I'm probably committing as huge gaffe here. I probably shouldn't even dare to talk about this book, but my Flickr feed on knitting is regularly overrun with photos like this:

Dishcloth 2 Dishcloth

Now these look eerily like the pictures here and here and here.

Now, the photos I have here are of a dishcloth I made in December last year for the CLBFX, using a pattern on the wrapper. While the photos I've linked to are all knit using the pattern from…dare I say it, the Mason-Dixon Knitting book (which came out in March 2006). My dishcloth used just the one skein, while I think the MDK ones use two different colours. So, my question is, was the pattern written for the makers of the yarn by the authors of the book and then included in the book? Or is it just a generic pattern from a stitch that the yarn-makers and the authors just happened to both publish independently?

Please, all of you lurkers, tell me what to think. I'm really confused, because this book has been gushed about all over the place, while the pattern is available for free (sort of) with the yarn. Can I find other patterns from the book on other ballbands (yes that is the name of the MDK pattern) or in free leaflets in US stores (sent me by friends)? Am I making any sense here? Or are the two patterns drastically different?