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!
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. Each skein 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 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.)
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!