Simple Knitted Dishcloth for Chunky Knitting Machines

When I first learned to hand knit, dish cloths were the go-to beginner friendly project and I love the results. But – I absolutely hate hand knitting dishcloths. It’s such a short row to knit that it feels like I spend more time turning the project than actually knitting. So working out a pattern for a knitted dishcloth on the chunky machine was a must do project for me.

Now if you follow me on YouTube, I did a couple of videos on rehabbing my Singer 150 Chunky Knitter. It’s still got a few issues with needles, two of the brand new needles in the center portion of the bed were defective. Which is why my e-wrap cast on is off center. I’ve cast on 25 needles for my dishcoth because I prefer a smaller cloth. This dishcloth can be knit on any machine capable of knitting this weight of yarn. No patterning capability needed.

For the first row, I set my carriage to tuck stitch. For my machine that is done by setting the Russell Levers at the sides of the carriage to position ‘-‘ instead of ‘=’. Set the stitch selector to stockinette. On my machine, tension 9 is a good stitch size. Keep in mind the yarn shrinks in the wash which can make the cloth feel more like a pot holder than a dish cloth if the stitch size is too small. You can see how much the washed dishcloth on the right of the first picture shrunk compared to the just knitted cloth on the left.

Next leaving the first 2 needles in working position, I pull every other needle out to ‘hold’.

Then I knit two rows. Next I change my Russel Levers back to ‘=’ to knit all needles.

Knit one row. Change the Russel Levers back to ‘-‘ to skip held needles.

Pull opposing needles to hold position starting one needle from the edge this time. Knit two more rows using tuck settings. Then one row with Russel Levers set to ‘=’ to knit all needles. That’s all there is to it.

I continue on in the pattern until my row counter is around 70. Then I bind off after the last row of all needles knit.