Eco & Practical Crochet Patterns

Cotton pads, a soap dish, paper towels and a drawer full of plastic bags - each of these patterns replaces something you would otherwise throw away.

The yardage is the argument for this category. A Facial Scrubby is about 3.25 inches across and roughly 13 yards of worsted cotton on an I hook - one skein makes a stack of twenty, which is a year of disposable cotton rounds gone for about four dollars. The Soap Saver is around 5 inches tall and 40 yards; it lathers through the mesh and lets the bar dry out between uses. The Wash Cloth finishes at 7 by 7.5 inches before the border on an H hook, in the meadow cluster puff, which gives it enough surface texture to work as a gentle scrub. The Plastic Bag Holder is the big one at about 175 yards - pantry-door sized, stuff bags in the top and pull them from the bottom.

Cotton for all four, no exceptions. Acrylic does not absorb, does not scrub, and will not survive being boiled if you ever want to sanitize a scrubby.

Three of the four are beginner. This is a good category to make in multiples: once you have made one scrubby, the next nineteen are muscle memory, and they package into a very good handmade gift set.