Hi all! This month’s plastic-free challenge is to find or make plastic-free milk(s). Along with a monthly plastic-free challenge, I wanted to do an eco-friendly craft. So, this month’s eco-friendly craft is going to be the dish scrubber pad!
I already did an article on how to knit your own dish scrubber. So, for this article I wanted to focus more on the different yarns you can use for the scrubber. Because that’s were I ran into a few hiccups in the last article. I’ve tried a few scrubber yarns now and I’d like to share some of my insights.
Why use a homemade dish scrubber?
- They are reusable
- They have good longevity
- The scrubber pads are machine washable
- They are very quick and easy to make
- If made with 100% cotton yarn they should be compostable
- They scrub dishes really well!!
Why focus on the dish scrubber yarns?
When I wrote the post on how to make the dish scrubbers, I ran into a small problem with the yarns. Over the years I’ve been making my scrubber pads with 2 types of yarn worked together. One is a 100% smooth cotton, the other is a polyester scrubby yarn. Since my goal is to cut down on plastics, polyester presents a problem because it is technically considered a plastic.
Even though my cotton/polyester scrub pads have been working really well, I wanted to find a scrubby type yarn that wasn’t made with synthetic materials. The first yarn I found didn’t have nearly the scrubbing power as the polyester scrubby yarn. But I was able to find a 100% scrub yarn that also does a good job of getting the dishes clean.
Here are the different dish scrubber yarns I’ve tried
For my dish scrubbers, I find that doubling the yarn makes for a better cleaning pad. For the smooth cotton, you’ll need a sturdy yarn like Lily Sugar N’Cream or something similar. Then double the yarn with one of the scrub yarns listed below depending on how you plan to use your scrub pad.
Red Lion – Scrubby (100% polyester)
This is the yarn I’ve originally worked with and I would still recommend. Because even with it being polyester it still cuts down on so much waste! I’ve had some of my scrubby pads for 5+ years now and they’re still going strong. That’s 5 years that I haven’t needed to buy, or throw away, any foam or plastic cleaning/scrubbing pads. With the exception of a bit of steel wool for the really burnt on stuff, all I’ve needed are these homemade dish scrubbers.
Lily Sugar N’ Cream – Scrub Off(100% cotton)
This yarn alternates between the smooth and scrub cotton yarn within the ball itself. To use this yarn I cut at the alternation points so I could make my usual doubled yarn pattern. However, the scrub yarn in this skein isn’t well suited for cleaning dishes. The scrub yarn is on the softer side which decreases its scrubbing ability. While it doesn’t work well for dishes, in my opinion, it would work really well as a washcloth.
Yarn Bee – Scrub-ology (100% cotton)
So far this yarn is the most comparable to the polyester scrubby yarn. It’s a coarser cotton so it has a bit more scrubbing power than the Scrub Off yarn. So that’s a good sign. However, since I just started working with this yarn I’m not sure how its longevity compares to the polyester. Like I said, my polyester/cotton ones have been going for 5+ years.
Dish Scrubber patterns
My dish scrubber is an easy knit pattern. If you would like something more variety or a crochet pattern, check out Yarnspiration. They have lot’s of free patterns you can download.
If you decide to use the cotton scrub yarn I should probably mention that they do shrink a bit in the wash. So if you use my pattern and feel like the scrub pad is a bit flimsy, don’t worry. It will be more sturdy after it goes through the washing machine.
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