Christmas Gift Idea: Knit Cotton Dishcloths

I decided that I would go with homemade Christmas gifts this year, because that's what Im in to, and why not? So many people are interested in acquiring homemade everything (it always gets me how some people don't put two and two together and fail to make the "everything" themselves... instead they sacrifice hard earned cash for the goods). So since homemade dishcloths are really popular right now that was what I decided I would make. So a couple of downers with cotton dishcloths, you cant spin your own yarn for it (seems that cotton is a mite scarce in my neck of the woods), AND cotton yarn seems more expensive. We're looking at $1.75 (Michaels) for one ball of 1.5 oz. yarn, which makes one dishcloth. Fortunately after some looking around I found a larger ball for $10 which would have saved me $4 if I would have got that one in the first place. So enough babbling and on to the pattern:

Get some knitting needles, I used 3.5 mm and that was just because I like a tighter weave for these, I find bigger needles give the dishcloths such a ratty look.

R1: Cast on 4 stitches
R2: Knit 4
R3: Knit 1, yarn over, knit 2, yarn over, knit one
R4: Knit the whole row
R5: Knit 2, yarn over, knit the row except before knitting the last 2 stitches, yarn over
R6: Knit the whole row
Continue the stitches from R5 and R6 until you have 53 stitches
Now start to narrow the dishcloth:
Knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, continue knitting row until 5 stitches remain, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit two together and knit one.
Next row, knit the whole row.
Continue in this pattern until you have it narrowed down to four stitches. Cast off. There should be just enough yarn to finish the dishcloth.

* The yarn over throughout the pattern gives in the border along the outside. Please note that there is a hardly noticeable front and back side.

And here is the final product!

Recipes: Something local & Something imported

After the harvest is over, after all those hours of preparing and storing the bounty of the earth, its so nice to pull out a package of fresh fruits for a taste of summer. So, this morning I made a delicious batch of local raspberry and local blueberry muffins:

Local Berry Muffins

Mix
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

In a 1 cup measure put
1/3 c. oil
1 egg
top up the cup with milk

Combine and fold in 1c. local berries.
Bake at 400oF for 20 minutes.


Then because sometimes I get a hankering for chocolate and that happens to be something not so local, I made some pinwheel shortbread cookies, using cocoa powder from the US and vanilla from the Dominican.

Pinwheel Shortbread Cookies

Mix:
1 c. butter
1 c. icing sugar
2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. water*

Remove half the dough and roll between 2 sheets of wax paper.

With remaining dough, add 1/4 c. cocoa and 1 tbsp. water* and combine.


*If dough does not resemble play dough/is too dry to work, add more water 1 tbsp. at a time.

Roll this dough between 2 sheets of wax paper as well, then layer onto 1st dough. Roll the two layers into a log, wrap in wax paper and quick chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes, or until solid. Unroll from wax paper and slice cookies off log at about 1/4" thickness. Place on pans and bake at 300oF for 15 minutes or until bottoms are golden.