Interweave Yarn Hacks: DIY Cotton Duster

I remember when I first bought a Swiffer sweeper. I had just gotten a puppy and this dog shed like a maniac everywhere. The hair was overwhelming, especially during the prime shedding season that is summer. A regular broom and dust pan didn’t cut it because the hair would fly all over the place when I swept. The Swiffer changed everything. It would suck the hair up like a magnet and there was no awkward brushing of things into the dust pan leaving that annoying line of dirt that refuses to go away.

After a while, though, I realized I was going through a lot of the sweeper rags (my dog sheds so much, you guys). The cost added up as well as the waste they’d produce, and I decided to create a reusable rag myself. I used some green sport-weight cotton yarn and knit a 10” square in seed stitch. It didn’t take long, it picked up the dog hair super well, and it was machine washable.

Yarn Hacks for Your Home

To make your own cotton duster pad, all you need to do is measure your duster, calculate about how many stitches you need to cast on based on the yarn label gauge (or swatch to be more accurate), and knit up a rectangle in seed stitch or garter stitch. I don’t recommend stockinette stitch because the sides will curl up, and there isn’t as much texture to catch all the dirt. You can dry sweep with this rag, or lightly soak it with water or solution to get the grimier bits of the floor. When it gets too gross to use, just wash it. No fuss, no waste, no problem.

There are a million dishcloth knitting and crochet patterns out there [link to https://www.interweave.com/article/knitting/dishcloths-from-basic-to-beautiful/], which can be used in this context. In fact, you could keep a repository of cotton rectangles and use them as both dishcloths and dusters. Multi-use items are my jam!

Happy Sweeping! [lol tons of fun, right?]
Hannah

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