Achtung baby!

Chevron Stripes Hand Towel (from Mason-Dixon Knitting)

Yarn: Knit Picks CotLin (70% Tanguis cotton, 30% linen; DK weight)
Colorways: Moroccan Red and Crème Brulee
Needles: US 5s
Stitches: 87
Size: 13" x 22.25"

It took several froggings and more than a month, but the Chevron Stripes Hand Towel is finished. I decided to knit one more repeat before polishing off this FO. I'd long ignored how long the pattern called for this to be (14" x 24"). If I'd been paying attention, I might have gone ahead and achieved the suggested length, although this is plenty big enough.

The pattern calls for knitting the 12-row repeat a total of 27 times. I stopped at 17 with this yarn. If I knitted ten more repeats, it would be folded over on the countertop and possibly creeping into the sink.

I don't think I used a skein and a half of each color, so the CotLin goes a long way with this pattern. I certainly didn't need to order three skeins of both.

The initial problem I had knitting this hand towel was with the error in the pattern and the errata published online. As best I can determine, row 6 should be k5, *k2tog, k2, kfb in next 2 sts, k3, SKP; rep from * to last 5 sts, k5. (The k5 at the beginning of the row is missing in my printing of the book. The k3 is absent in the errata online. I e-mailed about it but never received a reply or saw it fixed, so I'm posting it here as much as a reminder for me than anything.)

Although this was a frustrating knit at times, I'm very pleased with the result. Certainly it's a good example of the inefficiency of making something like this yourself versus buying something at the store, but we know that knitting isn't best subjected to cost benefit analysis.

Plus, I picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way. I learned how to knit in the front and back of the stitch. I learned SKP. I learned (again) to check the errata. In the end all of this tallies up to a success.