Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Some Scrubbies and Some Recycling

No, it's not Christmas again...guess you can tell I have a predominately green kitchen! Here is a stack of scrubbies from a bunch of patterns that I recently tried out. I needed a little break from my sock knitting ( yes, I did finish a new sock and I am presently working on it's mate) and thought I would try out a few scrubbie patterns (or tawashi as the Japanese call them)
and see how they compare. I'm using scraps of acrylic yarn with recycled plastic netting from onion bags.

To prepare the bags for knitting: I cut the bottom and top off a bag, washed and dried them. Then make one long strip out of the bag with a few simple steps. First open up the bag (bottomless bag) up by cutting it lengthwise into a rectangle. Then cut strips by cutting it as seen in this very poorly drawn diagram: Here is my assortment of srubbies:
The first thing you notice is that there is a size difference.
This small one is a Circular Scrubby from the Dishcloth Duo pattern. It was the smallest. Being small does have it's merits though. Good for scrubbing tight places. It can be made bigger. Check out Knottykitty's version here. You can see the red plastic netting, which will hopefully work out well as a dish scrubber.

This next one is I think is the easiest and fastest knit.

I used the Scrubbles pattern. This one is very easy and fast. Works great with the netting knit with the acrylic yarn. This one will be a work horse I'm sure. It reminds me of a green frosted donut with with red sprinkles :)

This next one is the Tribble pattern. This one I think takes the longest time to knit. You need a 10 inch piece before you assemble it. That's pretty big!

I'm sure it will make a heavy duty scrubber. It is a really good size one and with this one I used a mixture of red and white netting. The netting is hard on your hands. Not the easiest fiber to knit with. But for such a small project I definitely think it's worth it. Plus you are using something you would normally just throw in the trash. After all you are just using it as a scouring pad and not making an heirloom. I have thought of using nylon netting or tulle, but I would imagine it wouldn't be as effective at scrubbing since it is gets less stiff with use.

For these last two I got out my crochet hook and did a little crocheting.
The one on the left is done the right way and the one on the right is done the wrong way. When I made the first one I didn't read the part in the pattern that stated you crochet through the back loop. This is what makes the ridges and makes a better scrubber. I tried using the netting with this pattern, but found it too difficult and annoying crocheting the plastic netting. Knitting the netting is so much easier. The crochet pattern I used is the Spiral Scrubbie pattern.

In conclusion, here are my final thought on the subject of scrubbies. Even though I think the best looking and easy scrubbie is the dishcloth duo's circular scrubbie and making one bigger would be better.... I have to give my seal of approval to scrubbles for being the easiest and quickest to make and therefore the most practical one :)

Enough with the scrubbies already and now back to my socks!!
Happy Knitting :)

21 comments:

  1. scrubbies GALORE. I love 'em. I just don't make them, yet. I have seen some cute patterns on Ravelry, but I was gonna give it a go with all acrylic. Now.. back to your socks!

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  2. Wow, scrubbie heaven! I love you idea of using the mesh bags with the yarn. I have a ton of those, and now I have another use for them! Thanks!
    Your illustration was done very well. :)

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  3. Wow I love all of your scrubbies!!! Very nice!!!

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  4. those look so nice! I was fortunate enough to be given one once, and it was such a nice thing to have when doing dishes! I'm going to have to make some for Christmas presents this year, I think. Thanks for the idea!

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  5. I've considered making some scrubbies, now I'll have to! Yours look great, and look like a great way to use up some scrap yarn.

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  6. They're all so cute! But I think I like the crocheted scrubbies the best. I love the way they swirl. :)

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  7. How fun!!!! They all look great.

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  8. How smart is that to use the onion bags! You go girl! That's pretty dang smart.
    Love the scrubbies!
    Hugs!

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  9. Love all of your scrubbies--and that one does look like a donut with sprinkles! I haven't seen the scrubbles pattern before--want to try it but it mentions sewing up a seam, which is against my code of laziness---lol!

    Great job using the netting--that's on my list next, along with making them from acrylic so they'll dry better! :)

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  10. Wow - who knew! I had never seen these before but how smart! I wonder if I have any acrylic in my stash....

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  11. Well I now I just need to remember to save those darn onion bags, lol. I have tons of left over acrylic scraps.

    They all look great.

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  12. Onions bags -- good thinking on how to get a little abrasion working in there.

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  13. I didn't even think about those! How ingenious! I may have to have several!

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  14. You are really resourceful with the recycling, first the tote bags, now the scrubbies. Very clever use of those onion bags. I think the crochet Spiral Scrubbie is really cute (if only I knew how to crochet).

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  15. Oh hon you have been busy. That is agood idea to use the onion bags. I have a bunch of tulle I bought to make some, but to lazy to cut them up.

    Hugs!!!!

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  16. Scrubbies! How very cute. And what a great way to use up some leftover yarn!

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  17. Great scrubbies - and what a great idea to recycle the bag netting!!

    So now back to socks, eh? WEren't you asking about sock addiction last post?? Question answered!! ; )

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  18. very nice! have you tested them out yet? : )

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  19. Thanks a lot for reminding me of my dirty kitchen. Too bad we can't make the scrubbies work magically by themselves so we can sit and knit...a girl can dream!

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  20. Wow! That's a lot of scrubbies -- you must clean (ha, ha). You were right about the whoopie pies!

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  21. Those scrubbies/tawashi are adorable!!! I love the onion bag carry-along technique; such a great recycling idea!

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