Round Knit Dishcloth Pattern

Cool round doily style cotton dishrag or mat, written out to be ultra simple for non-knitters like me

I saw someone making one of these and got stars in my eyes. She was kind enough to write down the instructions from memory. They may have been good instructions, but they didn’t work for me.

Neither did any of the four versions I downloaded from the internet.

It’s probably my own fault. I’m not a very good knitter. Someone called me a “beginning knitter”, but that’s not fair when I’ve been knitting for years. I’m just not very good at it.

The problem was I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches at the end of the section.

I’m either the lamest knitter on the planet, or can’t follow simple instructions, or just can’t count, or all of the above.

Finally I wrote down a complete, row-by-row list of how many stitches I’m supposed to HAVE at the end of every single row, not just how many I’m supposed to add or remove, so that at least I don’t get too far ahead before realizing it’s just not working out.

When it was written out in knitting-kindergardener simple English, I crossed off each row with a pencil as I completed it, and finally produced a finished model that worked. Yay!

Here’s my easy no-fail instructions for any other baby knitters out there.

Original is NOT by me, but I’m not sure whom to credit. That pattern is all over the internet.


The Cotton Knit Dishcloth (Written out with numbers)
worsted weight cotton yarn, size 7 US needles

Cast on 15 stitches

row 1: knit across. (ends with 15 sts on needle)

row 2: k3, yo, k11, leaving 1 st, turn.

row 3: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 4: k3, yo, k11, leaving 2 sts, turn.

row 5: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 6: k3, yo, k11, leaving 3 sts, turn.

row 7: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 8: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k8, leaving 4 sts, turn.

row 9: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 10: k3, yo, k8, leaving 5 sts, turn.

row 11: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 12: k3, yo, k8, leaving 6 sts, turn.

row 13: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 14: bind off 3 sts, k2, yo, k5, leaving 7 sts, turn.

row 15: knit across. (ends with 16 sts on needle)

row 16: k3, yo, k5, leaving 8 sts, turn.

row 17: knit across. (ends with 17 sts on needle)

row 18: k3, yo, k5, leaving 9 sts, turn.

row 19: knit across. (ends with 18 sts on needle)

row 20: bind off 3 sts, k across row (ends with 15 sts on needle)

Repeat these 20 rows seven times, then bind off all stitches, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing.

Lay the piece out and visually line up the edges so the zigzags look right, and stitch the edges together. If there’s an open hole in the center, draw that up with a loop.

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10 Comments

    1. What I do is bind off all the stitches, line the two edges up so that the zigzags look appropriate, and sew the edges together.

  1. Thank you! I totally relate to the “I’ve been knitting for ages I’m just not good at it” sentiment…. It describes me perfectly! Thank you for taking the time to write this pattern out 🙂

    1. I don’t know, I have not tried that. I don’t think it would be as simple as doubling all the numbers. I have made a larger version by adding three stitches to the long end of the beginning of each wedge and then having more rows, and that worked fine.

  2. Janel,
    My name is Cheryl from Southern Ohio. I found your knit pattern for the knitted round dish cloth that you had written out all the rows with the number of stitches to be at the end of each row. I have not knitted in a long time as I have been taking care of my daughter that passed from a long battle with cancer. So I have 2 questions.
    Question 1: When I get to the end of the row and leave say 3 stitches and turn, what do i do then? do I just slid those 3 stitches over and start knitting again?
    Question 2: When I get all 20 rows on, what is the next step?
    I hope you get this as I see you have not written anything for awhile. I have been looking for a dishcloth to make like this for awhile now. and this one looks so pretty in each of the colors.
    I appreciate and all assistance you can give me.

    1. Hi Cheryl. I'm very sorry for your grief. Knitting is a great idea. Yarn is good therapy for all kinds of pain.
      When the pattern says to leave a certain number of stitches, that means they stay on the needle, and you turn and carry on in the other direction, letting them be until they're worked in later.
      I just edited my page to include the step "bind off" which I should have done before. Oops. Life's been a bit sideways lately. Sometimes I don't have electricity and/or internet 🙂
      But I am around. This is my online presence and creative outlet.

  3. Thank You ,Thank You ! for writing this beautiful pattern in a clear concise manner. I have been looking for a round pattern for quite some time that I doesn’t make me go mad trying to figure it out from a few instructions!!😃

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