Tawashi, Or How I Return to Crochet

I came around to knitting four years ago because crochet was wrecking my wrists. Knitting — at least the way I knit, which is a little strange looking to others — generally doesn’t hurt my wrists (rough cotton aside). I still really liked crochet, but given my career and other hobbies, I needed to limit wrist pain as much as I could. So while I would still work the occasional crochet edging, crochet-heavy projects were out.

E (PokingMyEyesOut) and I ended up at Hilltop Yarn Queen Anne for their moving sale this past weekend. We checked out the antibiotic acrylic yarn — Hamanaka Bonny. Yes: antibiotic acrylic[?!]. Apparently it’s treated with silver ions or something… it’s an inexpensive, bulky, scratchy, squeaky acrylic.

E and I bought a handful of colors of Hamanaka Bonny to share and we each bought a Tawashi book. Kawaii!

I couldn’t resist the siren song of the tawashi and crocheted three within 36 hours of purchasing the book. No wrist pain. I think the bulkier yarn and larger hook size helped.

tawashi mosaic

Hey, tawashi make cleaning fun!

tawashi
cleaning is fun!

Or maybe I am just a little bit crazy.

6 Comments so far

  1. E on June 3rd, 2009

    LOL! Tawashi Siren song :D

  2. Julie on June 3rd, 2009

    Jess that is the funniest photo ever! LOVE it!! LOL I saw it at work today in my feed reader and couldn’t stop laughing. :o)

  3. Andrea (noricum) on June 4th, 2009

    I love that photo too!

    You’ve probably loosened up with crochet, and that’ll help a lot at preventing wrist pain. Beginner crocheters (as with knitting) usually have a death-grip on the yarn, and that’s not good for RSI injuries. Loosening up is much better! Probably after gaining experience with knitting also allowed you to loosen up with crochet.

  4. Andrea R on July 3rd, 2009

    Thanks for the description of the Bonny yarn — I’m interested in selling it, but I didn’t want to drive the 350 miles to Hilltop (I’m in Coeur d’Alene). So I’m guessing it’s scratchy to help “scrub”.
    I love your Tawashi book cover photo!

  5. Pat on October 10th, 2009

    I was given a tawashi similar to the one in the 3rd picture. What book did you use?? Was it in English? Any chance you could share the pattern??

  6. the fiber fetishist » Tawashi, Man on November 10th, 2009

    [...] Back in June, I made a few tawashi. I used them some, storing their colorful selves near the kitchen sink and tossing them in the washer and dryer with the towels every week (they go in dirty and gross but come out looking brand new. magic!). [...]

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