Knitting with cotton feels completely different than acrylic, or wool. Cotton is ideal when absorbency is important, but a stripped towel can be a fun alternative to traditional yarn. Follow the cutting chart below to get one long towel strip. (sample is done in bulky cotton yarn)

The Skill

Seed stitch is a checkerboard of knit and purl stitches, maximizing the texture. You should feel very comfortable with the knit stitch before moving on to the purl stitch. You will learn to recognize whether a stitch below is a knit or a purl stitch.

You will need:

• Bulky to super bulky cotton yarn, or a towel zig-zag cut into a continuous 1" strip
• Size 13 needles, 16"

Cast on 15 stitches.

Seed stitch pattern

Knit 1, Purl 1, repeat to end of row. Each row should end with a knit stitch.

Continue knitting the purl stitches and purling the knit stitches until your piece of knitting is square.

Check to see if it is square by folding a corner diagonally. If it covers all your previous knitting without stretching, it's square!

Whip stitch the edge with contrast yarn, by stitching around the square, always pulling the sewing needle (a big one, made for yarn) up through the same side of the knitting.

Cutting diagram for creating continuous towel strip