FO: totally unspecial, but sooo cool

#1

I got a call from my dental hygenist for MORE SCRUBBIES! It’s been two years. DH retired and our dental insurance doesn’t let me visit Dr. Johnson anymore! Bah!

Anyway, she’s run her 2-yr old kitchen-size scrubbies into the ground and needs new scrubbies.
She does, her family does, and the dentist office does! :teehee:

So I knit up a baker’s dozen over the past two days. Oy vey. My hands and joints are killin’ me.
Scrubbies are a bear to knit!

I also knit up a body scrubbie for her to try. It has a slightly softer netting, therefore easier on legs and arms. I use one in my bath, and I love it! I’m hoping she likes it and places orders for more.

My Ravelry notes. Free pattern, too.

#2

Unspecial? These are terrific–and so practical and pretty!

Sorry to hear that it was hard on your hands and joints! I figured the smaller projects would be easier on you, but I guess working on such a small scale has its drawbacks, too.

At any rate, great job on these!

#3

It’s real difficult to pull the stitch through after you ‘wrap’ the knit stitch. The netting, together with the cotton, RESISTS the pulling through! It sorta gets ‘stuck’ on itself. Therefore you are always ‘muscling’ the stitch.

In addition, the coarse netting, while it makes the best scrubbie, tears your skin up. It’s abrasive on certain parts of your hands, over and over, it’s like using an emery board on your fingers FOR HOURS.

Don’t get me wrong, knitting only two scrubbies in an evening is fine, but you’re relieved when you’re done.
Fourteen scrubbies in two days is a killer.:pout:

#4

Those are great, sound like a labor of love. I’m not sure I would be able to do it, wimp that I am. Give your poor hands a treat somehow. They deserve it.:muah: :hug:

#5

Give your poor hands a treat somehow. They deserve it.:muah: :hug:

I sure am! I cast on for a dark Hershey chocolate brown alpaca cardigan today! :thumbsup:

#6

Good for you. That sounds like something you’ll enjoy. You know, I think utilitarian items are often underrated.

#7

Those are fantastic! :yay:

I’d always bought nylon net as sheet goods and cut strips to crochet scrubbies - never thought of netting on spools, much less knitting them. :doh:

#8

The scrubbies are wonderful and a great project.
And you more than deserve the break. The alpaca sounds like a real treat (maybe even a little cashmere in the near future?).

#9

There is no such thing as “unspecial” knitting. These look really great and I am sure they are terrific to use. I understand the hands hurting. I am trying to finish a baby blanket done in squares then sewn together and it has a k4tog row that as Ricky Ricardo would say, “eye yi yi!” :rofl: Stinks to be old and the old arthritic hands tell you so! :0) Great job on the scrubbies!!!

#10

Those are great. Where do you get the netting? I’ve only seen it on bolts in the fabric store.
I can definitely understand the sore hands and wrists. :hug:

#11

A lady named Linda sells the 3" netting on 40 yd spool, online, at:

http://knitsandbitsbylinda.com/nylon-netting.html

I’ve been buying netting from her for a few years. She’s great!
DOZENS of colors!

#12

Artlady, you deserve a medal, but all I can give you at the moment is a wavy string of cheerleaders.

I have knit only one of those scrubbies, (and vowed ‘never again’). Surely we could buy something similar?
My hands took a week or more afterwards to heal, so you have my sympathies (and admiration).

#13

Artlady,

Those are very, very cool little thingies :slight_smile: And from what I gather here they are not easy (physically) to make.

I was going to say something about downplaying our projects and knitting in general to address the subject of the topic… But instead I will tell you a story about my own failing to do what I would like to preach.

We spend a lot of time in the local library and I often knit while my kids play and read books. The woman (I first put ‘girl’ to indicate that she is my age) :slight_smile: who works there is an acquaintance, my former customer ‘from the old country’. She is very nice and chatty and we talk often. So one day I was making finger puppets for the hospital (not a very impressive project) while walking around, and she started a knitting conversation. After learning what I was making, she praised me on doing something neat but then said she never made even a scarf. Expecting the usual ‘I have no time or patience’ explanation on her part, I said that knitting for me is like reading a good book – I do it little by little during the day and can’t wait to get to it after I am done with my work.

To which she replied 'yeah, but it is the idea of sitting (at which point she made some moves with her hands to represent knitting) and [I]doing nothing[/I]. While I was trying to pick up my jaw from the floor, she looked me straight in the eye and inquired:

  • It is[I] doing nothing[/I], isn’t it? As opposed to…
  • Watching TV?
  • Cleaning, for example. I don’t have time to watch TV.

So I stood there and said nothing, knitting a puppet to make a kid feel better in the hospital, wearing my fancy scarf by the local designer, surrounded by kids in knit sweaters with a pile of their hats and mittens on the background.

The moral of the story – we should really brag about our work and give praise to each other because nobody else gets us.

#14

Olha, the woman in the library apparently has the mentality that if I can readily buy it, then it couldn’t possibly be worth my time to make one. Either she places a very cheap value on everything or she over values her time to actually make something. I hope I am clearly expressing my thought here.

#15

Ouch! Knitting with this stuff does sound painful. I think I’ll stick with crocheting scrubbies out of plastic bags–at least they don’t rub your hands raw!!

And Olha, I admire you for not saying anything to that woman. I greatly fear I would have A) said something sarcastic and/or B) laughed like a lunatic at her.

The other irony of your story is that obviously since you were WALKING around, you don’t have to [B]sit[/B] to knit at all.

I’ve knitted in public several times and have never really gotten a bad response (other than the fool stranger who wanted to know whether I was making her a sweater–oh, let me think about tha . . . [SIZE=“6”]NO![/SIZE]).

#16

Ouch! Knitting with this stuff does sound painful. I think I’ll stick with crocheting scrubbies out of plastic bags–at least they don’t rub your hands raw!!

Forgive me, please, for being OT but, Antares, I have to know more about crocheting these from plastic bags. A link or something?

I’m not sure I’d ever attempt knitting with netting. I admire anyone who can and does though.

#17

GG: My mom uses the plastic bag scrubbies regularly, so periodically I crochet her some new ones.

I found this link, which has a pattern: http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/06/10/pot-scrubber-crocheted-from-plastic-bags/

Also note that there are sites for the most efficient way to cut plastic bags in strips and how to join them together. By the way, plastic crocheted (and I guess knitted) in bags and such is called “plarn.” Here’s a video of how to cut bags and connect them into strips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYTfKEUerWs.

#18

Has anyone ever watched such programs as Antiques Roadshow? Ever see folks bringing in their heirloom needlepoint, heirloom crosstitched samplers, heirloom carpets, heirloom quilts, heirloom lace?

Oh my, how grateful I am that women who lived before us, in the 14th-18th centuries, were willing to “waste their time” on the arts such as I described above!

As a matter of fact, a “lady’s” upbringing and education was never complete until she had mastered such arts! At least one of them!

Maybe your acquaintance is, at heart, one of the scullery maids! Nothing to do except clean, cook and milk the cows. All very practica, admirable endeavors…but is that all there is to life?

She would never dream of creating something beautiful for her trousseau, or her home!

Oh my, our 21st Century…:doh:

#19

<<The moral of the story – we should really brag about our work and give praise to each other because nobody else gets us. >>

People don’t get the “satisfaction” factor either. Sure, I get satisfaction out of keeping a clean house, but it’s nothing compared to the satisfaction I get out of taking skeins of yarn and turning them into a sweater, or taking flat pieces of fabric and turning them into a quilt, or using an apron I made 40 years ago that still looks almost new, or using the potholders I made 15 years ago that are still holding up quite well… Doing your thing is never a waste of time and if someone doesn’t get it they don’t know what they’re missing!

Judy

#20

They are beautiful in their simplicity… love them.
TEMA :thumbsup: