Water Lily

Yes, I have more potholders and washcloths than any sane person could reasonably want. But I think - as small knitting projects go - they are great to try out shaping ideas and techniques. And the techniques that are used here are short rows and weaving in yarn (not ends!) while knitting. Other than that you only need to be able to do garter stitch.

These washcloths make great presents, e.g. to accompany a spa set. But you can also use the pieces as potholders or coasters.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.






Materials

• about 25 to 35 grams of DK weight cotton yarn in two colors - called CC (contour color) and MC (main color)
• 3.5mm knitting needles
• (a stitch marker)
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Short rows with wrap and turn (w+t) - as shown in this YouTube video by Very Pink Knits. Since this washcloth is knit in garter stitch, you don't have to pick up your wraps - except in two rows, i.e. the rows where the wrapping color is different from the color of the wrapped stitch. These rows are indicated in the pattern. Here's a YouTube video that shows how to pick up your wraps (also by Very Pink Knits).
• Knitted Cast-On: See this Youtube-video by Very Pink Knits.
• Weaving in yarn while knitting - carrying it towards the end of the row: This technique (and the next) are used to avoid a long float that runs parallel to your knitting - and to avoid cutting your yarn. When starting with the contour color yarn (lilac in the photos) before knitting a stitch you put the main coloryarn (white in the photos) over the contour color yarn (see illustration 1 below), then you knit the stitch. Before knitting the next stitch you twist the yarns again (see illustration 2). If you repeat these steps you can carry the yarn over a chosen number of stitches- so that it looks neat on WS (see illustration 3 below).
  A similar technique (to weave in ends) is shown in this YouTube video by So, I make stuff. 

• Weaving in yarn while knitting - towards the beginning of a row: This technique is similar to the one explained before and it serves the same purpose. You draw a long loop of the "new" yarn to the point where you want to knit it (picture 1). This gives you a really long float. Knit the first stitch. Before knitting the second stitch, catch the float by put the left hand needle under the float (picture 2) and then knit the stitch with your working yarn as usual. If you catch the float every second stitch, the WS will look as shown in picture 3. (This is a bit like catching floats in stranded knitting as shown in this YouTube video by Knit Purl Hunter.)

In case the last two techniques are too fiddly, you can alternatively cut the yarn of the main color after each petal and weave in the ends.


Size
One piece - as knitted by me - is about 29 cm wide and 15 cm high.

Construction
Petals constructed of short rows and contour lines in a contrast color. It consist of five big petals and four small ones. The first two big petals are shaped in a way that they have a small "cut out" at the left side. The middle petal is symmetrical, and the last two big petals are shape mirror-inverted to the first two. Between two big petals there is a small petal. This is shown below.

After each petal - when knitting the contour lines, you bind off 8 stitches, and then you cast them on again. After doing this, you should carry the main color yarn first back to the beginning of the row.
The picture below shows how this looks on the WS of the piece. Alternatively you can cut the yarn of the main color after each petal and weave in the ends.

It may be helpful to place a stitch marker after the 9th stitch. This means when binding off, you don't have to count but the 8 stitches to BO, but only have to BO up to the stitch before the marker.
I knitted the first washcloth without a stitch marker and sometimes left track of how many stitches I had already bound off. So I used a stitch marker for the second washcloth which worked well with regards to counting. But while knitting the petals the stitch marker got in the way, so I took it out again.

Instructions

CO32 in CC
Setup Row: k all

Right Petal
For each petal, you slip the first two stitch that are knitted in CC.

In MC
Ridge 1: sl2, k28, w+t, k26, w+t
Ridge 2: k24, w+t, k22, w+t
Ridge 3: k20, w+t, k18, w+t
Ridge 4: k16, w+t, k14, w+t
Ridge 5: k12, w+t, k10, w+t
Ridge 6: k8, w+t, k9, w+t
Ridge 7: k6, w+t, k8, w+t
Ridge 8: k6, w+t, k8, w+t
Ridge 9: k6, w+t, k8, w+t
Ridge 10: k22, w+t, k25, sl2

Long Contour 
In CC
Row 1: sl1, k to end (carrying MC for the first 8 sts)
Row 2: sl1, k to 1 bef end, sl1
Row 3: BO8, w+t
Row 4: k1, CO8 with knitted cast on
Row 5: sl1, k8, k1tbl, k1, w+t
Row 6: k to end

Small Petal
In MC
Ridge 1: sl2, k14 (while carrying MC from the 8th stitch back to the 2nd stitch), w+t, k12, w+t
Ridge 2: k10, w+t, k8, w+t
Ridge 3: k6, w+t, k4, w+t
Ridge 4: k3, w+t, k4, w+t
Ridge 5: k6, w+t, k8, w+t
Ridge 6: k10, w+t, k13, sl2

Short Contour 
In CC
Row 1: sl1, k16, w+t  (carrying MC for the first 8 sts)
Row 2: k to last st, sl1
Row 3: BO8, w+t
Row 4: k1, CO8 with knitted cast on
Row 5: sl1, k8, k1tbl, k1, w+t
Row 6: k to end

Knit
- a right petal (while carrying MC from the 8th stitch back to the 2nd stitch in Ridge 1)
- a long contour
- a small petal
- and a short contour

Middle Petal
In MC
Ridge 1: sl2, k28  (while carrying MC from the 8th stitch back to the 2nd stitch), w+t, k26, w+t
Ridge 2: k24, w+t, k22, w+t
Ridge 3: k20, w+t, k18, w+t
Ridge 4: k16, w+t, k14, w+t
Ridge 5: k12, w+t, k10, w+t
Ridge 6: k9, w+t, k10, w+t
Ridge 7: k12, w+t, k14, w+t
Ridge 8: k16, w+t, k18, w+t
Ridge 9: k20, w+t, k22, w+t
Ridge 10: k24, w+t, k27, sl2

Knit
- a long contour
- a small petal
- a short contour

Left Petal
In MC
Ridge 1: sl2, k25  (while carrying MC from the 8th stitch back to the 2nd stitch), w+t, k23, w+t
Ridge 2: k8, w+t, k6, w+t
Ridge 3: k8, w+t, k6, w+t
Ridge 4: k8, w+t, k6, w+t
Ridge 5: k9, w+t, k7, w+t
Ridge 6: k10, w+t, k11, w+t
Ridge 7: k13, w+t, k15, w+t
Ridge 8: k17, w+t, k19, w+t
Ridge 9: k21, w+t, k23, w+t
Ridge 10: k25, w+t, k28, sl2

Knit
- a long contour
- a small petal
- a short contour
- a left petal

Last Ridge
in CC
Row 1: sl1, k all
Row 2: BO all

Cut yarns, weave in ends.
I used the tail to sew the little hole between the first and last petal closed.