So, I became obsessed with making these star-shaped washcloths a couple weeks ago, and thought I’d share the love. They really are fun to make, and unexpectedly, my two-year old cousin Sadie loves them as much as I do. She especially loves to put them on her head, and has apparently started voluntarily washing the walls with them (something she’s never done before). So there might be special wall-washing juju in them, and if you have a crayon-happy toddler or two in your life, whip up some NunuYayas for them!*

I’m sure that knitting stars isn’t exactly a revolutionary idea– it’s a pentagram and five triangles– but I’ve never come across a pattern, so I came up with this and decided to share it.

A note about the name– Sadie is just beginning to talk, and is smart enough to rename things that she can’t pronounce. As S’s are especially tough, she’s renamed herself “Nunu” and washcloth is “‘yaya.” NunuYaya.

 

NunuYaya

Requires: yarn and appropriate dpn—any gauge will work! This would even make a great baby blanket in a much larger version.

This version: Red Heart Crème de la Crème on size 6

Body of washcloth:

CO 1 stitch by tying a (loose) slipknot onto a dpn.

Row 1: Make 5 by knitting front and back twice, then front again.

Divide sort of evenly among 3 dpn (or cheat like I do and slide the 5 stitches down to the end like an I cord and then just knit them onto the 3 dpn in the next row. Less squirrelly.)

Row 2: (Kfb, pm, kfb) on first two needles, kfb on third needle.

Row 3: * K1, kfb * repeat around.

Row 4: *K 2, kfb * repeat around.

Continue as established, working one more stitch between the kfb’s and always increasing in the stitch before your marker and at the end of needles (yes, that’s redundant–deal with it).  At some point, you may want to switch to using 5 dpn instead of four–just make sure that you know where your increases go, whether you’re counting or marking.

Keep working until the center section of your yaya is the desired size. The number of stitches between each marker (we’ll call this number p) should be odd, but it can be any odd number. The yayas pictured increased to 19 stitches for each point.

Points:

Row 1: K p stitches (to first marker). Turn.

Row 2 (and all WS unless marked): K3, P to last 3, K3.

Row 3: K3, K2tog, K to last 5, ssk, K3

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until 9 stitches remain, ending with row 2.

Finishing off:

Row 1 (RS): K3, Sl 1, K2tog, psso, k3.

Row 2 and all remaining WS: K.

Row 3: K 2, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k2.

Row 5: K 1, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k1.

Row 7: Sl 1, k2tog, psso.

Fasten by pulling yarn through last stitch. Break yarn. (You might want to consider weaving in ends here. Just consider it.) Join and work point over next p stitches 4 more times. Tada!

*No guarantee of wall-washing is made by amoral fiber or affiliates, and neither this website nor its contributors will be held accountable for drawings that are not washed off walls.

Advertisement