Tea Towels

I've been re-thinking garbage this summer - trying to be more thoughtful about the compost and gardening, trying out worm composting, and trying to cut down on packaging with the things we buy. Not always easy, like the big jar of applesauce that got moldy because I forgot it - those little applesauce cups are so convenient! But little by little we keep trying to reduce, reuse, recycle.

I never really used paper towels when I was single - I'd go through a roll in a month or so - but man, with little kids I sure started using them a lot. In an effort to get back to a reasonable amount, I made myself some brown linen tea towels for the kitchen - for cleaning up glasses, tables, etc. Really wet or gooey messes I still reach for paper. The old icky tea towels are getting recycled into floor cleaning up towels, stored under the sink (thanks to an idea from SouleMama).

These tea towels couldn't have been easier to make and I made three out of only 3/4 of a yard of linen (on sale). Hem up the sides and fray the tops and bottoms and you are done. Plus you get a nice handful of threads for birdsnests next spring - I recycled it out in our hedge.