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Saturday 7 May 2011

Crochet Dishcloth (Pattern Download) - Kinder to the environment and Thrifty, Reduce Your Paper Towel Usage


This is my latest finished project.  It has been my portable project.  I have worked on it when I have been a passenger in the car.  I have also worked on it in waiting rooms for appointments with my son.  My proudest 'public' crochet moment has to be last week, I took it to the Cinema when my six year old and I went to watch 'Rio'. (Which is a fabulous movie by the way.)  I crocheted in the dark wearing 3D glasses, so please forgive any technical errors you may spot!  It is made with two strands of 4 ply cotton and a 5mm hook and is a simple double crochet square.  It turned out rather larger and thicker than intended, but it should be durable and last a long time. I am trying to cut down on Paper Towel usage for thrift and environmental reasons.  I intend to make a collection of these.  I remember my Grandmother knitting garter stitch 'String' dishcloths when I was a child.  They would then be boiled to clean them on the top of the oven.  I will chuck mine in the washing machine. 




Remember These


Come From Trees!


I took this photograph standing inside my front door.  We love this huge Sycamore Tree.



"With over 90% of US households taking advantage of the convenience of paper towels we produce over 3,000 tons of waste each day. Is this problem insurmountable? No - if each home simply replaced one roll of their traditional paper towels with paper towels made from recycled paper, we could avoid wasting 3.4 million cubic feet of landfill space and prevent 864,000 trees from being cut down.
The Benefits of Recycled Paper Towels
By using recycled paper towels we are doing much more than just reducing landfill waste. According to Ideal Bite, "For every ton of 100% recycled paper that is bought, about 4000kWh of energy and 7,000 gallons of water are saved. It also avoids releasing 60 lbs of pollutants into the air."
Reducing Paper Towel Waste
Even using recycled paper towels people tend to have wasteful habits. What can you do to graciously help remind people to reduce their paper towel consumption? You can participate in campaigns against consumer paper waste. It is these very wasteful habits that motivate projects like "These Come From Trees."
"Remember... These Come From Trees"

7 comments:

  1. I made loads of these last year and they're fab! I also made star shaped ones to use as wash cloths/face cloths/ flannnels whatever you want to call them fronm Sugar n Cream yarn a friend brough me back from USA. Brilliant exfoliators!
    Love
    Tickety-boo
    xx

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  2. Good for you promoting GREEN ideas! I have knitted lots of dishcloths in all colors of cotton and love them. I haven't used any for my showers or face cloths as yet as I have several of terrycloth ones. Hugs, Teresa :-)

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  3. Say, I just realized you removed your blog list.. I wondered why. :-)

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  4. Ticketty Boo - I will have to get busy and make some more, there are some pretty patterns out there.

    Tersea - My 'Blog List is still there, temporarily these things disappear for some reason. I lost all my followers! I was quite alarmed, but they all came back. lol. The Blog list feature is really useful, I think.

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  5. I made some using the remnants of my Rico cotton from the Lucy pack. I find they "work" much better than bought ones.
    One friend (who doesn't "get" crochet) remarked that homemade dishcloths were a sign I had too much time on my hands!
    Carol xx

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  6. Carol, they sound very posh, the superior dishcloth for people with discerning taste ;)

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  7. Brilliant post-I shall be popping into my LYS on Saturday and picking some cotton up, why I didn't think of it myself I don't know!

    Sam xx

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