I married into a Southern family, which meant that with my husband came a supply of hand-crocheted dishcloths. Being a SoCal Valley Girl from birth, I had never come in contact with this curious kitchen tool before. Over the years after our marriage, the supply of dishcloths dwindled down to none.
Then I took back up knitting and learned to crochet. And Sugar and Cream cotton yarn went on sale for $0.99 a ball. What a great excuse to add to one’s yarn stash! The first pattern I decided to try when attempting my own dishcloths was Mason Dixon’s Ballband cloths. And even though I have made a number of others – dishcloths being an excellent medium for trying out new lace patterns – these are the ones I reach for in my kitchen again and again.
So, when my little finger started to ache from working with my tiny sock needles and and I decided to take a sock-break, I broke out my cotton yarn, size 7’s, and that good ‘ol ballband pattern! 
Busy hands is right! You are one fast knitter!!! I’m going to have to try the ball band pattern. I need some practice changing yarn colour in a pattern.
hugs,
A
Comment by Anna — May 28, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
The beauty of this pattern is that it is a slip-stitch pattern. That means that you don’t end up switching colors in the middle of the rows – each row is only knit (or purled) in one color – the slipped stitches that you carry up give the illusion of knitting with two colors.
Any yarn changes are done at the beginning of a row.
Comment by busyhands — May 28, 2007 @ 9:07 pm