Knit or Crochet your sponge alternative - handmade natural scrub
Knit or Crochet your sponge alternative - handmade natural scrub
Most people are familiar with handmade dish cloth with crochet or knitting. It only takes small amount of yarn, short time, and basic technique. 100% cotton yarn is perfect for dishcloth for absorbing water, but not strong enough as a scrub for dirty pots and pans.
A better choice of material will be raffia, hemp, or jute yarn or twine. They create a rough texture for stronger scrubbing power, but still natural and bio-degradable. Instead of buying plastic sponge from the store, you can make your own eco-friendly version to reduce waste. The natural material also looks nicer in your kitchen or bathroom.
You can use the same dishcloth pattern available on internet, or keep it simple and use basic crochet or knit sitches. Because the material is more stiff, you don’t have to worry about curling edges too much. In the example below, I have a basic single crochet scrub, a garter stitch scrub (knit on both front and back sides), and a crochted round shape scrub.
The process is straightforward and flexible. For a small scrub about the size of your palm, I cast on about 20 to 25 stitches and work for a few inches long. Then crochet a border and chained loop for easy hanging and drying.
The raffia yarn from the “Ispie” brand is 100% plant based and can be composted after the end of scrubbie life. I got them online. They are soft enough to hold but strong enough for scrubbing. This is a good choice for body scrub too.