When in doubt for a good knit present, make washcloths and include a nice soap… in this case I made an extra-large cloth for the C’s baby son and am sending it with my favorite baby bubble bath. The cloth is named for the Mandarin stitch from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns, but since I did it in a nice lemony yellow cotton it became a mandarin lemon rather than a mandarin orange!

The ripple stitch makes this cloth interesting to look at - and paired with the eyelet insertions will make it fun for the baby to play with as well. The bindoff preparation is unusual, so be ready for an extra bit of detail at the end to preserve the rippling. The pattern has a tendency to bias slightly upwards to the left.