Sometimes mindless knitting is just what is seriously needed.  On long car or plane trips it helps pass the time.  Sitting in waiting rooms becomes more tolerable.  Washcloths and dishcloths are often easy patterns.  You can finish them quickly and end up with something useful.  I made these in pairs, to equally use both balls of kitchen cotton.  The pattern is from Kay Gardner and Ann Meadow Shayne’s first book:  Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters Guide.  Their Mason-Dixon blog is lively.  Kay lives in Manhattan.  Ann lives in Nashville.  They basically write long, usually fiber-related letters back and forth to one another.  But you also get to know these two as people, which is definitely the chemistry of this blog and their books.  Simple knitting.