Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

I have never been able to understand why someone might knit a facecloth.  That is, until I picked up an almost complete ball of Rowan’s new ‘Lenpur Linen’ at a charity shop for just 30p.    My trusty miniature scales told me that this little purple ball of yarn weighed in at 42g, meaning I had 96m or thereabouts to try and make a project out of, so it was going to have to be something quite small.  Firstly I had to work out what the heck ‘lenpur’ might be, and a bit of investigating revealed that it was ‘Rowanese’ for rayon (albeit rayon specifically from white fir cellulose).  Having recently worked with some (bamboo-based) rayon I knew that it was very absorbent, and along with the linen content would have all the requisite properties required for a gift facecloth.

I found the pattern for Gwen Steege’s ‘Spa Set’ in the book 101 Luxury One-Skein Wonders – a fantastic depository of patterns for those short on ideas, time or money, and it just so happened that I was lacking in all three departments.

One of many quick and easy projects using only one skein

The yarn that the pattern called for had more meterage to the skein than a complete ball of Lenpur Linen would have done, and mine was part-used, so I didn’t know of I was going to have enough to complete the soap bag as well as the face-cloth, but I did in fact have plenty.  I knit the actual graphic design of the face-cloth and small drawstring bag slightly differently from the way that the pattern prescribed completely out of pre-considered design choice because I was too lazy to read the instructions properly, omitting the seed stitch rows that run throughout the pattern.  I made a few modifications to the bag as well – 10 rows of seed stitch were added to the open end of the bag, and a row of eyelets allowed for a thicker, three stitch i-cord to be threaded through a lot more comfortably.

Yes, the design differences were entirely intentional *cough*

Though I cannot imagine ever knitting such an item for myself, I think it gives a nice spin on the tradition of luxury bathing goods (or ’smellies’ as they are known in my family) as Christmas gifts, and not being too extravagant or showy I think it will make a nice gift for my brother’s girlfriend in a couple of months.  I’m currently revelling in the fact that I have added to my completed gifts list.  I think it is only right to celebrate by knitting something gorgeous for me.