I learned a way to conceal my color changes from the front side (but not the back) by knitting an entire row in knit stitch when changing to the contrasting colored yarn. THEN I continued with the knit/purl pattern stitches. The knit row is literally covered by the pattern rows above and below it on the front and practically disappears!

The reverse side shows the row as a purl ridge, which I don’t mind so much. I like this result much better and even the “wrong” side looks pretty good. (You’ll notice that the other striped washcloths in the gallery for this project shows a broken line of the “old” yarn color above the “new” color change. The technique isn’t original to me; I found it in a knitting book but can’t remember which one.)

This is the cloth, unblocked. It was even wonkier before I crocheted around the edges. Novice knitter, here, who’s (mostly) happy with a first attempt at stripes. ;o)