Slip Stitch Knit Washcloth – Fabulous Floats

Show off your floats! This slip stitch knit washcloth takes advantage of the carried strands of yarn (or floats) to create the striking design. The garter stitch pattern uses ony one color at a time, and only knit and slipped stitches!

Slip Stitches, Mosaic, and Intermeshing Crochet

I was playing around with mosaic knitting, but didn’t really care for how it looked at the back. For something like a washcloth, I really prefer when both sides are pretty. Eventually, my playing led me to try garter stitch, with the floats on both sides of the work instead of always at the back. I loved how the floats became the focal point of the design.

As I worked on it, I realized that what I was doing was very similar to intermeshing crochet! First, you work one color for two rows, then the other color for two rows. In this way, each color is really creating its own separate fabric, with the floats and edges holding the two fabrics together. This is very much like intermeshing crochet, where 2 layers of crochet mesh are intertwined. If you’re not familiar with that technique, learn more in this Intermeshing Crochet Basics tutorial!

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Optical Illusion

This design contains both vertical and horizontal stripes. From some angles, the horizontal stripes are more prevalent. From other angles, the vertical stripes pop out instead!

Lion Brand Re-Up Yarn

I used Lion Brand Re-Up yarn for my washcloth. This 85% cotton / 15% polyester yarn is eco friendly with recycled cotton content. It’s also soft, absorbent, and comes in loads of pretty colors!

Fabulous Floats Washcloth

Add this to your Ravelry queue

Materials

• Yarn: Lion Brand Re-Up Yarn
  • 40 yds grey (#149)
  • 35 yds red (#113)
• Needles: Size 9 / 5.5 mm knitting needles
• Notions: Yarn Needle

Project Level

Easy: 2 colors, slip stitches and knit stitches.

Size

8 inches square.

Gauge

19 sts x 24 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch. Exact gauge is not critical.

Abbreviations used

k = knit
sl = slip purlwise, with yarn at back.
st(s) = stitch(es)

Recommended Resources

• Long Tail Cast On from Purl Soho

Instructions

With grey, cast on 38 sts. (multiple of 4 + 2)

When slipping stitches, it is important to keep even tension on the carried yarn (the floats). If these are too loose they will look messy, and if too tight they will scrunch up the stitches in front of them.

Row 1: K across

Rows 2-3: With red, sl 2 (k 2, sl 2) across.

Rows 4-5: With grey, k 2, (sl 2, k 2) across.

Repeat rows 2-5 21 more times, or until work measures about 7.5 inches.

Last Row: With grey, k across

Bind off all stitches.

Weave in ends.

For best results, wash and block.

Rate this Slip Stitch Knit Washcloth Pattern!

I hope you enjoyed this washcloth pattern. A downloadable pdf of this pattern is available on Ravelry for a small fee. The fee for the pdf format is to offset the advertising revenue lost when you print or download the pattern rather than viewing it online.

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