Small swaps and a simple knitting project

Last weekend, when it looked like winter was done and spring was here (it's 4⁰ in the sun right now, gotta love British weather) we took a walk along the shoreline. Whilst the kids collected crabs legs and amputee starfish, Mr PL and I collected this:

All from a narrow 200m stretch of shoreline, and only as much as we could carry without a bag. There was much more to pick up; and we focused on the stuff that we thought could do immediate damage to our sea life. One of the things we found but didn't pick up was a kitchen sponge, the kind with the scratchy plastic scourer on one side.

I haven't used one in years and have tried a variety of alternatives, including crocheted and knitted cloths (no abrasion but great for wiping and damp dusting), loofahs (expensive if you can't grow them yourself), wooden brushes (expensive and short lived) and steel scourers (great for tough baking stains).

These days, along with a steel scourer for tough stains, I use one of these:

I whipped these up from a large ball of jute garden twine I bought to wrap Christmas presents; just 20 rows of garter stitch worked across 17 stitches on 5 mm knitting needles. They tick all the boxes. They are just abrasive enough to remove sauce gack, don't scratch glass and they dry quickly. They are cheap too - my £2.50 ball of twine from Wilko's is probably enough to make 7 or 8 of these.

If you don't know how to knit, this Youtube video series explains the basics very well. These would make a great 1st project after you've mastered the basics, much quicker and more useful than the misshapen scarf that I made when I learnt to knit!