Goodbye Sponge, I will not miss you

As most of you know me, I'm always on the hunt for a new project, cutting out toxic things in my home, or searching for good deals. One thing Ive been trying to figure out how to exclude in my life was the dreaded sponge. That once new sponge that cleaned your dishes but quickly turned into a germ infested mess. Yep, that thing. I started by looking for earth friendly sponges or a alternative to the regular ones. New Seasons has biodegradable ones you can buy for about $2 but those quickly turned into germ infested squares just like the regular ones. I was cleaning out my knitting bags and had a great idea. Why not knit a sponge? So I came up with a great plan . Again anyone that knows me knows that I do not plan very well or remember how I did things. I'm very scatter brained so I will try my best to describe what I did.

Tools you will need:

Cotton Yarn -try Sugar and Cream cotton yard available at any craft store.

Knitting Needles (short or long will work) size #5 or #6

Large stainless steel needle with blunt tip (usually for kids)

Learn to knit easily by watching these free video's

http://www.knittinghelp.com/

I would say go buy a book but you really only need to watch someone to first learn. Then get a good book or find easy instructions on the Internet for free.

Knit 15 across

This is the same width as a sponge. Do not pearl stitch at all. When you knit only, this gives you lots of grooves and will be used for those though dishes and will not scratch your dishes.

Knitting the rest determines how big your hand is and how long you want your sponge. You want enough so you can fold it over on itself making it 2X as thick. Mine was about 3.5 inches-4. So I needed to knit about 7-8 inches. Once done, just bind off. Learn here how to do this here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1713550754206421652#.

Once you bind off, simply use the string that you have dangling from your knitted piece to stitch it together. I would keep about 1ft or more then cut it and thread on your needle. Fold over your knitted piece in half, then start to stitch them together. Once done, just knot it and then cut off most of the string but leaving about 2 inches. Use this 2 inches to thread into the piece so you don't have any strands hanging out.

Done!

Directions: Machine wash anytime you need to freshen it up. Throw it in the dryer to shrink it back up again. This will last you for years if taken care of properly. If it gets too discolored just soak it in bleach water then wash it again. Should come out nice and clean.

Im so excited to decided to try this out. No more buying those sponges and no more worries about how yucky and filled with germs they are. Yahoo!