i just discovered what a tawashi is… It is a japanese knit or crochetes scrubber. Powered by a book from kinokuniya called “Magic Scrubbers Part 8″, I whipped up a number of little crocheted scrubbies and dusters.

A baby seal. Believe it or not the pattern gives him x’s for eyes – that wasn’t my idea

For dusting off my TV screen

For dusting off my keyboard

After I started, I discovered the Ravelry group Tawashi Town, and through it that many japanese tawashi are made with an antibacterial acrylic yarn. I snapped some up on etsy and tried it out:

This little fella lives by my sink and does a great job helping me wash dishes!

If you want to give it a try I’ve found are few freely available charted Japanese tawashi patterns:

– Flying Carp
– Ohina Doll

And if you are looking for something in english, try:
– Spiral Scrubbie

and a knitted version at this direct PDF download, or here.