3 November 2009

Ridged Ribbon Dishcloth and Biscuit Recipe

I'm sure you all know by now that I love knitting - dishcloths being a favourite subject of my affection. Well, I was reading a knitting book last week and came across a new (to me) pattern that I thought would make up a very nice dishcloth. I worked it over the weekend and have just taken a photo for you.



It has got a fair bit of texture so it will scrub well but the holes make it lighter than the average dishcloth. And the good bit it, it's a good pattern for a beginner. It uses mainly knit rows, with one purl row and one that will introduce two new techniques to you. It's called the Ridged Ribbon Eyelet pattern.

Your two new techniques are K2tog and yo. K2tog means knit two together and it means exactly that. Instead of doing your normal knit stitch you do it exactly as you normally would but you put your needle through two stitches, instead of one. Then knit as you would if you were doing your normal stitch. Watch this video to see how to K2tog.

Yo means yarn over.
That's it! It's a way of increasing one stitch (to replace the one you decreased with your k2tog) and will help make a hole. You'll only see the hole properly when you knit on and do another row. To do a yo - simply wind your yarn around your right needle - from back to front, you make a loop instead of a real stitch. Watch this video to see how to yo.



I used size 9 needles and Lions 100% cotton. The blue band is a bamboo and cotton blend. Cast on an uneven number of stitches, I cast on 31 but if you wanted a large cloth, go up to 39 or 41. Then:
Row one: Knit
Row two: Purl
Row three: Knit
Row four: Knit
Row five: *K2tog. yo; repeat from * to last stitch, K1. <- this means knit two together, then yarn over for the entire row, your last stitch is one plain knit stitch.
Row six: Knit

Repeat the sequence until you have the length you want.

When you do the two next rows after your k2tog row, you'll see the pattern forming. This is a really good pattern to introduce you to two new stitches. I hope that if you are one of my new knitters, you'll try this as well. Let me know how you're going with your knitting and if you're enjoying it. If you have a photo of your knitting to send to me, please send it.

Here is Paula's recipe for Cheap and Easy Biscuits from the forum. I misread it - it makes almost 100 biscuits from this one recipe. BTW Paula, I gave this recipe to my friend Meryl yesterday. Meryl is the chief baker and fundraiser at our Centre, she is older than I am and very experienced with fete and stall cooking, she's never heard of this recipe either, but she loves it too. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by paula hewitt on Down to Earth Forum
I bake all our biscuits, cakes and bread, so I am always on the lookout for recipes which are quick and easy. I thought I would share one of my favourite biscuit (cookie) recipes. It is easy, quick, cheap and it makes 7 or 8 dozen biscuits, which keep well. The dough and cooked biscuits keep well in the freezer. I use butter and wholemeal flour, but white flour and margarine can be substituted. I have only ever used tinned sweetened condensed milk in this recipe, but i imagine that Rhonda Jean's homemade condensed milk would work just as well.

makes 7-8 dozen, cook 10 min at 180C

500 grams butter (approx 1.1 lb)
1 can condensed milk (390-400 gram)
1 cup sugar
5 cups wholemeal self raising flour (or plain flour and baking powder)
toppings like choc chips, smarties, jam, cinnamon and sugar

cream butter and sugar, add condensed milk. stir in flour. roll into balls and flatten. top with choc chips etc, or thumbprint and add jam for jam drops.

bake at 180C for approx 10 min until golden brown. cool on racks


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35 comments

  1. Hi Rhonda, the recipe is basically the tollhouse cookie recipe that used to be on the can of condensed milk but without the choc bits. It is a great recipe that I have used for many years though I usually make half the recipe at a time. More recently , since I found your condensed milk recipe I have been using that instead of the canned condensed milk.
    I have made it both by making the condensed milk first and then adding the other ingredients and also by just adding the condensed milk ingredients in with the other ingredients, that is adding the butter from the condensed milk recipe to the butter quota for the biscuit recipe etc and both have worked just fine. I make the whole thing in my little food processor , which can only take half the recipe. Then I swap to a mixing bowl to stir in the choc chips or whatever else I want to add.

    Whether you use canned condensed milk or make your won this recipe is always delicious and so simple for children to make too.
    love Jenny

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  2. Thanks for the recipe......definetly gonna try it out!

    Carolyn

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  3. Thankyou for sharing this recipe Rhonda; how do you make condensed milk??? I have often wondered how to go about it.

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  4. Jenny, I haven't bought condensed milk for many years. Thanks for letting me know the origin of the recipe. It's a good one.

    Bec, type "condensed milk" into my search bar and it should bring up the post with the ingredients and method in it.

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  5. By used to be I mean the 1960s and 70s.

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  6. ahhh, I never bought condensed milk back then. I think condensed milk had a good cheesecake recipe too. Do you recal that one, Jenny?

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  7. I make that cheesecake recipe all the time too! I will post the recipe on the forum. i use a lot of condensed milk - hence my delight when i saw your homemade recipe. paula

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  8. Yes mum used to make it, I have the recipe somewhere.I'll have to try to find it.

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  9. Thank you for the pattern. I crochet more than knit but I think even I can do this one. Crocheted dishcloths are great for texture also. Nice and scrubby.

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  10. Hi Rhonda. That little pattern is actually simple lace knitting, even the fanciest of lace patterns basically works from this technique. Enjoy!

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  11. I love that pattern...Thanks for sharing it. I'm going to get started on this one as I'm in need of some new dishcloths.

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  12. I got this recipe from SS a few years ago.It is the only one we use and I pass it on to all my friends. My daughter even used it to bake cookies with her girlfriends at her birthday party.
    Thank you for the new dishcloth pattern I have just about finished my second from your original pattern and this one looks like lots of fun.Have a great week.

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  13. Thanks Rhonda for the pattern for this dishcloth. Love the look of it.

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  14. Rhonda,
    Can you tell me how much baking powder would be required with the five cups of plain flour ? I am not sure what wholemeal flour is ???
    Thanks.
    Sheila

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  15. Cool! Thanks, Rhonda. That actually sounds like a nice pattern for a dressy, delicate scarf. And yes, I'm a new knitter - your instructions are perfect! I'm excited to learn 2 more stitches (I'm trying to make all my gifts handmade this year, but the only thing I know how to do is knit, so I need all the help I can get!) :-)

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  16. Thanks for the recipe, I've just tried it and it works great for the biscuit pusher too. It's the recipe I'll be using for my Christmas Gift biscuits for sure.

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  17. Hi Rhonda,
    I'm a faithful blog reader, but usually read it offline and so rarely comment.

    The recipe sounds good, thanks!

    And perhaps I'll try your dishcloth pattern. I learned to knit when I was very young, and I know I have accidentally done "yo" before, but never on purpose. Right now I'm knitting up some colourful socks for Christmas! (I like small, easy projects)

    Thanks for all your wonderful posts!

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  18. Sheila, my baking powder tin says to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to every cup of plain flour. I did it and it worked well. The biscuits were great. Used 3 cups SR wholemeal(with the fibre in it) and 2 cups plain flour + 4 tsp baking powder. Trude.

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  19. Rhonda, I love your blog and find so many helpful things here. If you have time, check my blog for a little something I left for you...

    bloomingatcolumbinegarens AT blogspot dot com

    Thank you.

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  20. Hi...

    The dishcloth itself is interesting.. But adding the recipe and its origin makes it more interesting...

    Thanks for sharing the idea of making your own dishcloth and the recipe.

    Keep it up.

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  21. DD1 made the biscuits today with great success. We now have chocolate chip, jam drops and even heart shaped biscuits sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar...yumm....and even dough in the freezer for next time. Thanks for sharing the recipe Rhonda and for all the hints and tips you give. You are my daily read.

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  22. I had a go at the dishcloth. Thanks for the pattern idea. It knitted up quickly!

    But I think I might have been using too small needles for the size of yarn (5mm / worsted cotton) because it hurt my fingers a bit on the 'knit two together' row. The whole piece seems to lurch to the left a bit too. I'll post a picture at the forum later.

    But the overall effect is nice!

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  23. Thanks for the recipe and other comments on here appreciated too!!
    Elizabeth

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  24. I am sure that the cheesecake recipe from the condensed milk tin that you are thinking of Rhonda is what my mum uses. I am not 100% certain that it is exactly what the tin says; mum uses a packet biscut base to make the base; then beats one block of Philly cream cheese with one tin of condensed milk, add in some lemon juice and gelatine to make it set.
    I find for my husbands tastes this is too sweet, and I hate using gelatine. So I beat two blocks of cream cheese together with the lemon juice and condensed milk and omit the gelatine. I also find setting it in the freezer firms it up real quick if you don't have the luxury of waiting overnight to consume.....*grin*
    Making cheesecake like this is very yummy but quite expensive considering every ingrediant is purchased basically premade. Now with the knowledge to make condensed milk and cream cheese, I am sure it isn't too hard to be able to make a biscut base from scratch. Now that not sounds more frugal but would also be alot more healthier!
    Thanks Rhonda.

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  25. Find some awesome holiday cookie recipes at www.LetsBakeCookies.com. If you'd like to make decorated sugar cookies but always thought it was too much work, there are how-to videos on decorating with royal icing using a paint brush. Even the kids can do it.

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  26. Kat,

    Good for you~ I wouldn't call socks an easy thing to make. I tried a couple of times and never did figure them out.

    Rhonda,

    What a pretty pattern, I ran across this one a couple of years ago. Actually used them for gifts the past few years. They are pretty with a thin ribbon woven around the edges then pulled tight to make a little package with a small chunk of soap in the middle... I also made the quite a bit larger and used the ribbon method to wrap fresh bread as a gift and the cloth made a nice basket liner.

    Karyn

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  27. I too just love washcloths Rhonda and this latest one of your is just gorgeous... I have a similar pattern that I like to make up which is done on the diagonal, a perfectly sweet, quick knit..

    Take Care
    Jodie :)

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  28. Karyn, someone sent me the pattern for that bread wrap liner. I should find it and share that too.

    Thanks for the recipe girls.

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  29. Cyn, for some reason you comment didn't publish. I read it in the email though.

    The K2tog reduced the stitches by one, the yo replaces it. I am guessing you didn't do yo in one of your earlier rows.

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  30. Hey Rhonda! Something is still not right with my dishrag. When I count the whole thing out on paper, making little slashes for stitches, I end up with 30...one less then I started with. I knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, yarn over...till I get to the last stitch, then knit. I'm gonna try it one more time (that will be 3x so far!) and see where I could be going wrong!

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  31. Tried these tonight. I made a batch of jam cookies and one of cinnamon & sugar, and both were delicious. Thanks for sharing your recipe; these will be a family favourite for sure.

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  32. Thank you for the recipe. I plan to try it, but I'm unsure as to how much baking powder to put in, as I never buy self rising flour. Can you please clear this up for me? And is 180C 350 degrees? Thank you so much. Helen

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  33. HI Rhonda, i am curently knitting this dishcloth but it looks nothing like yours! i'm using 4ply cotton and 5mm needles and it looks terrible, very loose and sloppy, not at all like yours! :( I might try smaller needles.. any suggested would be nice! Vicky.

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  34. Rhonda, I just love your dishcloth. I come across your website after purchasing a copy of the January edition of Burkes Backyard. Saw your article on home-made laundry powder and am checking out your blog right now. I am not a regular purchaser of magazines as I find I can't just 'throw them away', but keep them and refer back to them quite often. I have crocheted (I hope I have correct spelling here) up a little soap pocket for all those little scraps that I just couldn't throw away (such a waste), from some lovely hemp twine. There is no pattern for this 'pocket', I just crochet a row of, I think they are trebles, back and forth to make a long rectangle then folded the top bit over of about 3 cms to create a sort of envelope to hold the soap in, then sew up the sides. It's such a wonderful exfoliator and I am going to make some shower cloths for cleaning, as I think it would be perfect with my bi carb soda and vinegar scrub. I also have a little blog and have posted my soap pocket if you would like to take a look. http://joyceliveshere.blogspot.com/ Please don't feel obliged at all, I just get excited about these little things, and love to share (and chat lol). Thanks for a great little blog and for sharing your wonderful talents.

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