Gifty!

Dear Ann,
[Note to skimmers. If you stay with this post, there is a free pattern in there somewhere.]
Hey there. IT’S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!! Hanukkah is in full swing, but I can handle Hanukkah. Hanukkah requires one Unnecessary But Greatly Desired Electronic Item (To Be Purchased By Dad), plus 7 small items such as: Croc buttons (still looking for here’s the Israeli flag Croc button I saw recently–how cool would that be as an embellishment for the national shoe of Israel), CDs (although CDs are obsolete technology, I persist), paperback biographies of US Presidents (reliably thrilling for a boy here), and craft materials (although Model Magic is hard to wrap, it’s the It Gift for a girl who has rendered the Trojan War in the medium, causing serious red ink in the Model Magic budget but hopefully earning her teacherly adulation). (Tip: If you are giving Model Magic as a gift–and why wouldn’t you be–the best color is white, because you can make it any other color with felt-tip markers. Color on the surface of the clay and work it in; repeat until you get the desired shade. With a gold marker and a toothpick, you can get Helen’s hair just right.) By Day 7 or 8, expectations get so low that we can give them a pencil or stick of gum. (Last night, we gave stickers. Got a big “woo-hoo” for the stickers.)
But Christmas is another category altogether. Christmas wears me out just thinking about it. Christmas is particularly difficult in families that also celebrate Hanukkah and whose kids have adequate supplies of presidential biographies and Model Magic to begin with. And then there are all those other lovely people upon whom one would bestow a seasonal token of affection, if only one could think of one. What to give? We have questions; the Internet has answers.
The Bomb
That cleverboots Mrs. Lear is doing bath bombs that smell like grapefruit and sweetgrass! She’s using this recipe. Bombs away!
Chocolate
Chocolate is never a wrong gift, unless it is not good chocolate, and even chocolat ordinaire qualifies as a guilty pleasure. Be careful, though: the bacon bar is not for everybody. If you gave someone a Hannukah gift, err on the side of caution and give them the Woolloomooloo Bar instead. Whatever it is, the Woolloomooloo is pork-free.
Oh Yeah. You Could Knit Something.

Nothing goes better with a bath bomb or a bar of weird chocolate than a washcloth. And not the same old washcloth you gave last year. Even though your chums are begging you for more Ballband Dishcloths, mix it up a little and suprise them with a BRAND NEW DISHCLOTH DESIGN. Here, in the extended entry portion of this post, is a free pattern for the Lobby Dishcloth. I have roadtested this dishcloth and it’s a winner. It would also make a great blanket if you just kept going…and going….

Homekeeping Tip: Whether a cloth is a dishcloth or a washcloth is entirely a matter of which room you put it in. Once you’ve put it in one room, though, you can’t change it to the other one. That’s a rule. Nobody wants to wash her face with a dishcloth, or vice versa.
Now HERE’s a Fab Idea
Save yourself all that messing about and just get ’em a copy of Modern Daily Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide. Have you heard of it? It’s AWESOME. A surefire people pleaser. (And a great stocking stuffer, if you have extra-wide stockings at your place.)
Sorry for the commercial, but despite our poignant letter to Santa, it doesn’t look like we’re getting an ad in the New York Times this year. Maybe next year!
Merry merry everybody!
Love,
Kay
P.S. There should be an “Unsuggestions” list as well. Tops on my personal unsuggestions list is the Dearfoam “Opera”. I think they must be joking about the “opera”, right? Even a very old lady does not want her house slippers to scream “old lady!” Proceed with extreme caution when buying slippers of any description. It is so very easy to go wrong. Ask yourself, “Why not chocolate?”
P.P.S.

Once again we were given the privilege of injecting jelly into our friend Aliza’s delectable kirschwasser-infused sofganiot. I can’t decide what was my favorite moment from Aliza’s Hanukkah party on Friday: the kids all doing the traditional Hebrew dance “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”, or Aliza screaming about how disorganized she was, how her stove is worthless because it was not frying right, how she’s going to do it COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY next year, and in the same breath saying, “Listen—do you hear the kids? They’re having a GREAT TIME!” From “kvetch” to “kvell” in 2 seconds flat.

Lobby Dishcloth
While I admire a dishcloth with a clever picture or stitch pattern, I also want a dishcloth that’s tough enough to scrub counters and keep its shape over many washings. A dense, ridgy garter or waffle stitch works just great.
This pattern was inspired by the terrazzo, stone and metal floor of the 1929 apartment building that I live in. There are so many colliding miters, squares, and chevrons laid into this floor that it must have been a challenge even for the master tile setters of the Art Deco period. Now a small corner of this masonry is immortalized in a dishcloth, using striped corner miters in combination with Barbara Walker’s “Parquet Squares” pattern.
While I’m waiting for the elevator, I’ll keep staring at the floor, looking for more dishcloths.

FINISHED MEASUREMENT
Approximately 8 inches square
MATERIALS
Peaches & Creme worsted weight 100% cotton in at least 2 solid colors. You will need approximately half a skein of the main color and a smaller quantity of the other color(s) to make one dishcloth.
1 set US #6 or #7 straight needles
1 16-inch US #6 or #7 circular needle (for optional edging)
1 crochet hook (for optional edging)
1 stitch marker
GAUGE
18 sts/36 rows = 4″ in garter stitch
PATTERN NOTES
The edging is optional and can be created using either a circular needle or a crochet hook.
The pattern refers to Colors A and B because the mitered squares are striped. Needless to say, you can use more than two colors and change them at will. I used four colors for my set of three. (Matchy!)
The dishcloth is constructed in 4 square units. The first unit consists of 4 small squares that are knit onto each other, after which the remaining three squares are attached.
PATTERN
Unit 1 (Mini-Parquet): Using Color A, cast on 9 sts. *Knit 9 garter ridges and on next RS row, BO all sts but do not cut yarn.** Turn this square one-quarter turn to the right, and pick up 1 st in each garter ridge. (9 sts).
Rep from * to ** 2 times, to knit the second and third squares of this unit. Do not cut yarn.
You now have an L-shaped piece formed from three 9-stitch squares. With RS facing, in the angle of the L, pick up 9 sts in the garter ridges of the last square knitted, place marker, and pick up 9 sts from the cast-on edge of the first square knitted.
Next row (WS): Knit.
Now change to Color B and work a striped garter-stitch miter into this corner by working a double decrease on every RS row as follows:
Row 1 (RS): Knit to 2 sts before marker, SSK, K2tog, knit to end of row.
Row 2 (WS): Knit.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2, alternating Colors A and B and carrying the color not in use up the side of the work, until there are 2 sts remaining. On next (WS) row, K2tog and fasten off but do not cut the yarn. (If you have done it right, you should be using Color A, but this is not crucial.)
Unit 2 (Plain): Turn the work one-quarter turn to the right, and using Color A, pick up 18 stitches (the first 9 in the garter ridges of the mini-miter, and the second 9 in the remaining garter ridges). Knit 18 garter ridges. On next RS row, BO all sts but do not cut yarn.
Unit 3 (Plain): Repeat the instructions for Unit 2, knitting Unit 3 onto Unit 2.
You now have an L-shaped piece formed by the first 3 units.
Unit 4 (Striped Miter): Using Color A and with RS facing, in the angle of the L, pick up 18 sts in the garter ridges of the last square knitted, place marker, and pick up 18 sts from the edge of the first square knitted (the mini-parquet unit).
Next row (WS): Knit.
Now change to Color B and work a striped garter-stitch miter into this corner by working a double decrease on every RS row as follows:
Row 1 (RS): Knit to 2 sts before marker, SSK, K2tog, knit to end of row.
Row 2 (WS): Knit.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2, alternating Colors A and B and carrying the color not in use up the side of the work, until there are 2 sts remaining. On next (WS) row, K2tog and fasten off.
OPTIONAL EDGING
Using a contrasting or coordinating color, create an edging either by working single crochet all the way around the cloth, or as follows using a circular needle.
Pick up sts along all 4 sides of the cloth. When you get back around to the first stitch you picked up, purl this stitch and bind off all stitches purlwise.
Weave in all ends and wipe off the counter.
ABOUT THE DESIGNER
With Ann Shayne, Kay Gardiner is a co-author of the blog moderndailyknitting.com, and the book Modern Daily Knitting: The Curious Knitters’ Guide, which contains patterns for dishcloths and other items for the home as well as for kids and adults and just for the sheer fun of knitting stuff. Ann and Kay are working on a second book and blabbing daily on their beloved blog. Stop by!
Copyright 2006 Kay Gardiner