Year of the Eggplant

I have gone tawashi crazy! You may be asking yourself, "What on earth are tawashi?" Or something along those lines.

Well, tawashi are something you hold in your hand and clean with. There can be sponge tawashi, or kamenoko tawashi (a scrub brush made from palm fiber). However, I am talking about crocheted tawashi, or eco-tawashi. They are handmade scrubbers that can be created in all kinds of awesome designs! Here in Japan there is antibacterial, odor-resistant acrylic yarn, which is made especially for tawashi. If you make tawashi out of acrylic yarn, you can even clean without soap! Tawashi can be used to clean dishes, kitchens, dishes, shoes, cars, anything really!

Antibacterial yarn doesn' t seem to be available in the US, so I've been selling the yarn in my online etsy store. Etsy is a website dedicated to handmade goods, crafts, and supplies. If you haven't been there already, you've got to see all the amazing stuff available!

I've also been selling pattern books for making tawashi. Japanese crochet books use very clear charts, so if you can read a crochet chart, you should be able to read a Japanese crochet chart!

Tawashi are so much fun to make, and can be made sooo quickly! I've been making them every night! Check out some of my recent favorites...

This tawashi looks like an Ohina Doll, the doll representative of Girls Day (March 3) in Japan.
The pattern is available for free
here

Samugari no minomushi (sensitive to cold bagworm)

Puyopuyo Jellyfish

Bear mitten (made for Stan)

Stupidest Song Ever

The daily 7am stupidest song ever was just broadcast over loudspeakers near my boyfriends house. It is then followed by announcements for the "senior citizens club". Those are the only announcements that ever follow the loud, annoying song. As if old folks can't be contacted by mail or telephone! Ugh.
My town used to blare announcements every morning over loudspeakers, but then they came up with the clever idea to put a transmitter into every home, so they could invade your private space with useless announcements! Needless to say, that monstrosity was promptly unplugged!