Coyote Dishcloth

I've been somewhat disappointed with the near complete lack of good coyote patterns out their for the online knitting community. As part of the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup, I designed this dishcloth for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Our assignment was to knit or crochet something that had to do with our Patronus.

As I understand it, the Patronus in the Harry Potter universe is similar to, if not the same as, a spirit guide. As I am of the Neo-Pagan persuasion myself, I have identified a couple of spirit guides in my life, but the primary, and often most obvious of them is a coyote by the name of Buffalo.

According to Wikipedia, the "coyote often plays the role of trickster, god of tricks, although in some stories he is a buffoon and the butt of jokes and in a few is outright evil. His positive traits include humor and sometimes cleverness. His negative traits are usually greed or desire, recklessness, impulsiveness and jealousy. Coyote is often the antagonist of his brother Wolf, who is wise and good natured but prone to giving in to Coyote's incessant demands."

Buffalo has made appearances in my life when I'm under a lot of stress, and at times I can feel him laughing, as if over my shoulder. A friend once pointed out to me that he could be the spirit of an ancestor who has been charged with the task of watching over me as he tends to be more present and obvious when I "need" him.

This spirit appeared after I joined my school's now-defunct Anthropology fraternity, where I was the elder of the Coyote Clan (we had a clan system in our fraternity, Coyote was merely one of seven). Naturally, it seemed the affinity for the coyote spirit guided me towards being sorted into the Coyote clan.

Naturally, when I read the assignment from the DADA professor, I felt it was necessary to pay tribute to my coyote spirit. But I was disheartened when a Ravelry pattern search turned up very little in the way of patterns. I found a loom-knit dishcloth pattern, but I didn't like it. So I decided to make my own.

I dug out my graph paper and drew pictures. Then I knitted.



Below is the pattern I came up with. If you are on Ravelry and would like to see pictures of completed dishcloths, or to queue the pattern yourself, click here. Enjoy!

Yarn: Worsted Weight Cotton
Needles: US 7, 4.5mm
Gauge: Gauge is not critical, but feel free to swatch in stockinette and make sure that you like the drape of the knitted material versus the tightness of the stitches.

CO 38
Row 1-4: Knit
Row 5, 7: K3, P32, K3
Row 6, 8: Knit across
Row 9: K7, P23, K8
Row 10: K7, P4, K19, P3, K5
Row 11: K3, P4, K23, P5, K3
Row 12: K8, P2, K3, P3, K1, P11, K10
Row 13: K3, P6, K12, P1, K3, P3, K2, P5, K3
Row 14: K8, P2, K4, P3, K2, P4, K1, P6, K8
Row 15: K3, P5, K7, P1, K3, P1, K3, P5, K2, P5, K3
Row 16: K8, P2, K6, P2, K2, P1, K1, P4, K1, P3, K8
Row 17: K3, P4, K3, P2, K5, P1, K4, P6, K2, P5, K3
Row 18: K8, P2, K7, P9, K3, P3, K6
Row 19: K3, P2, K3, P4, K9, P4, K5, P5, K3
Row 20: K8, P5, K4, P8, K6, P2, K5
Row 21: K3, P10, K8, P4, K2, P1, K5, P2, K3
Row 22: K5, P5, K1, P2, K4, P7, K14
Row 23: K3, P12, K6, P7, K2, P1, K2, P2, K3
Row 24: K5, P2, K1, P2, K8, P4, K2, P1, K13
Row 25: K3, P10, K2, P1, K4, P8, K2, P1, K2, P2, K3
Row 26: K5, P2, K1, P2, K8, P6, K14
Row 27: K3, P11, K6, P8, K2, P5, K3
Row 28: K8, P2, K7, P5, K16
Row 29: K3, P13, K5, P7, K2, P5, K3
Row 30: K8, P2, K7, P3, K18
Row 31: K3, P15, K2, P15, K3
Row 32: K18, P1, K19
Row 33: K3, P32, K3
Row 34: K across
Row 35: K3, P20, K6, P6, K3
Row 36: K7, P9, K22
Row 37: K3, P19, K11, P2, K3
Row 38: K5, P2, K4, P6, K21
Row 39: K3, P18, K5, P6, K1, P2, K3
Row 40: K13, P4, K21
Row 41: K3, P18, K3, P11, K3
Row 42: K14, P3, K21
Row 43: K3, P18, K3, P11, K3
Row 44: K14, P2, K22
Row 45: K3, P20, K2, P10, K3
Row 46: K12, P2, K24
Row 47: K3, P32, K3
Row 48: K across
Row 49: K3, P32, K3
Row 50-54: K across
Bo all sts.