Knitted Guest Hand Towel Pattern

Bubble Up Towel

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Materials:

Yarn--4 50 gm. hanks (88 yds.) Pakucho cotton, color Natural (very white).

Small amount of contrasting yarn, about 20 yds ea. of 2 colors. I used Blue Sky Organic Cotton.

Needles--size 7 or size needed to get gauge.

Gauge: 20 st./4 in, gauge is not crucial.

Begin:

Cast on a multiple of 5 stitches plus 1. For a finished size of 15" wide by 22" long, allowing for shrinkage when washed, cast on 81 stitches.

Begin with a turned hem, so if you are careful about such things, use a size 7 or 8 needle to cast on, then knit on a 6. You're going to sew or knit this hem down and you want a loose edge to sew or pick up, and you want the back side to be fairly tight so the hem will lay flat. For me, I think, "It's just a towel" and use a long-tail cast on, starting with a size 8, switching right away to a 7. Draw out an extra long piece for your "tail" and you can use it to sew the hem down.

If you are really particular, use a provisional cast on, so that you can knit the loose stitches from the provisional cast on with the live stitches and eliminate sewing the hem. This is really overkill for a towel, but is one way to get a neat hem.

Abbreviations:

k - knit
p - purl
k2tog - knit two stitches together as one
k3tog - knit three stitches together as one

p1w - purl one, wrapping the yarn loosely twice around the needle, producing a stitch that has two loops around the needle rather than one

sl 1 del - slip one stitch purlwise, dropping the extra loop you wrapped around the needle on the row before, producing a long slipped stitch (lss)

Border Pattern:

Knit 5 rows in stockinette. If you haven't already, change to a larger needle, the needle you will use for the front of the towel.

Knit 1 row on the wrong size, forming a purl ridge on the right side.

Knit 4 rows in stockinette. Knit a RS row, knitting the cast on or live stitch from provisional cast on together to turn hem, or just sew the hem down later.

Begin border stitch pattern, "Bubble Wrap":

Stitch Pattern Notes: This stitch pattern is from Nicky Epstein's Knitting Over the Edge. It is a great book, and I am indebted to Ms. Epstein for the cute pattern. I've not seen it in any other stitch dictionaries, but am hopeful that it is ok to use it here. Using this stitch pattern will make 15 bubbles, which are actually bobbles with the purl side showing. They are made from one stitch. On wraps, wrap yarn twice, loosely. Be sure to slip stitches with yarn in back. After all bobbles are made, pull the slipped stitches on each side of the bobble to tighten it and loosen the slipped stitch.

Row 1 (WS) With A, p1, *p1w, p2, p1w, p1* repeat 14 times more.

Row 2 (RS) With B, k1, sl1 del, k2, sl 1 del, *[k1, yo, k1, yo, k1] into next st, sl 1 del, k2, sl 1 del* repeat 14 times more, end k1.

Row 3 With B, p1, sl 1, p2, sl 1, *k5, sl 1, p2, sl 1* repeat 14 times more, end p1.

Row 4 With B, k1, sl 1, k2, sl 1 *p5, sl 1, k2, sl 1* repeat 14 times more, end k1.

Row 5 With B, p1, sl 1, p2, sl 1, *k2tog, k3tog, pass k2tog st over k3tog st, sl 1, p2, sl 1* repeat 14 times more, end p1.

Row 6 With A, k1, *drop first lss (long slipped stitch) off needle, sl 2, drop next lss off needle, then with LH needle, pick up first lss, sl 2 sts from RH needle back to LH needle, then pick up second lss with LH needle and k5* repeat 14 times more.

Row 7 With A, purl all stitches.

Row 8 With A, knit all stitches.

Rows 9-16 Repeat rows 1 through 8 once more, changing color B to color C.

Row 17 With A, purl

Row 18-19 With A, knit.

Towel Body:
Now you are ready to knit the middle portion of the towel. I used plain stockinette, but you can substitute another stitch pattern if you prefer. If you use stockinette, you need a border to prevent the edges from curling. I've tried garter, but it was too tight lengthwise. I then tried seed stitch, but it was too wide. In the manner of Goldilocks, I'm now trying the border stitch pattern from Arietta. I mean to use it in my next sweater, and need to practice it.

If you like a selvedge edge, use your favorite, such as slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise.


Body Pattern:
Knit one row, placing two markers, one after the first 10 stitches and one after 71 stitches, before the final 10, then begin edge pattern--

Row 1 (WS) Knit 10 stitches, slip marker, purl 61 stitches, slip marker, knit 10.

Row 2 Knit.

Row 3 same as Row 1.

Row 4 Knit.

Row 5 *p1, k1* 5 times, purl 61 stitches, *k1, p1* 5 times.

Row 6 -7 Knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches.

Row 8 Knit.

Continue the edge pattern (or the pattern of your choice) until the entire towel measures 15 inches in length, then begin the border pattern for the opposite end, first knitting a row on the wrong side then knitting 3 rows in stockinette. Repeat Rows 1-19 of the bubble wrap pattern, knit a wrong side row, knit 5 rows in stockinette, using a smaller needle if you like, and bind off and sew the hem. Alternatively, bind off while picking up purl bumps from the towel to attach the hem without sewing.

Knitted Guest Towel

I've completed another guest towel. I chose a different edging for this one. The edging on the first one is nice enough, but the dots of contrasting color are formed with bobbles that tend to pop in and out of the slip-stitches surrounding them, making a less-than-ideal fabric for hand drying. Cute to look at, but not totally practical.

This second version has a variation of a dot slip-stitch edging, slightly modified to make it lie flatter. I also had to use a different main color, since I didn't have any of the white Pakucho cotton left from the first towel. This color is "avocado", really more gray than green.
The Pakucho and the Blue Sky organic cotton both produce an exceptionally soft towel. I'm not sure that knitted hand towels are as good as the standard terrycloth ones. However, they work well as a guest towel, if a unique look is wanted.

The Blue Sky cotton is very loosely spun, and thus is exceptionally soft. This may mean that it won't wear well--another reason to use it for guest towels. The colors are pretty and may last longer without fading or pilling if they are washed less often than hand towels are usually.

knit Gridded Towel pattern

Note:  This pattern was made available as a pdf download through Ravelry in May of 2017.  I have added the link to the pattern pdf below but temporarily retained the casual pattern instructions here.

I've finished the second Gridded Towel, using Pakucho cotton in Vicuna (beige) as the main color with a variegated kitchen cotton (Peaches & Creme, potpourri) as the contrasting color. I'll explain how I did it so you can make your own.

This is a very simple towel pattern that requires at a minimum two colors of yarn. I use primarily kitchen-grade cotton yarn, such as Peaches & Creme, Sugar 'n Cream, or Pakucho cotton. You'll need 2 balls of about 85 yards each for the main color and almost two balls of the contrast color. You can mix different brands of yarn as long as they are the same weight. These yarns all knit to about 20 stitches/4" in stockinette. I use a size 7 needle. I prefer either Bryspun, Balene, or wooden needles--anything that is more flexible than metal will be easier on your hands.

Cast on 87 stitches. This will produce a towel about 16" wide if your gauge is similar. It will shrink with use, especially if you machine wash and tumble dry your towel as I do, and will soon be only 15" wide.


Click here to view and download this pattern in Ravelry.com or use the link below for an immediate download.


download Gridded Towel Pattern

The original pattern instructions:

Using a long-tail cast-on and the main color, knit three rows so that the beginning has two garter ridges. You're going to alternate garter and stockinette, changing colors every two rows so that you have three stockinette panels for the border. Here it is in pattern speak:

A=main color
B=contrast color

Border Pattern:

Rows 1-3: knit all stitches with A

Row 4: knit all stitches with B

Row 5: purl all stitches with B

Rows 6-7: knit all stitches with A

Repeat Rows 4-7 twice more. Begin gridded stitch, maintaining 10 stitches on either side in the border pattern.


Gridded Stitch:

Row 1: *slip 1, knit 2*, repeat to border, ending with slip 1, using B

Row 2: *slip 1, purl 2*, repeat to border, ending with slip 1, using B

Row 3 & 4: knit all stitches with A


Confused? Here it is, the same pattern, less speak, more numbers:


Gridded Stitch:

Row 1: With B, k10, *sl1, k2* 22 times, sl1, k10.

Row 2: p10, *sl1, p2* 22 times, sl1, p10.

Row 3 & 4: With A, k across.

Knit the center section until the towel is about 20 inches long, then work the border pattern again for three stockinette panels, ending with three rows of knit stitches in A and binding off on the wrong side so that it looks like the beginning border. This will give you a towel about 22" long. (Mine took 38 gridded stockinette panels, plus the 3 beginning stockinette panels and the 3 ending ones to reach 22".)

That's all you need to do to have a simple and effective, soft and nubbly kitchen towel for hand-drying, plate-wiping or waving around. (Ever have a smoky kitchen because you burned the toast? Just wave a damp towel around to dispel the smoke quickly.) This towel does the trick, and it looks good as well. It even looks ok on the back side.


For variation, try substituting any slip-stitch pattern in the middle section, as long as you can change colors every two rows. If you want a less colorful towel, use a solid color yarn for the contrast color, or change the contrast colors in a repeating pattern, as I did in the first version.


For the first towel, I changed colors in the stockinette panels as follows:


4 white panels

5 cream panels

6 yellow panels

7 caramel panels

6 white panels

5 cream panels

4 yellow panels

3 caramel panels

4 white panels


Using this sequence of colors will guarantee that you end with three stockinette panels for the border and the ends of your towel will match. It also gives you the 38 gridded panels you need to produce a 22" long towel.

Done! Yay! Wave your towel around to clear the air as you imagine more variations.