Cotton in the Straw
I have one of these...
...and it generally lives on my side table. I drink water from it constantly. It has a lovely little straw that sticks out of the top...
Naturally, from time to time I need to clean my mug. That's easy enough. But cleaning the straw is more of a challenge. How does one clean a straw like this? (Seriously, I'm asking. What do you all do that I'm missing?)
Last week I had an idea.
I took some 18-gauge wire I had on hand (for various other projects). I cut it longer than the straw length. And I coiled both ends...
(Apologies. This was the best picture I could get of the ends. And, my wire technique needs practice--a lot of practice.)
Then, I took some cotton yarn (kitchen cotton they call it, the kind that's perfect for washcloths), and I crocheted a row...
...that was a bit longer than the straw. (I did one row of chain, and then alternated single and double crochets until the end where I did about an inch's worth of single crochets.) A strand of yarn at the end easily slid over the coil...
...and I had the perfect little thing to wipe out the inside of the straw...
And here's a much better photo of the coil...
These are the sorts of things I think about when I have an odd moment here or there. I don't generally get them complete this quickly, but I had all the materials on hand, and it didn't take very long at all.
Now, if only I could get one of my other projects to completion...
...and it generally lives on my side table. I drink water from it constantly. It has a lovely little straw that sticks out of the top...
Naturally, from time to time I need to clean my mug. That's easy enough. But cleaning the straw is more of a challenge. How does one clean a straw like this? (Seriously, I'm asking. What do you all do that I'm missing?)
Last week I had an idea.
I took some 18-gauge wire I had on hand (for various other projects). I cut it longer than the straw length. And I coiled both ends...
(Apologies. This was the best picture I could get of the ends. And, my wire technique needs practice--a lot of practice.)
Then, I took some cotton yarn (kitchen cotton they call it, the kind that's perfect for washcloths), and I crocheted a row...
...that was a bit longer than the straw. (I did one row of chain, and then alternated single and double crochets until the end where I did about an inch's worth of single crochets.) A strand of yarn at the end easily slid over the coil...
...and I had the perfect little thing to wipe out the inside of the straw...
And here's a much better photo of the coil...
These are the sorts of things I think about when I have an odd moment here or there. I don't generally get them complete this quickly, but I had all the materials on hand, and it didn't take very long at all.
Now, if only I could get one of my other projects to completion...
Comments
Post a Comment