Maybe a stupid question about dishcloths and I'm changing my name

Cotton tends to be more popular because it is easier to clean and will stand up to some of the cleaning products out there. I don't work much with cotton, but I do make an occasional dishcloth. I use white or pastel kitchen cotton - I can bleach the hell out of it if necessary (there's LOTS of coffee in my kitchen!), and it goes through the wash on "boil and bake" without complaint.

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 14:52:02 GMT, Qintes spewed forth :

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET. This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%. Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

Hi Pam"jam":

Congrats on your new name, it did get attention from me......and sure brought a grin to my face. I'm just guessing about the dishcloths....maybe cotton is more absorbant and will pick things up better than the acrylic. Again, just a guess, I've knit a lot of those dishcloths but really haven't used them much.

Donna from Ontario, Canada

Hi PamJam,

First, you are the only Pam that I know of and have any record of in this group, but if you want to use another one, fine with me.

I've made a lot of dishcloths and always use the 100% cotton for them. As Wooly said they withstand washing and bleaching and the acrylic yarn just won't hold up like this. I buy the cones of 1lb. Peaches and Creme at Walmart in either off white or shaded pastel. They do last a long time, one I made about five years ago and gets used every day finally developed a hole and I had to make my DH a new one.

Hugs,

Nora where a storm just went through dropping the temps. from 52 to 36F in less then a half hour.

I would guess it is because cotton is absorbent and acrylic is not but hopefully some of the other fiberholics out there know better. You could always experiment by making a small acrylic one and seeing how it works - if you do, be sure to come back and let us know how it worked!

LauraJ

If you ever use your dish towels as hot pads, the acrylic will melt but the cotton won't. Shana

OHHH how Nice another Jam ,,, My name is quite common ,,, miriam is spread sll over ,, i think it is only that Dutch spelling that makes it look different,,,, in the new exhibition there are 4 presents made for Miriam Mose`s sister ,,, My birth name was a lot more facinating , but in the 50s everyone who came here had to have a Proper HEBREW name,,,thus my Marion was changed to mirjam , and my mother only insisted on the Dutch spelling ..Mir +Jam To Pam +Jam ps i don`t kn ow any Pam at all ,, only your name here ...

Oooooooh Pamjam sounds good....lol or pammiejammie ROFL bit long to write unless you shove it on a signature so that you don't have to write anything..

hugz cher

Pam, this is an easy one, cotton being a natural fiber, versus a manmade or syntetic fiber, cotton will win hands down. Cotton will absorb moister very well and also can be boiled or washed in hot water to clean. Man made fibers do not absorb any moister or water at all, and hate hot boiling water. So cotton it is

Els

Shana that is true, but do beware, cotton does burn very easily, and indeed man made or syntetic fibers will melt. However since we using the cotton dish cloth in hot soapy water, it will do just fine.

Els

I would agree with Wooly Pamjam, cotton will stand up to a lot of chemicals and not shrink and you can boil it etc, you'd find that the acrylic yarns tend to hold onto dirt and bits, this is because the wool content in it has tons of little tiles along each shaft, with little tendrils when this is dipped into washing up liquids and detergents and hot water they open up, when you rinse and wring them out, these close up thus grabbing the bits deep into their fibres, it is also this which causes matting or shrinking, spinners call felting or fulling, so cotton is healthier too...

hth cheers.....Cher

In my experience, the acrylic yarns also have an unnatural fondness for melted casserole cheese. The two are nearly inseparable, which makes for some pretty grodie adventures at the sink.

Ewwwww, just the thought of it is yucky!

Gemini

Lol. Thanks Wooly! I'm a big coffee drinker/spiller myself so I guess cotton would be the best way to go. Pamjam

Hi Donna, I'm glad you like it! :D

Why don't you use them? Are they too pretty to use? Some of the ones I've seen in books just look to darn pretty to use. Pamjam

Thanks, Els! I didn't know that. I guess there's really no choice then. So if the acrylic doesn't absorb moisture it would just push my spilled coffee around instead of sopping it up. Learn something new every day! Pamjam

:D

Prevention is the best medicine. I'm anticipating an influx of Pam's in late March/ early April. Pams tend to spill onto the internet every spring and clog the newsgroups.

Isn't there a Pam N. in here somewhere? I'm sure I was talking to another Pam a few weeks ago. Where are you Pam N??? Come on they're starting to think I'm nuts!

Pamjam