First off, Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there! Yay to us!!
Happy yet possibly not about my latest tiny FOs. I made a set of très easy washcloths as a hostess gift for someone to accompany the soap I bought for her at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. I ended up having to make three Leafy Washcloths.
These are the two I gave a way:
This is the first one I made (the second is the one on the right in the top picture). When I put both of them in water to wetblock, the blue color ran and left spots on the pink one!!
Why isn’t Lily Sugar ‘N Cream colorfast? Why??!! And why is my rowing so bad on these leafy thingies?? Why oh why??!!
I like the third one I ended up making better anyway (left in top picture) and prefer the decreases, etc. that I used as well (described on my project page), so I guess it was worth the extra knitting!!
PS: Thanks for the comments and suggestions! I typically get rowing with particular yarns and knitting with cotton is likely the culprit. I saw a cotton, machine-made (store-bought) sweater one time and noticed that it had rowing! I wanted to take a picture of it but I was at a funeral so I thought it would be tacky, but it surprised me that it could happen in that situation. Most of the cotton leaf projects also had rowing, so I guess I am in good (?) company!!
Love the Sinkmates pattern! Thanks, Pru. And good luck with your project, Julie!
PS2: to Natalie. Rowing out is described well in the linked article and actually mentions cotton.
These are really cute, but thanks for the heads up on Lily Sugar ‘N’ Cream’s colorfastness, or lack thereof. WTH, this yarn is supposed to be used for dishcloths and washcloths! I have a bunch in stash to knit Lorilee Beltman’s Sink Mates http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sinkmates, but they would be ruined if their pretty borders bled into the center.
What do you mean by bad rowing? Having spent about 8 hours live streaming yesterday’s Eastern Sprints men’s rowing championships I was confused! Your rows look perfect to me, which is more than can be said for some of the crabs caught on yesterday’s cold and windy Lake Quinsigamond, MA.
Comment by Pru — May 15, 2017 @ 2:27 pm
Send an email to the Lily folks with a link to this blog post and ask that question. I have asked it myself before.
Rowing out can be prevented with needles of 2 different sizes, for example, 7.5 for knit side and 7 for purl side. You need to take a look and decide which side is looser for you. It varies by knitter. For me it is purl. Or, hold your yarn with an extra loop around your little finger to snug up gauge on the looser row. I was knitting socks with a yarn with a lot of silk in it and it was so slippery my gauge was all over the place. So I put extra loops on my left hand (I knit continental) to snug up gauge. The silky socks are going to be charming, if i can ever get gauge to snug up.
Julie in San Diego
Comment by Julie Lanner — May 15, 2017 @ 4:05 pm
Love your washcloths and soap project! So sorry about the color running. Bummer! As far as rowing out – you know I have been dealing with it for years. Portuguese knitting style has helped quite a bit but not 100%. Much has been written about it and I have tried using 2 different sized needles – it only makes sense if the cause is too loose purl stitches- but I still experienced rowing out. I would love to hear from TechKnitter on the subject! She gets so technical and deep on various subjects for knitters. The leaves you knit (top pic) look beautiful so not to worry. See you Thurs.!
Comment by Kathy W. — May 16, 2017 @ 12:09 pm
Those are lovely, and a very thoughtful gift!
What is rowing? I’ve never heard of it before, and don’t see any obvious faults in the washcloths. I’d love it if you could point it out, though maybe you’d rather forget it and move on? 😉
Comment by Natalie — May 16, 2017 @ 7:55 pm
Those are absolutely adorable. That is such a cute pattern and your knitting is so consistent. I think that as knitters we are usually more critical of our own knitting and can get frustrated if it’s not perfect. But honestly, to the person receiving the gift I’m sure they don’t see the imperfections they just see the beautiful gift (at least that is what we hope). 🙂
I also have issues with colorfastness with this yarn. I have learned my hard lesson to know use a bright color with a more subdued color. Nor use two highly contrasting colors. I have had a few gift cloths go wrong in the washing and blocking.
Thanks for the link regarding Rowing out.
Have a blessed day!
Comment by Angela Childress — May 17, 2017 @ 7:10 am
Very helpful re Rowing Out, I always thought that was what kept me from being a “real” knitter. Now I see that “it’s not just me.” I’ve also noticed that it is more common with some yarns than others. No scientific assessment but it seems that craft store yarns row out much less. It might be one of their selling features. Or it might be “just me.” Either way it’s nice to see other people’s experience in the broad spectrum of things. And ditto re Sugar n’ Cream yarns. A beautiful multicolored washcloth became the color of mud. I hear vinegar pre-treating helps this. Had also discovered the gorgeous Sinkmates pattern. Although I worry about picking up stitches in garter stitch. Hmmm…there might be a video for that. Chloe
Comment by Chloe — May 17, 2017 @ 9:48 am
Knit Picks Dishie yarn doesn’t bleed. I just used red and white to make a brioche washcloth and it looks great straight from the washer and dryer. No more Peaches n Cream or Sugar n Cream for me.
I have been trying to cure my rowing out, and have had quite a bit of success yanking my purls tight. I am a continental knitter and found my purls were the culprit. It has also helped to use Karbonz needles. Not sure why.
Comment by Sarah — May 18, 2017 @ 11:23 pm
For me, interchangeable circular needles are the solution to rowing out. I use a larger tip on the RS and a smaller tip on the WS, for example US6 tip for the RS and US5 for the WS, because I purl more loosely than I knit.
Comment by Bonnie — May 19, 2017 @ 7:33 am
I decided my silky socks needed shortie tops for summer use, so they are done. Came out great!
Julie in San Diego
Comment by Julie Lanner — May 21, 2017 @ 5:15 pm