Scrubbing Mitt in Home Life
Anything knit in our 100% cotton Home Life would be super special, but our Scrubbing Mitt also happens to be adorable, practical, and easy to knit, too!
To make the sweetest little scrubbers in town all you need to do is cast on and alternate rounds of knits and purls… Soon it’s time for the simple decreases that round off the top.
Each mitt takes exactly one skein of Home Life, so with a three-skein Home Life Bundle you can make a coordinating set of three!
If you haven’t knit with our Home Life before, you’re in for a treat! Made of a sturdy cotton thread with little cotton tabs spun into its core, Home Life knits into a loose, shaggy fabric.
But if you throw your finished piece into the washer and dryer, it shrinks and softens into a wonderfully fluffy fabric. Dense and plush and perfect for sudsing!
Home Life comes in 18 lovely colors, each one available on its own or in our Home Life Bundle, a mix of three pretty colors with six palettes to choose from.
Gift a bundle to a knitter you know or knit up a set of Scrubbing Mitts for a house warming or baby shower gift… Either way, bring a little handmade beauty to a home you love!
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!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Hiromi Glover. Click here to see even more of Hiromi’s work!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoScrubbingMitt, and #PurlSohoHomeLife. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Home Life, 100% cotton yarn. Each skein of this light worsted/dk-weight yarn is 61 yards/ 33 grams; approximately 50 yards required.
- A set of US 6 (4 mm) double pointed needles (or long US 6 circular needles for Magic Loop)
- Stitch markers, including one unique
Our Home Life Bundle (no longer available) includes everything you’ll need to make 3 Scrubbing Mitts. Choose from 6 palettes…
MILLET
Pale Stone, Sand Dollar, Fresh Cream
CAMEO
Petal Pink, Pink Bisque, Sugar Biscuit
LICHEN
Dune Grass, Spicy Mustard, Golden Pear
EUCALYPTUS
Holly Green, Viridian Green, White Cabbage
OCEAN AIR
Deep Teal, Tidal Pool, Pearl Blue
SWEET PEA
Celestial Blue, Pale Lilac, Mauve Moor
GAUGE
20½ stitches = 4 inches in garter stitch, unlaundered
NOTE: The row gauge in this pattern is not listed because you are simply knitting to a specific length. Any row gauge will do, as long as your stitch gauge is correct!
SIZE
Unlaundered: Approximately 7¾ inches in circumference x 7¾ inches in length
Laundered: Approximately 7¾ inches in circumference x 6½ inches in length
PATTERN
Cast 40 stitches onto double pointed needles. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
NOTE: Prefer to use Magic Loop? Distribute the stitches equally between the two ends of your circular needles instead! For more help with Magic Loop, visit our tutorial here!
Place a unique marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Round 1: Purl to end of round.
Round 2: Knit to end of round.
Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 until piece measures 6 inches from cast-on edge, ending with Round 1.
SHAPE TOP
Set-Up Round: K1, slip slip knit (ssk), k14, knit 2 together (k2tog), place marker, k2, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before end of round, k2tog, k1. [36 stitches remain]
Round 1: Purl to end of round.
Round 2: K1, ssk, knit to 2 stitches before marker, k2tog, slip marker (sm), k2, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before end of round, k2tog, k1. [4 stitches decreased]
Repeat Rounds 1 and 2 three more times. [20 stitches remain]
Next Round: P1, purl 2 together (p2tog), purl to 2 stitches before marker, purl 2 together through the back loop (p2tog tbl), sm, p2, p2tog, purl to 3 stitches before end of round, p2tog tbl, p1. [16 stitches remain]
Next Round: Repeat Round 2. [12 stitches]
Next Round: P1, p2tog, p2tog tbl, remove marker, p2, p2tog, p2tog tbl, p1. [8 stitches]
Next Round: Knit to end of round.
Cut yarn and thread tail onto a tapestry needle. Thread tail through remaining stitches. Pull taut and bring tail to inside of mitt to weave in.
Weave in the ends and wet block by hand to keep mitt as is, or machine launder it for a denser, fluffier fabric! (Ours are machine laundered.)
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!
Do you have a child-size version of these instructions?
Would love to make them for my granddaughters.
Hi RBH,
Thanks for reaching out! We haven’t made a child-size version of these yet, but that’s a great idea! To do so, you would need to cast on fewer stitches, work in the round for fewer inches, and then work the decreases in a similar manner. You’d just need to adjust how many stitches you knit before decreasing and placing the stitch marker on the Set-Up Round for SHAPE TOP to make sure that the markers are equidistant from each other. Hope this helps, and please let us know how it goes if you try this!
All the best,
Lili
Oh yeah! I just knitted a wash cloth with this yarn 🧶 When I saw this pattern I decided I’m going to knit the mitt with the last two balls of yarn. Wish me luck I’m not good with double pointed so I’m going to try Magic Loop
Can I buy this yarn in the EU?? I am based in Portugal.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for reaching out! We don’t have any stockists overseas, but we do ship internationally. We ship to Portugal fairly often, in case you were curious about that too. I recommend going through our shipping page for more details on pricing and average delivery times. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
This is fabulous yarn for luxurious washing! I don’t like to purl so I knitted straight (knitting the purl rows) and seamed it on the open side. The texture of the yarn totally hides the seam. My gauge was bigger, closer to 9 in circ. Which is good because I have large hands. I had enough yarn, phew. I bought 6 skeins so I can make for friends!
Since the yarn hides the stitches what is the point of p2tog tbl?
I am frustrated because the yarn is hard to read and this stitch, which seems totally unnecessary, has stymied this project. I can’t read my knitting and have to start again.
I can do the stitch but in its process my dpn fell out, not your problem.
WHY did this stitch need to be in the pattern! It doesn’t seem to matter!
Hi Danielle,
I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been having a difficult time working the p2tog tbl stitches in this pattern! I want to first assure you that you can absolutely use a regular p2tog in place of the p2tog tbl. As you pointed out, it doesn’t matter which decrease you use when knitting with a yarn that naturally obscures the stitch pattern!
The reason that this pattern was designed with a p2tog tbl originally though, is because it creates the most symmetrical decrease formation. This is beneficial, for example, if someone chooses to use a yarn with clearer stitch definition to knit this pattern.
I hope that this helps shed light on the design choices in this pattern and also helps you move forward in your project. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any other questions or concerns going forward–we’re always happy to help!
All the best,
Lili
I’m finding this yarn a nightmare to knit with. I tried with double points and magic loop but find it too hard to see the stitches. I’ll try Sandy’s approach of knitting flat and seaming. Any thoughts regarding a bit of decreasing for a more rounded corner?
Hi Susan,
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having trouble knitting with Home Life! But I’m glad that you’ve found an approach that will help make things easier. I would recommend including the decreases when knitting these flat! You’ll need to do one decrease at each edge, plus two decreases in the center to achieve the same shape as the original design, once you seam it up. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Great – Thank you!
Regarding last round. “K to end of round”. Do you not bind off is some fashion? This is confusing me. Can someone explain more on this last round
Hi Corrine,
Thanks for reaching out! After you finish knitting the final round, you will cut the working yarn, leaving a long tail. Then, you will use a tapestry needle to draw this yarn through all the remaining live stitches and pull it tight. This will secure the stitches and create a closed top to the scrubbing mitt! For reference, if you’ve ever knit a hat before, this is typically how hats are completed as well!
All the best,
Lili
I agree with several comments regarding the difficulty of working with and “reading” this yarn/thread. It twists/kinks on me constantly; I don’t know if it is the yarn, how I caked it, or how I handle it when knitting. I am working with magic loop and really struggled with keeping the first row (cast on stitches) from twisting–have had to redo them on both mitts that I’ve done. Very hard to read with the fringe. I have also had difficulty with tension–with fringe knots making some stitches very tight to execute. Last, I’ve seemed to add more stitches with this yarn–either “legs” when transitioning from one needle to the other with magic loop or somehow. I just always make sure I have 20 stitches per needle. I’m also shortening the body (before reducing) by about 1 inch. When it get wet, it really stretches. Any thoughts on how to avoid these issues would be appreciated.
Now for the good news, I am using the mitt. I thought it would make a good face cloth but still a little rough for that. Works well to wash and exfoliate the body at the same time. I am hoping with numerous washing and drying it will soften enough to use on the face for gentle exfoliation.
Hi Monica,
We’re so sorry to hear that you’ve had a difficult time knitting with Home Life! It’s definitely a tricky type of yarn to work with, and the issues you’re experiencing are very understandable. We’ve found that keeping a looser tension (even working on larger needles) can really help mitigate a lot of the troublesome aspects of Home Life. With a looser tension, and therefore larger stitches, it’ll be easier for the stitches to slide through each other, and it will also be easier to tell the stitches apart and avoid unintentional increases. We’ve also found that even with a looser tension, once machine washed and dried, the knit fabric will still shrink up and become fluffy enough to hide any holes between stitches!
I hope this advice helps make knitting with Home Life more enjoyable. I’m very glad to hear that you’ve been putting the mitt to good use already though!
All the best,
Lili
Hi, I knitted a swatch and came up with 4.5-4.75 “ with 20 stitches. Would you suggest I use a smaller needle? Im wondering if the exact circumference of the mitt might not matter so much, or is the gauge more important for the density (not sure if that’s the proper term) of the knit. My swatch has tiny spongelike spaces, is that what was intended? How does that change after washing if it only shrinks lengthwise, not widthwise? Finally, a finished circumference of 7.75 in per the pattern seems tight to me. Thank you!
Hi Alison,
Thank you for writing in, we are so happy to hear you are making the Scrubbing mitts! We recommend going down a needle size or two to help get your gauge to 20.5 sts over a 4″ square. This will ensure that as your mitt grows with water(when using it to clean and such) it doesn’t end up too big for your hand to have a good grip. The dry mitt will be slightly tighter than it will be once wet so we have written the pattern with that in mind. The mitt will also shrink when laundered which in turn will close up any holes you will see when knitting your project.
Happy making,
Gavriella
Made one mitt so far and now wondering what might be the best way to felt this so that it becomes smaller? Or, will just washing and drying it do the trick? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Leesa,
Thanks for writing in! We are happy to hear you have one mitt down!
Washing and drying should definitely help make your mitt get a little smaller, but cotton isn’t a material that is going to felt. This yarn does however get a little more like fleece every time it goes through a cycle in the dryer so we recommend experimenting with the dryer to see how many times are necessary to get it to the level of softness (and size) you’d like.
Happy knitting,
Gavriella
Hi Purl Soto, Can the mitts pattern be done using your Witch Hazel yarn. It looks like the Home Life yarn is down to just a limited selection of colors. Witch Hazel still has a wide selection of colors and I love the mitts pattern. Made 3 of them in the colors you have left. Wanted to make more in different colors. Would there be a pattern modification if I used the Witch Hazel yarn? Thanks!
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for writing in! You could definitely use Witch Hazel for this pattern, but you’d need to cast on fewer stitches since this yarn is quite a bit thicker than Home Life was.
To figure out your new cast-on number, you will want to first knit a gauge swatch in pattern. Once you know how many stitches you are getting per inch, you can multiply that number by the circumference of the project (7 3/4 inches) and cast on the nearest even number. Then you can follow the pattern essentially as written, just making sure to place the decrease stitches evenly across the round once you get to them!
All the best,
Lili