Toil and Trouble – a free knit pattern

I’ve been on a bit of a double sided knitting kick lately and I’m sharing two free patterns for making pot scrubbers.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble

W. Shakespeare in Macbeth

Materials

The yarn: Since I make these up to be pot scrubbers, I use a soft cotton and a rough acrylic as my two yarns (10 grams of each). This is, in essence, my version of the two-sided sponge.

Feel free to use any yarns you like. Just be sure they are the same weight.

The needles: I used US size 8 (5mm) and my finished gauge is 13 sts = 4 inches.

Pattern Notes

Throughout there will be 30 loops on the needle, 15 of Color A and 15 of the Color B. From beginning to end, they are treated as pairs. These pot scrubbers have 15 stitches, each stitch made up of one Color A loop and one Color B loop.

When switching from knits to purls, move both strands together.

Odd numbered rows are considered the “right side” and are worked, using the chart, from right to left

Even numbered rows are considered the “wrong side” and are worked, using the chart from left to right

If you’ve never tried double sided knitting before, please check out my free video tutorial on double sided knitting. In that tutorial, you’ll find three videos of me making these very pot scrubbers. The first video is casting on and working the first two rows. The second demonstrates how to work a row with color changes. Specifically I’m working Row 13 of Chart 1 (shown below). In the third video, I show how to bind off. I think double sided knitting is a little tricky to explain, but very easy to demonstrate so if you get stuck, please check out those videos!

Two Double Sided Pot Scrubbers – a free knit pattern

To help get you started, here are written instructions for the first 2 rows. These apply to both color patterns.

With both strands held together, Cast On 15 sts.

Row 1 (RS): Sl 1^st stitch pair purl-wise with yarn in front, * knit first loop with Color A, purl the second loop with Color B* repeat until one stitch pair remains, knit last pair with both strands

Row 2 (WS): Sl 1^st stitch pair purl-wise with yarn in front, *knit first loop with Color B, purl the second loop with Color A* repeat until one stitch pair remains, knit last pair with both strands

Complete the remaining 28 rows using the chart (shown below).

To Bind Off, treat each stitch pair as one, work with both strands held together, and use the bind off of your choice. I did: knit the first stitch (pair), * knit the next stitch (pair), pass the preceding stitch over the stitch just made* repeat to end.