vilakins | Knitted dish cloths and plastic bowls

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.

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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~

they last pretty long too~~

And this is why I don't use sponges; they harbour so many germs. I thought dish cloths were mainly made from cotton yarn, not some special stuff.

One more thing... you know how dishwash soap is not good for your health, right? If you use the knitted dish wash cloth to wash dishes under warm running water, it cleans away oils and other nasties out, even if you don't use dishwash soap. It leaves a shine on the dishes. (We add more water to our dishwash soap, so we don't use too much of it.)

I use microfibre cloths and water to do must of my cleaning; same principle.

Knitted dish cloths and plastic bowls

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