Manly Dishcloths done!

My younger brother recently bought his first house, which of course warrants a housewarming gift of what else? Dishcloths! And guy dishcloths at that, no peach or pink in site my friends. Like most of the guys in Minneapolis, my brother is definitely in the blue/black/grey/brown category so I made the dishcloth to match the lifestyle (now if I only had knitted intarsia tatoos….) The colors actually look a lot brighter here than in real life, where they fit more into the grey or olive spectrum. He’ll get them on Tuesday along with the spider plants in pots that Little Man painted.

The specs on the dishcloths? 100% cotton, the green is Rowan, the blue and brown Debbie Bliss. Approximately one skein each. Size 7 needles. Yes, one is a Mason-Dixon dishcloth.

Why am I making $5 dishcloths?

For starters, Sugar and Cream did not have my necessary guy colors. Plus, in my experience, it falls apart. My grandmother has been making these for me since my first apartment and as talented a knitter as she is, the cotton breaks and they quickly fall apart. Same with the ones I made for myself. And as much as I enjoyed making the Mason-Dixon dishcloth, I normally find them pretty boring so the fewer I make the better. So I decided to try an experiment: I made one in Rowan last fall and the yarn is tough as ever, no breakage. However, it is also a tighter guage, so maybe more official experimentation is in order! I’ll get on that. In the meantime, any ideas on the whole “perfect dishcloth cotton” issue?

Finally, what to do with the leftovers:
Excuse the crooked self portrait!