Friday, March 05, 2010

Cleanin' Up

Lucky Dishcloth
Kris Knits' St Patrick's Day Dishcloth

I started the year on a major dishcloth-making kick. I probably the first month and a half I made four (I probably could have made them faster but the fourth was part of a KAL and there were some major delays in clue-posting). Not only were the dishcloths extremely satisfying quick knits, they were great ways to bust through about a quarter of my stashed cotton, and as it would turn out very useful in the near future.

This weekend, in attempt to try and push Spring a little faster into existence, Mike and I have declared it The Big Spring Cleaning Weekend.

It's much needed.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I will for the sake of honesty. In the two and a half years we've lived in our house, we've never deep cleaned it. And scarily, I don't think we've "done" the windows at all, ACK, I know!


Calming Dishcloth
Chinese Waves Dishcloth

So this weekend was marked a few weeks ago as THE WEEKEND.

We tackle the house.

Mike, being Mike, drew up detailed task lists for both of us (I absolutely despise him giving me tasks! I'm the one who is supposed to be giving "Honey Do" lists, not him!), and it seems I've been given the monster rooms.

You know, the rooms with the most stuff. And I only have half a day each to complete them. He's ambitious, what can I say. Well-meaning, but certainly not realistic. It could take me the entire weekend to tackle all the deep cleaning in the kitchen alone.

I'm pretty sure we have very different ideas on what "deep cleaning" means. I'm thinking that involves pulling everything out of the fridge & freezer, scrubbing it out, purging the old stuff, organizing it back in, taking everything out of the cabinets & pantry, wiping them down, reorganizing the places that weren't working, among all the normal stuff like scrubbing counters, sweeping, mopping floors.

Oh! And did I mention I spilled 16oz of fruit punch tonight. Luckily it was in the kitchen and before I did my massive cleaning. But the front of my oven is stained red and the floor is a sticky combination of fruit punch, dog saliva and dog hair.

Pleasant, I know.

But this is life.

Be Mine Dishcloth
Kris Knits' Be My Dishcloth

Instead of getting the head start I thought I would tonight (hey, I did dust my cookbook shelves which were caked in greasy dust...and managed to drop my beautiful Nigella Lawson's "How to Become a Domestic Goddess" cookbook with PMS 871 metallic gold ink into Nibbler's full water bowl), I decided it was a good time to blog.

I never claimed to be logical.

I blame the cup of hot chocolate at 9:30pm for the lack of #1 tiredness & #2 focus.

January Mystery Dishcloth KAL
.Kris Knits' January KAL Mystery Dishcloth (psst, it's a snowman)

I must also note that I don't actually plan on using any of these dishcloths in our cleaning binge this weekend. That way when one of my family members receives one of these come Christmas, they aren't a little grossed out that I gifted them a hand knit, used dishcloth.

My plan is to continue to add to the pile of dishcloths throughout the year. Kill two birds with one stone. Use up my stashed cotton (part of my 2010: The Year to Finish It Up) and have useful, handmade things to give out to family members as Christmas gifts. So dear family, if you read this now, act surprised up December, ok? Sure it may be weird to receive a shamrocked dishcloth on Christmas Day instead of St Patrick's Day, but know they were made with love and are just as handy as something that would be seasonally appropriate come December. It's not that I don't love you enough to make something to match your decor, I just think you'll have a better chance of actually using them to wash your dirty dishes if you're not TOO in love with it.

1 comment:

M said...

I've about given up on the 2nd cloth...starting the Be Mine one this week. Deep cleaning is in my future...we did the windows in the fall, but they need it again. That is first on my list!