Knit Shaker Dishcloths & Coasters

In this tutorial, we're going to learn to knit these shaker dishcloths. They look like this. The pattern also includes instructions for making coasters. I got the idea for this pattern when I was recently reading *A History of Hand Knitting* by Richard Rutt, and I'll give you a link to this book in the video description below. In this book, I am up to the part in history where he's describing colonial American Shakers, and he describes what they knit as being on teeny tiny needles, size U.S. zero or 2 millimeter needles, or even smaller than that, and doing really tiny knitting to make these segmented dishcloths. I'll tell you exactly what he says. He says the washcloths were circular, made of sixteen segments of garter stitch arranged in alternating colors. The rows ran radially, decreasing from the center in alternate shortened rows. At the time, I was actually sick; I had a fever, but I read those two lines and I wanted to modernize this pattern to make it friendly for modern knitters, so I got to work. I used much bigger needles; we use size five needles for this, and friendlier yarn. This is worsted weight yarn, of course, very soft modern yarn. I made it; I updated it with just twelve segments instead of sixteen. I also added a picot edge for a little bit of interest and wrote it all in the pattern. If you'd like to get your copy of the pattern to follow along with this tutorial, just follow the link in the video description below. I'll also give you a link here on screen to my website. The pattern includes dishcloths with a picot edge, dishcloths without a picot edge, the coasters, and then some information on modifying the pattern to make any kind of, any size circle that you want. I'll tell you, I have a drawer full of handknitted dishcloths, but I rarely actually use them to wash dishes. I use my kitchen scrubby pattern for washing dishes, and I'll give you a link to that as well. I'll use these kind of for everything else in the name of creating less garbage and running a greener household. I use these for drying my hands, wiping up spills. I'd also use them as—I fold them over and use them as hot pads, use them as trivets. I have a drawer full, and they're constantly being thrown in the washing machine and pulled out, and I do create less trash that way. I'm excited to see what you all do with this pattern, the color combinations you choose, or how you choose to put them together because the pattern is easy to modify. First up, we're going to get started with the provisional cast on, needing the short rows. Don't worry, there are no picking up wraps in these. We're just going to work short rows and change colors. If you have your pattern, your needles, and your yarn, you're ready to get started. We're going to start with the provisional cast-on and knitting the segments of the dishcloth. But first, let me show you what you're in for and what the pattern gives you. Let's take a look. Here is the dishcloth that I started with twelve segments and a picot edge, and it looks really different in different colors. I'm excited to see what colors you guys come up with for this. Here it is. The pattern also gives instructions for this. This is the same dishcloth with no picot edge, and that one looks like a Christmas candy. The pattern also gives you instructions for these coasters. These work up really quickly because they're not very big at all, and instructions for a coaster with a picot edge. I don't have a sample here, but the pattern also gives instructions for a smaller dishcloth. Oh, I think that covered every possible base for you guys. To get started with the pattern, we're going to make a provisional cast on, and the provisional cast on allows us to completely hide the cast on and bind off. You can't tell that there is anything going on any differently here from one segment to the next. Here's the back of the work. I neglected to show you this before. To do this, you need a crochet hook and yarn that is not the color of the dishcloth. This needs to be a different color so you can see what you're doing. I always start by tying—not just something that I can feel in the yarn because I want to be able to distinguish my slip knot end from the non-slip knot end. So I started with a slip knot, and I'm going to crochet chain. You don't really need to know how to crochet to do this because it's just a simple chain, grabbing the yarn and pulling it through each loop. If you need a slow review of this, I will give you a link to my crochet chain video right here. You're going to follow the pattern to chain as many as it tells you to for the size that you're knitting. Break the yarn, pull that last end through to fasten it. There's our crochet chain. This is what is considered the top of the crocheted chain. It looks like a bind-off row; it's a bunch of Vs. To do the provisional cast on, we're going to work into the back of the crochet chain where it's what I call the hyphens. It's also called the spine of the crochet chain. They're these little horizontal loops in the very center, and that's what we're going to pick up to knit to make the provisional cast-on. What you want to do is have the slipknot end, the end with the knot in it, over on the right side. We're going to work from the right to the left with the slipknot side over here. Now you want to grab the first color of yarn you are using in your dishcloth. In the crochet chain, in the pattern, I have you crochet chaining more chain stitches than you actually need, so you don't need to go in the very first hyphen; you can skip one or two. I've given you that leeway there. Put your needle—you only need one needle for this—under the first hyphen. Grab your yarn and fold it over, leaving about a six-inch tail. We're going to use that loop you just created to wrap the needle and pull it through. You can drop the tail end now. Take a look at your crochet chain and go into the second hyphen and just keep picking up the hyphens all the way in the back of the crochet chain, following your pattern for the number that you need. Of course, I'm using super bulky yarn—not super bulky, bulky yarn—and huge needles, so it's very easy to see what I'm doing. It will be a little more challenging with the smaller needles, but it's not hard. After you have the correct number in the provisional cast on, you're ready to start row one. If you are doing the dishcloth with the picot edge, the pattern has written in clusters of four rows because each four rows gives you one picot at the edge of the work, and that's what I'll demonstrate now. The numbers that I'm using here don't match the pattern because of the size needles and yarn I'm using, but the technique is the same, and that's why I want to demonstrate. You'll start knitting and follow your pattern up to the number of stitches it tells you to knit because you won't be knitting to the end on row one. You'll be knitting up to the number it tells you to knit, and then it says turn, which means you have not knit to the end. You still have stitches over here on the left needle, and you're going to turn the work. When you turn the work, it means put the needle that was in your left hand in your right hand, the needle that was in your right hand in your left hand, and you have turned. You put the yarn to the back at that point; it was in the front because you just had just turned the work. Put that yarn to the back, and you want to slip the first stitch without working it. We're on row two now. Slip the first stitch and then knit up to the last two stitches. Once you get to the last two stitches, you're going to increase in each one of the stitches using a KFB, or knit front back stitch. I'll demonstrate this for you. You go in and work the first stitch first as a knit stitch, but don't take that old stitch off the left needle. Instead, swing the tip of your needle around and put it in the back loop of that stitch, wrap it, and pull it through. Then pull the old stitch off the left...

Knitting by Richard Rutt and I'll give you a link to this book in video description below and in this book I am up to the part in history where he's describing colonial American Shakers and he describes what they knit as being on teeny tiny needles size u_s_ zero or

2 millimeter needles or even smaller than that and doing really tiny knitting to make these segmented dishcloths i'll tell you exactly what he says he says the wash cloths were circular, made of sixteen segments of garter stitch arranged an alternating colors the rows ran radially decreasing from the

center in alternate shortened rows at the time i was actually sick, I had a fever but i read those two lines and i wanted to modernize this pattern to make it friendly for modern knitters and so i got to work. I used much bigger needles, we use size five needles for

this and uh... friendlier yarn, this is worsted weight yarn of course very soft modern yarn and um... i made it i updated it with just twelve segments instead of sixteen high also added a picot edge for a little bit of interest

and wrote it all on the pattern and if you'd like to get your copy of the pattern to follow along with this tutorial just follow the link in the video description below also give you a link here on screen to my website the pattern includes

dishcloths with a picot edge, dishcloths without a picot edge the coasters and then some uh...

information on modifying the pattern to make any kind of, any size circle that you want. And I'll tell you, i have a drawer full of handknitted dishcloths, but i rarely actually use them to wash dishes and i'll use my kitchen scrubby

pattern for washing dishes, and I'll give you a link to that as well uh... i'll use these kind of for everything else in the name out of uh...

creating less garbage and running a greener household i use these for drying my hands wiping up spills i'd also use them as, I fold them over and use them as hot pads, use them as trivets i have a drawer full, and they're constantly being thrown the washing

machine and pulled out and i do create less trash that way i'm excited to see what you all do it this pattern in the color combinations you choose or how you choose to put them together because the pattern is easy to

modify and so first up we're going to get started with the provisional cast on needing the short rows, don't worry there are no picking up wraps in these, we're just going to work short rows, and changing colors if you have your pattern in your needles and you're yarn you're ready to get

started we're gonna start with um... the provisional cast-on and knitting the segments of the dishcloth but first let me show you what your in for and what the pattern gives you, let's take a look here is the dishcloth that i started with

twelve segments and at picot edge and it looks really different different colors i'm excited to see what colors you guys come up with for this and here it is the pattern also gives instructions for this this is the same dishcloth with no picot edge

and that one looks like a christmas candy okay the pattern also gives you instructions for these coasters these workup really quickly because they're not very big at all and instructions for a coaster with a picot edge and i don't have a sample here but the pattern also gives instructions for a

smaller dishcloth oh, i think that covered every possible base for you guys so to get started with the pattern we're going to make uh... provisional cast on and the provisional cast on allows us to completely hide the cast on and bind off

you can tell that there is anything going on any differently here from one segment the next here's the back of the work neglected to show you this before and to do this you need a crochet hook and yarn that is not the color

of the dishcloth, this needs to be a different color so you can see what you're doing and i always start by tying anot just something that i can feel in the yarn because i want to be able to distinguish my slip knot end from the non slip knot

end so i started with a slip knot and i'm going to crochet chain you don't really need to know how to crochet to do this, because uh... because it's just a simple chain grabbing the yarn in pulling it through each loop

but if you need a slow a review of this i will give you a link to my crochet chain video right here you're going to follow the pattern to chain as many as a tells you to for the size that you're knitting

and break the yarn pull that last end through to fasten it there's our crochet chain this is what is considered the top of the crocheted chain it looks like a bind off row, it's a bunch of Vs to do the provisional cast on we're going to work into the back of the

crochet chain where it's what i call the hyphens it's also called the spine of the chrochet chain they're these little horizontal loops in the very center and that's what we're going to pick up to knit to make the provisional cast-on

what you want to do is have the slipknot end, the end with the knot in it, over on the right side we're gonna work from the right to the left with the slipknot side over here so now you want to grab

the first color of yarn you are using in your dishcloth in the crochet chain in the pattern i have you crochet chaining more chain stitches the actually need so you don't need to go in the very first hyphen, you can skip one or two

I've given you that leeway there so put your needle you only need one needle for this under the first hyphen grab your yarn and fold it over leaving about a six inch tail we're going to use that loop you just created to wrap the needle

and pull it through you can drop the tail end now take a look at your crochet chain and go into the second hyphen and just keep picking up the hyphens all the way in the back of the crochet chain

following your pattern for the number that you need and of course i'm using super bulky yarn not super bulky bulky yarn, huge needles so it's very easy to see what i'm doing it will be a little more challenging

with the smaller needles but it's not hard okay after you have the correct number in the provisional cast on you're ready to start row one and if you are doing the dish cloth with the picot edge the pattern has written in clusters of four rows

because each four rows gives you one picot at the edge of the work and that's on the demonstrate now the the numbers that i'm using here don't match the pattern because of the size needles and yarn I'm using but the technique is the same and that's

why i want to demonstrate so you'll start knitting and follow your pattern up to the number of stitches it tells you to knit because you won't be knitting to the end on row one you'll be knitting up to the number it tells you to knit

and then it says turn which means you have not knit to the end, you still have stitches over here on the left needle and you're going to turn the work so when you turn the work it means put the needle that was in your left hand in

your right hand the needle that was in your right hand in your left hand, and you have turned you put the yarn in to the back at that point, it was in the front because you just had just turned the work

put that yarn to the back and you want to slip the first stitch without working it we're on row two now slip the first stitch and the knit up to the last two stitches so once you get to the last two stitches you're going to increase in each one of

the stitches using a KFB, or knit front back stitch and demonstrate this for you you go in and work the first stitch first a as a knit stitch but don't take that old stitch off the left needle instead swing the tip of your needle around and put it in the back loop of that

stitch wrap it and pull it through then pull the old stitch off the left needle and you have two stitches where you had one before we're going to do the same thing to the next stitch do a normal knit stitch

swing the tip of your needle around to the back loop of that same stitch, wrap it, and pull it through so we just increased by two and that's the first row of the provisional cast on now this is the second row provisional cast on where we actually make the picot - um, not

provisional cast-on, picot edge okay that was the first row here's the second of the picot edge you start by slipping a stitch you slip it you go and as of to purl don't work that stitch and we're going to knit the next stitch

okay, you have two stitches on the left needle we're going to do a PSSO which stands for pass slipped stitch over we're going to grab on to this slipped stitch and pass it over the end of the needle, over

this, stitch, like biting off which will decrease the stitch count by one okay so now you have one stitch on the left needle pull the yarn forward between the two needles and purl one and then pass that knit stitch over at the purl stitch

that is it that gives us the picot edge then you're going to follow the instructions to knit as many stitches as you need to for this next part uh...

and you'll turn the work again and finish up that row that way i'm going to jump right into the color change row once you've worked uh... however many picot edge stitches for the size the you're knitting you will have completed a segment

and you'll be ready to work a color change, and I want to show you how to do that because each segment comes to a point at the very center the yarn doesn't have to travel very far uh...

if you keep each color attached throughout the whole project so when i was making this one i had the green and the white attach the whole time because the floats that you make you know floating from this segment of this segment with the green

or this segment to the segment with the white, is so tiny there's no reason to break the the yarn time to reattach it you can just keep it hanging there but for the first color change that you do, you do have to

attach the new color of yarn i'm going to use this green color now and i am at the center of the the circle right now, clearly i haven't finished the segment i put my needle into the next stitch

and this is just like when we are starting the provisional cast on fold your yarn over leaving about a six inch tail take that loop wrap the needle and pull it through you've just changed color put your needle in

wrapped the yarn and pull it through you're done, this is a new color now and usually what i'll do is knit a few stitches or across the row and then i will go back and find my two short ends

and this is a dishcloth that's going in the washing machine and the dryer and we want to make sure that nothing is ever going to come unraveled here there's no shame in tying knots taking it too short ends and tying

a good knot and on the second half of the double knot really pull it tightly pay attention to what you're doing and pull it so tightly, just shy of breaking the yarn and once you've done that you have a really secure knot that's not going to come apart

in the wash we're going to talk about weaving these ends in later for now those can just hang there so those are the techniques you need for knitting the segments, you'll follow your pattern and knit each segment in the same way and tell you get to the very

end and next up we're going to talk about unzipping the provisional cast on and the kitchener stitch okay we're ready to pick up on instruction for when you have knit all the segments and you wondering how to attach to one side to the other and do the finishing

work so the first we're going to do is unzip the provisional cast out let's take a look okay, as i said before this is an very bulky sample and none of the numbers match but the technique is going to be the same

and uh... i did my provisional cast on chain in this gray yarn and that's what i'm going to focus on right now remember we tied the knot to distinguished the slip knot end from the non slipknot end that knot should now be on the inside the circle and if it's not don't panic

but, following the pattern and getting every row correct, your knot will be on the inside the circle we're gonna start on the outside the circle where there is no knot, the non-slip knot end and were going to start unzipping from here

when we fastened this crochet a chain off we just pulled the last end through the last loop so i'm going to undo that which will allow me to unravel this i'm going to unravel it right down to the end here

and the first provisional cast on stitch that we're going to pick up is usually different from all the rest and mine actually goes through and then around a couple of things i'm just carefully pick it out there's my stitch

and the the gray yarn actually goes through my stitch, this is the only stitch you'll do it for i'm going to put my needle into that stitch and pull the yarn out okay, there is my first stitch the rest of it will be easier

i always do one stitch at a time to make sure that i don't lose anything and i'm going to stretch this out a bit so you can really see it just below the provisional cast on you'll see a v

you wanna go behind the right leg of the V like this and then pop out the next stitch give a stretch go behind the right leg of the v from back to front pop out the next stitch if you go back to front like this

it will get your stitches mounted correctly on the needle because you want the right leg in front and the left leg in back slow and steady okay you'll count your stitches to make sure you have the correct number and you didn't

miss anything and then because i'm such a fanatic about tying knots in things the provisional cast on is stuck in something here that is not a stitch it's just that where i tied the two ends together so i'll just cut that

to make it easy to pull that out so you can get rid of that the cast on yarn now okay so now we're left with all these ends in the pattern i tell you to leave the very last tail ends really long

and before i move forward any further I'm going to tie these together in a knot just like they did with the other ends so it's super tight and there's no way it can come undone these little tail ends here, we'll weave in later

now we're ready to work the kitchener stitch which is a way of grafting these stitches together that won't leave a ridge, it won't leave the seam it's just invisible and beautiful and i need a tapestry needle to work this

just a blunt ended yarn needle and you can use either color it's going to be fine I usually pick the one that's kind of facing the ends of the needles i'll thread that on there and if you worked every row of the pattern

it's not that big of a deal if you accidentally skipped a row or something but you're going to be starting and at the center of the circle and working kitchener stitch out like this and you want to have the right side facing yo,u the wrong side of the work is

going to be folded over together inside you have half your stitches on one needle half your stitches on the other needle and we're going to graft these together so to setup we're going to start off with um... a stitch on the front needle a stitch on

the back, this is just two set up stitches i'm going to go in on the front needle as if to purl and just leave that there jump to the back needle going as a to knit leave that there

okay now were actually ready to start the pattern repeat of the kitchener stitch we're going to work the first stitch, the second stitch on the front needle jump to the back needle, work the first stitch on the back needle

second stitch on the back needle so it's here here here here and let me show you and then i'll tell you the little chat that i do while i work this to keep it in my head go in as if to knit

whoops, going in as if to knit is like this, right? knit take that stitch off and then go in as if to purl on the next stitch jump over to the back the needle go ahead in as if to purl, off

go in as if to knit leave that there and then this isn't the case of every pattern but in this pattern you want to really pull on that yarn when you're finished to tighten it up the tight -

i have never recommended this before in a pattern but the tighter the kitchener stitch is in this pattern the better it's going to look normally you just want to keep good tension here you really want to pull it

okay were ready to work the four stitch repeat again knit off purl purl off knit and that's what i say in my head while i do this and then tug!

knit, off, purl, purl, off, knit knit, off, purl, purl, off, knit and i'll these instructions out for you in the pattern the four stitch repeat but if you can say "knit off purl, purl off knit" in it in your head

you'll have it you don't have to watch me do the rest of this but, you can see i've been pulling this really tightly that looks really good i want, i think i can show you an example here and

how i a learned, why i learned it's important to pull the kitchener stitch super tight in this pattern you see here this is one of the first dishcloths that I made with the pattern that i finished and you can see a ridge here, i mean, it's not it's nothing bad it's not that

noticeable but there is a gap between the garter stitch purl bumps here where i work the kitchener stitch and it's even, and its fine when i was uh... experimenting with the pattern a bit more and i learned to

really tug on that kitchener stitch uh... i discovered that if you pull it really tightly you can see it all, i couldn't even tell you where the end of this is so that's why we do it okay, were almost finished

next up we're going to learn how to tighten at the center hole to make a kind of invisible and how to weave in the cotton ends we're just about finished we're going to do some finishing work that's going to

tidy things up and make sure that nothing's going to come unraveled when it's being machine washed and dried, let's go ahead and take a look here's our finished circle whether it's a dish cloth or uh...

uh... coaster whatever, nobody knows my sample here is actually wool and i don't recommend that for dishcloth because it can't be washed and dried but even they do just for experiment i might felt this and see what i come up

with see what looks like when its felted but for right now were demonstrating so its full size and not felted yet we have a uh... pretty significant hole in the very center and you can leae that there it doesn't bother you gonna show you how to tighten it up

you have one of the long ends left from uh... when you finished the dish cloth and it doesn't matter which color is because you used one end for the kitchener stitch we just have the other end here now

since that this is twelve segments every other segment is the purple color, what i'm going to do is grab a stitch at the base of each segment or the point of each segment in purple and then when i tighten that up that will be enough to close it up

so my yarns coming out of here at the first segment is here i go from back to front just grabbing a strand of yarn pull that through jump to the next segment in purple back to front just grabbing a stitch there

and the next one i'm about half way done, i am halfway done so now pull that tight, look at it almost closed now go to the next one grab that one i'll go around six towns and press down

with your fingers really pull it okay totally closed up it looks really good let's talk about this end we have to weave in now i'm gonna poke this end through to the back and do all my weaving in back here

i want to weave in the blue ends into the area of work where it's blue, and the purple ends into the area to work where it's purple uh... i'm not going to do anything really fancy, all i'm going to do right now

now is get this purple end into some of the purple work somewhere and i'm just gonna grab the back of these stitches they don't want it to show through on the front what i'm doing back here if you're worried that if they show through on the front just put your needle in

and take a look, and if you can see the metal of your needle anywhere you know it's gonna show through on this side just get myself over here this is the technique that i use anytime i am using a machine washable yarn and i want to make sure that the knots are

going to stay the ends are going to stay woven in, and nothing's going to come unraveled so im over here away from the very center and into a purple area here and i'm ready to do my little trick for getting this uh... really secure

you want to untwist the plies of yarn and separate it half and half the sample here is just a two ply yarn so separate it one ply and the other ply okay rethread the needle with one of those plies or half of the plies at that

what i used here, this was a four ply yarn so i separated two and two and then move that one half of the plies just half a stitch away, to somewhere so that the two ends aren't coming out of the same spot

that makes it possible to tie these in another not and just like with the knots before we're changing color you wanna pull this as tight as possible just shy of breaking the yarn i'm putting a lot of pressure on this

this wool will snap before cotton will you get the idea once you do that you can cut it really short and then you can't even see that and that's really good, and it's secure, and you'll do the same thing with all of these

ends and that's, those are all the techniques used in these uh... like i said the pattern includes instructions for different sizes including picot edges and without picot edges i'm really excited see what you what y'all come up with good luck

we're just about finished we're going to do some tidy finishing work that's going to uhh..

it's going to be awesome. Click!