The Summer of Dishcloths

     This summer is turning out to be the "Summer of Dishcloths".  So far I cant complain too much.  I've found I have to pace myself because of the cotton.  Some brands bother me more than others.  I've found that Pisgah Peaches and Cream is soft enough I can just knit to my heart's desire.  New Spinrite Peaches and Cream and Sugar and Cream, I have to be more careful with.  It does make sense as the old P&C is a different type of cotton.  The cotton fibres themselves are longer, that's why old P&C is softer and doesn't shed when being knit.  It was also made right here in the US, in Pisgah North Carolina (or maybe South I can never remember)  After the mill closed over a year ago, I made sure to snap up as much of the real P&C while I still could.  The rights to the name Peaches and Cream was retained by the new mill, Spinrite, which bought out Pisgah.  Spinrite is a Canadian mill that manufactures Bernat and Patons.  They make Bernat Handicrafter Cotton and Lily Sugar and Cream.  I believe that Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton is still made by a separate company.  As I knit dishcloths quite avidly I made it my business to know such things about the yarn I use.  In the long run, cotton is cotton and the dishcloths are still going to wash dishes.  My personal opinion is that Pisgah P&C was softer, prettier and just plain funner, yup funner.  I do horde my Pisgah stash for myself and my closest relatives, as I cant replace that.  Okay enough about the politics of cotton yarn.

    I've submitted two more project challenges to Nerd Wars.  I dare you to guess what they were.... Yup, dishcloths.  I told you this was the summer of dishcloths.  For the Camouflage challenge I made a Scalloped Brioche Dishcloth.  It is not my finest dishcloth by any means.  The designer suggested trying a simpler brioche pattern first if one had no experience with brioche stitch.  I, of course, ignored such advise and jumped right in.  I think the outcome is plain to see...

     For the purposes of the challenge, it looks pretty good.  We were tasked with using animal camouflage as our inspiration.  I tried to mimic the splotchyness of frogs.  I think the pooling is what made this work for me.  I'm on the fence about trying this one again down the road.  Perhaps after I try some simpler brioche work, it will make a bit more sense, we'll see.  The other challenge I finished was the Music challenge.  We were required to pick a song buy a geeky artist and craft something inspired by they song.  I chose, "Science is Real" by They Might Be Giants.  I had heard of this band awhile back.  They aren't what I normally listen to, but being a scientist on occasion I connected to this song.  The particular line that struck me was ...from Astrophysics to Biology... Science is Real.  Samantha Carter is what immediately comes to mind when I think of Astrophysics.  Include Biology in that and I tend to think of Dr. Frasier.  I wanted to make something that either Sam or Janet would appreciate, so I decided to combine Astrophysics and Biology in one object, its corny, I took it literally.... I made a Starfish.  Star-Fish...  I know its a horrible play on words but there you have it.  I used Starfish Cloth a pattern I've knit before.  I made it in girly colors so I could "give it" to either Sam or Janet.  I really enjoy this pattern, it does come out large compare to the dishcloths I normally knit, but I know people like the larger ones, plus its just plain cute.

     I've finished up a couple other cloths too.  At the beginning of July I finished my pink versions of Tricolour:

     I cant repeat enough how much I enjoy this pattern.  It is super simple and yields a really great looking cloth with a good amount of scrubby nobbles.  I plan to keep going through the color wheel on this one.  The possibilities are nearly endless, and its great for using up scraps.  I also did a couple more Grandmother's Favorite.  I've made so many of these, I lost count years ago.  I've never, however, put any on my Ravelry projects page.  So I fixed that.  I also used the same color I made my very first one it, when I re-taught myself to knit about 2 years ago.  I do remember which color, as blue it my favorite color.



     As a goofy side note.  All of the cloths I've shown, except for Tricolour are made from original Peaches and Cream.  I know, there is really no way to tell in pictures, but I bet money if I placed a skein of P P&C in one hand and one of S P&C in the other, most people would be able to tell them apart.  In defence of Tricolour, that one is made of three different brands of yarn.  The white is from a bag of Millends, which I believe is Hobby Lobby I Love this Cotton, the solid pink is Sugar and Cream and the lighter heathered pink is New Peaches and Cream Scents.  Its Rose Garden and it actually smells like roses.  There I go again, way too much detail...

     I have been actively working on another Oven Mitt.  I'm really really hoping to get the chance to felt that before the 28th.  I don't know if that's going to happen.  I still need to work on my submission for the TUP.  I realized yesterday I still hadn't done mine, and I'm nearly positive the TUP was my suggestion this round.  I'm quite stumped on Giving Geeks.  I may be able to pull something out, proverbially, but motivation has been sorely lacking in my life of late.  The humidity gets to me, and I've been picking up some overtime.  My birthday is coming up and I am very much hoping to pick out some nice yarn, or maybe a scale.....  As a random side note for my regular readers, remember the mug cozy I chatted about in my last post.  It lasted on my mug for about a week.  I noticed today that it had migrated to another mug.... guess I'll be making another one soon :)

Happy Crafting!

-Q