Dishcloths

Okay blog fans - raise your hands if you love your dishcloth.

I realize that many of you hardly "do" dishes - you have a dishwasher so you rinse most of the debris off the dishes, arrange them and set the dial. Those of you who have this "standard appliance" probably have very little opinion about dishcloths because you have very little use for them.

However, there are still those of us who are living in the past - we have no dishwasher and therefore "do dishes" by hand. And we have very strong opinions about the dishcloths and scrubbers we use to accomplish the task.

For years I have been a proponent of the little net scrubbers - I would scavenge as many as possible on the dollar days sale at my local grocery, getting six to a package for a dollar. They lasted a few weeks before unraveling, but truth be told I preferred them that way - almost like a cloth but "scrubbier". I also liked them because they were plastic and therefore did not need to be laundered. As long as they were rinsed thoroughly with hot water and allowed to dry they never smelled mildewed, and they rarely picked up any of the stains etc that cloths seemed to attract.

So I have happily used these little scrubbers. When one got a little too worn it was relegated to pot duty and a new one would be pulled from the bag for dishes. For about five dollars I had enough for the year.

In the recent past however it has been more difficult to find the scrubbers, and I have also been convicted of the waste in buying them and disposing of them. It would be wonderful, I thought, if there were wash cloths that I could wash and keep for long periods, but that also had a scrubby quality. Even better if they were the result of recycling.

A-HA!

How many of you have heard of PLARN?

Plarn is the result of cutting plastic bags (the ones you get at the market) into strips, then spinning them into yarn. My industrious and creative daughter makes this stuff. She is also the fastest crocheter around.

I wondered out loud about the possibility of such a wash cloth, and one evening she whipped up a few - each has a slightly different stitch pattern, rendering each slightly different in "scrubbiness".

They are wonderful! Not quite as scratchy to the hands (think of keeping your manicure for a few more days) and yet they are wonderful for dishes as well as pots and pans. After each use they are hung from a clip that allows them to air dry. From time to time they get thrown into the washer, but they must be removed and hung or laid flat - the dryer would be a disaster.

Looking for a wonderful new dishcloth? Find some plarn and then someone who crochets - if you can accomplish both yourself then you are further ahead!

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