Radial garter

My last post was all about banning microplastics from our lives by using our own hand knit dishcloths. What I did not mention is that garter stitch is surprisingly good at removing dirt and even scrubbing tough burnt food from pans. You would think the soft cotton would be rubbish for that, but those purl bumps are magical. They are also really good for cleaning glass windows.

If you get tired of boring bias garter squares, round garter dishcloths are fun to knit and very pretty. The idea is to use short-rows to achieve a round shape using garter stitch. There are several ways of achieving this. Here I will start with some notes and then finish with a few patterns.

Notes

On cast-on and bind-off

A provisional cast-on and a Kitchener bind-off allow a perfect finish. Otherwise, standard cast-on and bind-off can be used, but require seaming (the seam can be quite invisible too, check link to video tutorials on the basic circle pattern below.

If using provisional cast-on and a Kitchener bind-off, do not knit the first and last rows of the pattern. The cast-on and bind-off already include them.

If using standard cast-on and bind-off, do not knit last row of the last repetition. Then, seam with mattress stitch from outside of circle to inside, so that you can next cinch up the inner circle (see note below).

On short-rows

There are many methods for working short-rows and I will not go into detail here. The most often used method is called wrap-and-turn (transfer next stitch to right needle by slipping as if to purl; turn work and wrap yarn around end of stitch; finally slip the stitch back to the right needle. Later, when you reach the wrapped stitches, slip the stitch, pick up the wrap and slip the stitch back to left-hand needle; finally, knit stitch and wrap together). This method usually requires later lifting the wrap and working it together with another stitch, but in garter stitch, wraps can be left where they are. This is true if you are using a solid colour, but lifting the wraps will give a better result for variegated yarns. Using another method, such as German short-rows instead is in my opinion easier, faster and gives better results.

On the other hand, simply turning the work without more ado (i.e. not doing any wraps or German short-row double stitches), creates very small holes, which are very discrete. Hence, my recommendation is to just turn and skip the wraps or double stitches.

On the central hole

There will be a hole on the inside of the circle, after you have joined the 2 edges. Before weaving in the ends, use the most conveniently placed end to close this hole.

On the number of wedges

Garter stitch is pretty stretchy and flexible. This means that the number of repeats (which create the wedges) can vary. Also, the thickness of this wedges can vary, which then changes the number of wedges necessary to close a circle. For example, on the basic circle pattern, a wedge is made of 2 more rows than the number of cast-on stitches. On the circle with extra scallops, the number of rows is almost double the number of worked stitches (not including the 4 scallop stitches), i.e. it's much thicker. Hence, in the latter you will need less wedges to make a circle.

According to my calculations, you should need to work around 8*(N+2) rows in total, N where is the number of stitches that are really part of the circle. These excludes the ornamental edges (which is 4 stitches on the circle with extra scallops pattern). But this is only a rule of thumb, for example, the circle with scallops uses considerably more rows, which may be because the short-rows are worked leaving 2 extra stitches on the needle, instead of a single one. The 4 patterns below show there is a lot of flexibility here, as always with knitting.

Before you start

Remember that the first and last rows of the pattern are not knitted as they are already included in the cast-on and bind-off (as aforementioned).

Basic circle

Pattern taken from here (includes two video tutorials).

Cast on 16 stitches.
Odd rows: knit to end.
Row 2n: knit to last n stitches, turn.
Row 18: knit to end.
repeat rows 1 – 18 seven more times.

Note on size: it is possible to work with a different number of stitches. I have worked this pattern with no other changes but a 12 stitch cast-on. For a number of stitches that is either much greater or smaller than 16, here is a general recipe for N stitches. Cast-on N stitches. Work pattern as above, but replace 18 by N*, where N* is an even number, which is either equal to N+2, if N is even, or equal to N+1, if N is odd (i.e. if, for example, N=8 or N=9, end wedge on row 10). Work 8 wedges, independently of the size of the piece.

Circle with scallops

Pattern taken from here.

Cast on 14 stitches.
Odd rows: knit to end.
Row 2n: k4, yo, knit to last 2n stitches, turn.
Row 10: bind off first 4 stitches and knit to end [14 stitches on needle].
Repeat rows 1 – 10 thirteen more times for a total of fourteen points.
Bind-off.

Note on size: as above, it is possible to work with a different number of stitches.

Small circle with scallops

Pattern taken from here.

Cast on 7 stitches.
Row 1/3/5: k2, yo, knit to last 2/4/6 stitches, turn.
Even rows: knit to end.
Row 7: knit 2 stitches, turn.
Row 9: knit to end.
Row 11: bind off first 4 stitches and knit to end [7 stitches on needle].
Repeat rows 1 – 12 eight more times for a total of nine points.
Bind-off.

Note: for a little fun, there is some variation on this pattern with respect to the other ones. There is a cyclic permutation on the order of rows (row 12 is equivalent to row 1 on the other patterns), which of course changes nothing in the end. But there are also two additional rows: 9 and 10, which do change the look of the end result. This results in more symmetrical, petal-like tips. Note, however that this will (probably) not work as well for the larger scallops of the previous pattern.

Circle with extra scallops

Pattern taken from here.

Cast on 21 stitches.
Odd rows: knit to end.
All even rows except multiples of 10: k4, yo, knit until there are N/2 stitches left on left-hand needle (where N is the row number). Turn.
Rows 10 (20): Bind off 4 stitches. Knit until there are 5 (10) stitches left on left-hand needle. Turn.
Row 30: Bind off 4 stitches. Knit to end.
Rows 1-30 form one wedge. Knit either five or six more wedges, depending on your yarn, until the cloth can be formed into a circle.

Note: You can make this cloth smaller by casting on less stitches, but no less than 15.