Crafting away on the needles

I read this article about the downside of microfibre cloths a few months ago and started looking for a new set of dish cloths that I feel comfortable using.  Microfibre is out, there are some water problems with cotton as well, so I rediscovered the knitting hemp I had in my stash. Last night at midnight, I started knitting a new set of diagonal kitchen cloths while I watched cooking videos.

I thought the hemp would be stiff but it's easy to knit with.  I love that the dishcloths won't stretch out sideways. 

My hemp is from EcoYarns and it's a better choice for me. Hemp lasts a long time, it will not shrink, stretch, fade or pill, and it gets softer after each wash. According to the EcoYarns site, "Hemp is environmentally friendly as hemp production needs no herbicides or pesticides, has low water requirements, produces 2 – 4 times more fibre per area than other sources and maintains a healthy microbial life in the soil. Hemp is naturally resistant to damp, mould, bacteria, moths and silverfish.

I have proudly had EcoYarns as one of my blog sponsors for many years. 

I'm halfway through my first cloth, I'll knit four or five and that should set me up for the year.  I'll continue to use the microfibre and cotton rags I have for household cleaning and will throw out the microfibre when they're completely worn out; I'll never buy them again.  I'll add the old cotton cloths to the compost heap to decompose and be reused in the garden.

I'm using the hemp you see in the photo - 8 ply and size 4 needles. You can make them as small or large as you like and if you make them all the same size, with hemp, they'll stay that size forever. This is the extremely simple pattern: 

Cast on 4 stitches 

Knit 2 rows 

Knit 2, Yarn Over, Knit to the end  (If you don't know Yarn Over, look on You Tube, it's REALLY simple.)

Repeat the last row until you have 47 stitches or to the size you want

Now to decrease: 

Knit 1, Knit 2 together, Yarn Over, Knit 2 together, Knit to the end

Repeat this row until you have 4 stitches left

Knit 2 rows

Cast off

My other craft project at the moment is editing the embroidery on a cushion cover that Tricia made me. She used an old woollen blanket and stitched on the Australian Coat of Arms. I didn't like the way the kangaroo and emu looked so I unpicked and restitched them.  (I told Tricia I was doing it and she was fine with it.) She's made a few of these Australian Coat of Arms projects - usually as tea cosies, and I've loved them since I saw the first one she did.

I really like the little balls she stitched along the edge. They're a great way to recycle little bits of cloth leftovers.  She bundles up a small amount of fabric, encases it in a piece of cloth and stitches it up like a little sack. Then they just need to be stitched onto the project. They give more character than  pom-pom fringe and you can use up all those little scraps you usually throw out.

I've been meaning to let you know about my new sewing machine. I'm not sure now if I told you about buying an Elna 40 a few months ago but since then I've been sewing up a storm.  I LOVE the new machine. There is a slider to decrease or increase the speed of the machine so I slipped it right back to slow and taught Jamie how to machine sew, as well as hand stitch.  Every element on the machine, except the automatic needle threader, work extremely well. I've given up on the needle threader but I'm good at threading needles so it doesn't bother me.

The stitches are firm and even, the needles always finishes above the fabric when I stop and even when I did some shirring, which I'd never done before, it worked perfectly.  It's a great machine and it only cost about $300, I forget the exact price.

Jamie's just gone home so when I finish this post I'll get back to my craft projects while I watch The Kimberly Cruise (slow TV) on SBS. We had chicken with coleslaw and salad for lunch and we'll just have a small snack later so it's all systems go for my stitching and knitting.  I hope you're enjoying the weekend and doing something you love.