Knitted dish cloths and plastic bowls

[vilakins]

I wonder if some Americans can enlighten me. I'm puzzled by how many of you knit dish cloths--and give them away as gifts. There are lots of patterns around for them, many of them wonderfully geekish, but please tell me why they're so popular and how you use them?

Are they used for washing dishes in a sink? For drying them? I can't imagine wool or acrylic working well in either case. And are wash cloths another sort, or used for the face?

Here are two popular patterns.
Here's one pattern.
And a Dalek one

And this is what finally sparked this query.


This is for people from the UK. Why do you wash dishes in a plastic bowl in the sink rather than directly in the sink? Is it to save water, to keep the sink clean, to be able to toss debris over the side, to protect dishes from hard metal, or for some other reason?

Just so people know my dish-washing habits, I rinse dishes to get loose food off and put them in the dishwasher. I wash delicate glassware (only used for dinner parties or special occasions) in the sink with a microfibre cloth, and pots and pans with a brush which goes through the dishwasher when it needs it. I dry any hand-washed dishes with a tea towel, and no, I don't know why it's called that. "Dish towel", as cited by an American, makes more sense.

The only reason I'm asking about dish washing is because of seeing so many knitted dish cloths on a knitting site. It's not normally a subject that exerts any fascination.

Comments

[jaxomsride2]

It is usually with the idea to save water, as the bowls are smaller. It started back in '76 I think.

However now the washing up bowls are getting too small to be really useful we've switched back to washing in the sink.

Though if the dry spells continues I might buy a plastic bowl in order to water the plants.It being easier to transfer the water, than using a jug to bail out the sink.

[vilakins]

Interesting that one draught had such a large effect on people's habits! We had a bad draught a few years back, but people went back to their old habits when it broke; we usually have more than enough water.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

people were doing them at my sewing group. They are for washing up with, instead of a sponge or a bought dish cloth, which I guess you don't have down your way. I've never used them, but my mother does

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I use a brush or a cloth. But I'm still puzzled that people would knit nice ones if they're going in water and rubbing dirty dishes. Surely they don't last long.

[labingi.livejournal.com]

I have never encountered them in my journeys through America. In terms of vocabulary, I think my family says, "dish towel" for something to dry dishes with and "wash cloth" for something you bathe with.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's just so odd that so many knitters make them. Perhaps it's a regional thing. It's a bug country. :-)

Oddly enough, we dry dishes with a tea towel. I have no idea why.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Wash cloths are indeed something else, and used for the face or body (f'rex I use them to apply and rinse off foamy shower gel). I think people knit dish cloths out of string or other kinds of cotton.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

The ones I've seen on Ravelry don't look very cottony and certainly not like string. [checks] OK, they seem to be some cotton, some wool or acrylic (worsted yarns). Cotton seems to make more sense. And so does their use as wash cloths.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I've never seen one. It would be really weird to get one as a gift.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think so too, yet I've seen plenty of people on Ravelry knitting up lots of them to give away at Christmas. If they look good (and I've seen Daleks and Tardises) then why put them in a sink of dirty dishes?

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Glad you asked, I've wonder the same thing.

I thought they would be an equivalent to our pot holders, a heavy duty square to protect your hand when grabbing a hot saucepan or kettle handle. I still have a couple knitted in string, plain garter stitch, given to me by an old lady we used to give a lift to church.

I wouldn't want to wash dishes with a knitted cloth, it feels unhygienic. I use one of the synthetic non-woven cloths that are easy to rinse clean in hot water. But I'm in the UK.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wondered if they were pot holders. They certainly didn't look like cotton in most cases, but wouldn't they call them something other than dish cloths?

I use a brush or microfibre cloth for the few things I was by hand (like pots or fine glasses) and put the brush through the dishwasher when it looks grubby, and of course wash the cloth.

[quarryquest.livejournal.com]

I am a sponge person myself (they don't get smelly and you can throw them away when they do) but my mother has always chrocheted her own dish cloths. They get put in bleach once a week when she cleans the kitchen.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's interesting. I thought it was an American thing. What does she use? String? Would she give them away as gifts?

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I've seen all the patterns too, but have never actually seen anyone make or use them. When I learned to knit in first grade (don't laugh) we started with a wash cloth for bathing. As far as I know, no one ever actually used those either. Maybe everyone's mother's framed them. Mine turned out a bit lopsided, my motor skills weren't up to par yet :) First and last washcloth I ever did.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Dish cloths seem a lot more popular and are promoted as gifts. It seems so odd to me. Some of them are nice enough to frame or hang up, as people sometimes do with beautiful tea towels (which is what we bizarrely call our drying cloths). Maybe it's like giving scented soaps: they either get put away in a cupboard or passed on. ;-)

[arenee1999]

I've never heard of a knit dish cloth. :/ They sound more like pot holders to me. Dish cloths are usually very thin cotton/linen type material. Dish towels, for drying are also cotton/linen/terrycloth.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They're called dish cloths on Ravelry (a knitting site), but they'd certainly make much better pot holders. One pattern recommended giving them away with some special dish soap, so they're obviously meant for washing.

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

Can you post a picture of what you're talking about? that'd let me better understand what exactly it is and what I'd do with it as a gift. I can say that I've seen a lot of kitchens (and bathrooms) with what I'd basically call a "decorative wash cloth" that might be used to dry wet (clean) hands, but otherwise just hangs on a peg or stove to look ornamental. I've seen some neat embroidered Daleks/TARDISes before that I would use in that way. I don't use a cloth for dishes in any event. I'd use a brush or a sponge (and dishwasher). I might use a cloth to dry them, in which case it wouldn't get ruined. I also sometimes use a cloth spread on the counter to put a large handwashed item that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher, or things that need to air dry.

I also know people who use dish clothes to carry hot plates/pots/whatnot, or to use them on the table/surface so that the hot pot doesn't burn through the table. (That might damage the dish cloth, but generally not, and certainly is better than damaging a hardwood table.)

Alternately, if the cloths DO get ruined in a year, well . . . that could explain why they're an annual present? Ruin one knitted cloth and get a new one next Christmas?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I came across them on Ravelry, and recently on my flist. Ravelry unfortunately requires membership, so let's see.

Here's one pattern (http://homespunliving.blogspot.com/2007/11/waffle-knit-dishcloth-pattern.html).
And a Dalek one (http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/who/dalekcloth.html)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit taken aback. I've never bought or knitted a dish cloth. Any cotton tee shirt, tea towel or sheet that becomes past use is usually used for dishes and any other house hold cleaning chore.

They get used once and then washed with the tea towels until they reach a state where they are literally falling apart. After which, they are earmarked for a really dirty job and then chucked.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you're in the UK! It seems to be a US thing, at least among knitters.

I do use microfibre cloths for wiping down and occasionally hand-washing delicate glassware, and those go in the wash. I use a brush for pots and put it through the dishwasher when it needs it.

[muscadinegril.livejournal.com]

I've made several as gifts, and they've all been decorative.

You could use the yarn to make a cosy for an electronic device or a drawstring bag. I make lots of drawstring bags for the husband.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

By decorative, do you mean that people hang them in their kitchens? Just on a hook, or framed?

Some other people on that post made some very good suggestions like that, including a very nice market bag.

[trixieleitz]

I've seen patterns for knitted dishcloths around the place and have been similarly puzzled, so thank you for asking :)

I can't imagine trying to knit with string. I would have thought it wouldn't stretch enough, which would make it very hard work.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that I've got any very satisfactory answers. Most people were puzzled too.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

A friend made a couple for me. Acrylic does work, actually, as yarn is a bit rough and spongy textured for wiping things off, and then it dries quick.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's interesting! I hadn't thought of how quickly it dried. How did they last, and did they still look good?

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I never knitted a dish cloth, although when I was teaching myself to knit (still don't do it beyond beginner level) a lot of the old instruction books/pamphlets I had recommended starting out with a wash cloth as 'something quickly done and useful, or makes a nice gift for your mother'. I didn't know anyone who would use one, or want one as decoration.

We used sponges for washing plates & flatware, a 'mop' of gathered sponge fingers for glassware, and either Brillo or a plastic scrubber for pots and pans. (Then later we got a dishwasher which always seemed pointless to me- you had to wash the stuff nearly clean before loading it, so where was the labor-saving?)

I think the first thing I did knit was a doll. :^)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That sounds like my family: a round sponge with a plastic handle and brillo or plastic pads. I find all I have to do for the dishwasher is rinse any loose food off the plates. I've never had a problem. A friend who is hopeless with housework (she makes me look really good) doesn't and her dishwasher got so full of food it couldn't clean and in annoyance at having to drink out of grubby cups, I cleaned the thing out. :-P Why anyone would do that, or leave rubbish in the kitchen bin till it stinks, is completely beyond me.

[luinielle.livejournal.com]

I've actually never heard of knitted dish cloths... don't know anyone who uses them either. I don't think I've seen them in stores here in the city. But maybe they're a regional thing? I use a sponge to wash dishes and flour-sack towels to dry at home.

Wash cloths are generally used for the face. Or at least that's what I use them for. :o)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That all sounds reasonable to me. I can sort of accept an acrylic knitted cloth as a wash one, but it must be hard to get food out of a dish cloth. Maybe it's an accepted knitter thing and no one else uses the,. :-P

[tracey-jane.livejournal.com]

I remember we used to knit them when was child at Brownies and guides. I think we used a special sort of wool (or other thread?) but they were expected to be used for washing up dishes. I think nice ones like the dalek one I have a pattern for is intended as a keepsake though.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Really! I thought of the practice as being peculiarly American. I'd hate to use a Dalek or TARDIS one too; they'd look better on a wall. :-)

Knitted Dish Cloths

[(Anonymous)]

Knitted dish cloths became "the thing" in the Korean community a couple years ago, because it's sturdy enough to take away grime, and yet it keeps away bacteria... I heard the yarn used for making this cloth is made of some special material that keeps bateria away. We use it at our house.. it's good because unlike sponges, they dry very quickly, so it's bound to keep away mold and bacteria much better than a sponge... it looks prettier too~

Re: Knitted Dish Cloths

[(Anonymous)]

they last pretty long too~~