Hanging dish towel knitting pattern

 

So earlier this year someone did me a HUGE favor and to show my gratitude I asked them if there was an item that they would like knitted. They asked for hanging towels. I had never made them before but I didn't think they would be that hard to make. I found a neat pattern online and they turned out so well I thought that I would make a tutorial for them for the blog. 

The person specially asked for earth tones so I went to Walmart and found these tan ones. I've also seen them done for holiday towels. The tan yarn I had in my stash and I thought it complimented the towels well. 

Materials list: 

-I used size 5 straight needles- you could go up or down a size based on your feelings 

-Kitchen hand towels in whatever color/pattern of your choice 

-Yarn in the color of your choice- medium weight (your basic most commonly found yarn)

-Buttons- one per towel. I prefer bigger buttons because it's easy to attach in every day use. 

I found this tutorial on youtube while I was researching patterns. Of all the videos I watched I found hers to be the most useful and she gave the best explanations 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Yk2cBL5x8&t=1145s

By far the hardest part of this entire project is casting on. I learned that your ultimate goal is to try to get the stitches as close together as possible because it looks fuller and gives you more room to work with when you do the decrease. To cast on I used a large upholstery needle- one that I usually use for sewing in the ends of things.  

To keep the towel folded perfectly while I cast on I safety pinned it together. I did something I don't normally do with knitting and I tied a knot in the thread and started the first stitch from the inside of the fold of the towel. It was really the only way that I found to secure it to the towel. 

After casting on you have to go through and pick up the stitches and knit them onto the needle

After getting the stitches on the needle knit straight for at least 5 rows. As I started to get more comfortable with this pattern I increased it about 7-10 just based on personal preference 

After your base rows you start the decrease.

To decrease: Knit 1 knit two together or SSK (slip slip knit), knit across until 3 stitches remain, knit two together, knit one. 

next row: knit all the way across 

Continue this pattern until you have decreased to 11 stitches 

Making the tail- After you have done the decrease you want to continue to knit those 11 stitches until you get the desired length of the tail (The part that loops around whatever you are securing the towel to) In the video she says to make it 5.5 inches from the start of the work. I found this to be rather short. I preferred to knit to 6 or 7 inches before starting the button hole 

When you get to your desired length  you want to make the button hole. To do this you need to knit 3, cast off 5, knit 3 to the end. Then on the next row you knit 3, cast on 5 and then knit the last three. Once you make the button hole you only want to knit 2-3 more rows before casting completely off and completing the project. 

After casting off I used regular sewing thread to sew the button on and then sewed in my loose threads. 

And ta-dah easy peasy! I made 4 in about 1 week (mind you while I was moving, so it probably would've been a lot faster if it was a normal week for me) I will most likely make them again because they are cheap and easy gifts that use up some of my stash yarn.