloth-pattern.html
Sorry. I am a comment-link-embedding flunky. I hope that you can copy and paste this url. If not, email me and I'll send it to you that way.
How fun to know that a bunch of my blogging friends are knitting dishcloths.
Peace through dishcloths!
I came to your blog through Indigos. The dishcloths look very nice! I know how much work goes into something like that because I'm a knitter myself. Maybe you can sell the dishcloths on EBAY and get rich? ;)
Welcome Celticspirit!
I don't know how many $185 dishcloths I could sell. Seems like a very slow way to earn a living. ;-)
If you lived close by, I'd love some knitting lessons. Are you able to knit hats and sweaters and things?
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