Candy Striper Cloth

I made this cloth as part of the winter 2008 Dishcloth Exchange, and will reveal the name of my partner once she has received her package. The idea behind this cloth was to create something solid but with some texture - that old scrubby vs. rinsy thing - and that reminded me of the old candy striper uniforms in hospitals.

The stitch pattern is somewhat similar to that of the Eyelets & Ridges Cloth - but in this case the increases after the K2tog ridges are made by knitting into the front & back of the stitch rather than lifting the bar to make a hole. It results in a much firmer cloth, particularly well suited to dishes.

This cloth would also look fabulous with three, four, or even more different colors. The one shown used about 1/3rd of a skein each of the pink and white Lily Sugar N Cream. What a great stashbuster!

Finished dimensions: approx. 7in (18.5cm) square
Gauge is not important for this cloth

Materials:
1 (partial) skein Lily Sugar N Cream (100% cotton) Rose colorway [2.50oz/70g to 120yd/109m]
1 (partial) skein Lily Sugar N Cream (100% cotton) White colorway [2.50oz/70g to 120yd/109m]
US 7 (4.5mm) needles
Darning needle

Abbreviations:
Kfb = Knit through the front and back loop of the stitch (increases by one stitch)

Instructions:
Using pink, Cast on 40 stitches.
Knit one foundation row.

Body:
Row 1 (RS): K40
Row 2: K1; K2tog 19 times; K1
Row 3: K1; Kfb 19 times; K1
Row 4: K40
Rows 5-8: As Rows 1-4, but using white.

Repeat these eight rows five more times (six times total), or until cloth is approx. 1/2 in (1.75cm) shorter than desired.
Repeat rows 1-4 one more time.

Knit one concluding row.
Bind off all stitches in K.
Weave in ends.

Note; because all the decreases slant the same direction, the cloth will have a slight bias to the left. If you wish to counter this, do all pink decreases as K2tog and all white decreases as SSK.