Review: Red Heart Scrubby Yarn

Socks may be my favourite project to knit, but I also love quick little projects that provide a big sense of accomplishment. I have a huge pile of dishcloths made with kitchen cotton, and they work great. But, when I learned about Red Heart’s new (to me, anyway) Scrubby yarn I knew I had to try it and put it to work in my kitchen.

scrubbyyarn

Red Heart’s Scrubby in colourways Royal, Coconut, and Grape

Don’t get this Red Heart Scrubby confused with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Scrubby/Lily Sugar’n Cream Scrubby (now discontinued) or Mary Maxim Scrub It. They very different yarns. Red Heart Scrubby is 100% polyester with a very unique construction. The main body of the yarn is a chain, and it has all kinds of little twisted tendrils coming off of it. These are what provide the scrubbing power. The other yarns, all essentially the same, are more or less a ribbon with little loops along the side. After having used both yarns, I think that Red Heart’s Scrubby is superior when it comes to cleaning up in the kitchen. Its tendrils provide lots and lots of scrubbing power.

Clean in Stripes and Simple Knit Scrubby Washcloth knit in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourways Royal and Coconut

Clean in Stripes and Simple Knit Scrubby Washcloth knit in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourways Royal and Coconut

The wonderful people over at Yarn Canada we kind enough to provide me with three balls of Scrubby to take for a test drive. I chose the colourways Royal (a nice bright blue), Grape (a grapey purple that it hard to photograph), and Coconut (a nice bright white). To fully experience the yarn, I made a variety of patterns in both knit and crochet, pulling from the free patterns offered by Red Heart. I’ve included links to my Ravelry project pages at the end of this post.

Scalloped Edge Dishcloth crocheted in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourway Grape

Scalloped Edge Dishcloth crocheted in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourway Grape

Scrubby’s label says that is yarn weight 4 (worsted/medium), and gets a gauge of 16 stitches and 21 rows over 4″ (10cm) with a 5mm/US8 knitting needle or a gauge of 13 single crochet and 15 rows over 4″ (10cm) with a 5.5mm/I9 crochet hook. In working with it, I found this to be mostly true, although I preferred the density of fabric that came with working with 4mm/US6 knitting needles.

Ghostly Dish Scrubber knit in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourway Coconut

Ghostly Dish Scrubber knit in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourway Coconut

Knitting with this yarn didn’t really require any special considerations. The little twisted tendrils didn’t get in the way as much as I thought they might. Occasionally, when doing something tricky like k2tog, the tip of my needle got caught in a tendril, but mostly it was smooth sailing. Also, after working on projects with both garter stitch and stockinette, I prefer this yarn in garter stitch. The fabric is much springier, and it feels like it would scrub better.

Hexagon Crochet Dishcloth crocheted in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourways Royal and Coconut

Hexagon Crochet Dishcloth crocheted in Scrubby Yarn from Red Heart, colourways Royal and Coconut

It was a bit more difficult to crochet with Scrubby. The tendrils made it very difficult to find the proper loops when crocheting into a foundation chain. And, in cases where I needed to crochet into a chain 1 space in the row below, sometimes that space was a little hard to find. All of the dishcloths turned out really nice in the end, but I think I am likely to stick to knitting with Scrubby instead of crocheting.

Scrubby Bath Pouf (upper right) and mini Corner-to-Corner Scrubby (lower left), made with Red Heart's Scrubby yarn in colourways Royal and Coconut

Scrubby Bath Pouf (upper right) and mini Corner-to-Corner Scrubby (lower left), made with Red Heart’s Scrubby yarn in colourways Royal and Coconut

So, I’m sure you are wondering how the dishcloths perform. They are great! The tendrils really do make the cloths super scrubby, wiping away stuck on yuck on my dishes so quickly. Not only that, but they also dry so much faster than my kitchen cotton dishcloths. During these hot and humid summer days, I totally want a dishcloth that dries quickly and stays sweet smelling. And when it is time to clean these Scrubby dishcloths, they only need to be popped into the washer and drier with the rest of your kitchen linen. Easy!

Scrubby has now become my go to yarn for dishcloths and bath poufs. It it enjoyable to work with, has get scrubbing power, and still manages to feel soft on the skin. I foresee a lot of dishcloth knitting in my future!

You can purchase Red Heart Scrubby from Yarn Canada (free shipping in Canada if you spend $35!) or at other yarn shops. Give it a try for your next round of dishcloth knitting. I’m sure you will love it.

You can check out all my Scrubby projects on Ravelry:

And, finally, a big thank you to Yarn Canada for making this review possible by providing me with the yarn.

 

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4 Responses to Review: Red Heart Scrubby Yarn

  1. Christine says:

    Very cool!

  2. Rachel says:

    I remember knitting dischcloths at school – but when we’d finished they were unravelled and we had to start again. It rather put me off…!

  3. Joanne P says:

    Great review, love the ghost scrubber, you could make two of him sewn together for a spooky bath mitt for children.

  4. Heather says:

    How cool! I didn’t know they made yarn like that but I don’t knit or crochet lol