Colorblock Hand Towel in Sunshower Cotton
The joy of making (and using!) our beautiful Colorblock Hand Towels is that you get the satisfaction of dry hands AND the satisfaction of knowing your hands can do amazing things!
One of our favorite stitches for housewares is linen stitch. Flat and super sturdy, it shows off Sunshower Cotton’s shifts in color in two distinct textures: a smooth woven appearance on one side and a wonderfully nubble-y fabric on the other.
Wonderfully absorbent for drying hands, Sunshower Cotton is a 100% organically grown, unmercerized cotton yarn. It has a satisfying, supple hand and a sturdy heft that makes for a lovely hand towel!
The true magic of this yarn is the printed pigment on its surface whose hues shift across a creamy base. Sunshower Cotton passes our is-this-yarn-special test with flying colors!
Sunshower Cotton comes in twelve dappled shades, a sensational palette for summer knitting, including the Lime Rickey, Sea Spray, and Cherry Tomato of our Colorblock Hand Towels!
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!
Originally designed for Purl Soho by Jake Canton.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoColorblockHandTowel, and #PurlSohoSunshowerCotton. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
To make one hand towel you’ll need…
- 4 skeins of Purl Soho’s Sunshower Cotton, 100% organically grown cotton yarn. Each skein of this worsted/aran weight yarn 159 yards/ 100 grams.
- Main Color (MC): 3 skeins; approximately 475 yards required. We used Heirloom White.
- Contrast Color (CC): 1 skein; approximately 150 yards required. We used Cherry Tomato, Lime Rickey, and Sea Spray.
- US 8 (5 mm) straight or circular needles
GAUGE
26 stitches and 40 rows = 4 inches in linen stitch
SIZE
Finished Dimensions: 18 inches wide x 31 inches long
NOTES
STITCH MULTIPLE
This pattern works over an even number of stitches.
SLIP STITCHES
Slip all slipped stitches purlwise unless otherwise indicated.
PATTERN
With Main Color (MC), cast on 118 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
Set-Up Row (wrong side): Slip 1 knitwise with yarn in front (wyif), *p1, slip 1 (see Notes) with yarn in back (wyib), repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Row 1 (right side): Slip 1 knitwise wyif, *k1, slip 1 wyif, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Row 2 (wrong side): Slip 1 knitwise wyif, *p1, slip 1 wyib, repeat from * to last stitch, k1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 24 inches from cast-on edge, or if using Sunshower Cotton, until you have used as much of MC as possible, ending with Row 2.
Cut MC and join Contrast Color (CC).
With CC, repeat Rows 1 and 2 for 7 inches or until piece measures 31 inches from cast-on edge, ending with Row 2.
BIND OFF
With right side facing you, bind off in Linen Stitch. Here’s how…
Bind-Off Row (right side): K2, pass first stitch over, *slip 1 wyif, pass stitch over, k1, pass stitch over, repeat from * to end of row.
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitch.
FINISHING
Weave in ends and wet block or gently machine wash and dry.
Learn About Sunshower Cotton + All Our Beautiful Yarns
We used Sunshower Cotton for this project to show off its soft, stippled surface, like the sun shining through an afternoon drizzle! This worsted/aran-weight yarn has a very pleasant hand, both substantial and soft, as well as supple. A machine washable yarn, Sunshower Cotton is 100% organically grown cotton and absolutely wonderful for adding interest to lovely garments, blankets, baby knits, and housewares. Take a sunshower!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our inspiring collection of free Sunshower Cotton knitting patterns and cast on!
More Worsted/Aran-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of worsted/aran-weight yarns
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fiber
- Shop cotton yarn
- Shop plant-based yarn
- Shop machine washable yarn
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
This yarn looks amazing! I am a beginner knitter. What other patterns can you offer with this yarn? This pattern looks complicated to me since I have only used knit and purl stitching.
Hi Karen,
Thank you for your post! We also have the Double-Thick Potholders in our new Sunshower Cotton, however you could also use it for our Colorful Corner Blanket, or our Cozy Corners Blanket, or your favorite worsted weight cotton project.
As for the Colorblock Hand Towel Pattern, while this might not be the best project for a first or second project, we encourage you to give it a try and we’re here to help if you have any questions along the way!
Happy knitting!
Margaret
A friend gifted me with the best potholders I’ve ever owned. She used cotton yarn and the linen stitch. Would your Sunshower Cotton be strong enough in linen stitch to use as a potholder? I can’t afford to make enough towels for all 8 of my granddaughters!
Hi Sheri!
Thank you for your question! Sunshower Cotton in Linen Stitch would make great potholders, though I am hesitant to say they would be thick enough to be safe in preventing burns when handling hot dishes. We recommend lining your potholders with an insulated batting to be on the safe side! I wanted to point out our Double-Thick Pot Holder pattern that is also in Sunshower Cotton and only takes one skein to make! These are much thicker than one layer of Linen stitch and might make for excellent gifts for your granddaughters!
I hope this helps, and happy knitting!
All the best,
Margaret
I am wondering if the needle size (8) indicated for this pattern is incorrect or if maybe I’m doing the linen stitch incorrectly. You have the suggested needle size for Sunshower Cotton as 5 or 6 — understanding that this is a suggestion. I consider myself to be a fairly tight knitter with consistent tension, but I am most certainly not a loose knitter. The gauge is so far off it’s unbelievable. Gauge is supposed to be 26 stitches = 4”; the gauge I got with a size 8 needle is 6”! A 50% difference! I chose this pattern specifically because I have never done the linen stitch before — is it possible that I am doing it incorrectly? Should the slip stitches be pulled tighter than the knit and/or purl stitches in their respective rows? I am trying to figure out what to do/how many needle sizes do I need to drop down to, in order to try again — 5? 6?
Hi Michelle!
Thank you for your question. The size US 8 needle listed in this pattern is recommended for this gauge because linen stitch is much denser than stockinette stitch, so sizing up a few needle sizes is normal to create a nice fabric with good drape! If you find you are not getting gauge with a size 8 needle, however, I would suggest trying again on a size 6 or 7 needle to see if that helps fit the 26 stitches within 4″.
As for the slipped stitches, you shouldn’t need to pull these tighter than the surrounding stitches! I suggest slipping these at the same tension as the other stitches. At the ends the rows, however, it may help to give the last stitch in each color a slight tug to maintain tension along the edge.
I hope this helps, and please let us know how your next gauge swatch goes!
All the best,
Margaret
I want to make sure I understand correctly: 4 skeins will get me one towel?
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you so much for reaching out. That’s correct! You will need 3 skeins of Sunshower Cotton for the MC and 1 skein for the CC to make one hand towel.
Please let us know if you have any other questions!
All the best,
Carly
If I held double strand of Cotton Pure, would I achieve similar results? Thank you
Hi Sheri!
Thank you for your question! While you could certainly hold two strands of Cotton Pure together for a similar result, we recommend making a gauge swatch first to double check that your towel will come out to the intended dimensions! If this seems daunting, we have a handy tutorial called All About Gauge to take you through each step of the process.
Alternatively, I wanted to point out the Colorfield Hand Towels, which are also knit in Linen Stitch using one strand of Cotton Pure, in case they catch your eye!
I hope this helps, and happy knitting!
All the best,
Margaret
Hello!
I’m starting out this pattern and so far so good. I’ve just knit my gauge and it came out great 5mm needles. Can’t wait to knock the first of may towels out. Thanks so much for the free pattern. I wouldn’t have ever discovered the beautiful linen stitch otherwise.
I love this pattern! I decided to try something different and used Caron Cotton Ripple Cake ( Summer Rain) and I really like the effect of the bumpy yarn! I’d include a photo but don’t know how lol
Hi Kathy,
We are thrilled to hear you are enjoying the pattern! Please let us know if you have any questions along the way!
Happy making,
Gavriella