Fiber Fool

Man, it has seemed like ages since I had an FO Friday! Boo to the shoulders!

In May it struck me that when I went home to MN I would have access to Grandma’s 1949 General Electric Stove as a photo prop. It is in the basement apartment that my great grandparents lived in so the lighting is not ideal, but my sister has a flash unit and I have a flash unit and they can both be linked with the camera body to aid in the photo taking.

Once I figured I could likely get decent pictures down there I had to decide what would be styled nicely with that stove? My mind kept flashing to all the kitchen towels that had been cut in half and adorned with a crochet hanging loop by various women in my life. I like their retro look so decided to set about recreating an all-knit towel with a similar aesthetic. This is one of those weird instances where the pattern was born out of the idea of the final picture. You just never know where pattern ideas (or any other creative idea) is going to come from, do you? Thus, the Towel Trio pattern (on Ravelry) was born.

Knowing how cotton can grow when it doesn’t have a body to rest against and thinking about the towels hanging there damp I opted to use slipped stitches to add some stability. As a bonus the slightly denser fabric is more absorbent as well - perfect for a kitchen towel! All three towels use slipped stitches in some manner, but each towel includes different techniques so I never tired of working on these as a set.

The chevron towel is the easiest one, knit from bottom to tip all in one piece with only one color of yarn. The three-color one is knit sideways to create the vertical stripes and uses some single crochet for the finishing. Any odd number of colors can be used for it so that one is great for using up odds and ends of leftover skeins. The stitch pattern even helps to blend the colors a bit so you can go as wild or as tame as you wish (I’m wanting to do one with 3-5 “neutral” shades for a real polished look). The plaid one, while it looks real simple is a tad spicy - it uses some very simple intarsia to create a very polished look to the final towel (mom has even staked her claim on that one).

For these towels I opted for a DK weight yarn. But since size and fit are not critical you could use any cotton, linen or hemp yarn in finer or heavier gauges. In the written version of the stitch patterns I’ve included the pattern repeat size so the towels can easily be adjusted to give the size you prefer with your favorite gauge. If you do substitute yarn I recommend aiming for the manufacturer’s suggested gauge for your stockinette stitch swatch or slightly looser so that the towels maintain some drape even with a slipped stitch fabric.

What color combos will work in your kitchen? In my kitchen colors of the Mediterranean would be ideal, but I had fun making a nod to the upcoming holiday too.