I haven’t posted anything here for quite some time, and there are many reasons, which I can’t and won’t go into now but I am writing today and what I want to share with you is a pattern for some wonderful reusable cleansing pads.
I’ve been trying to live more sustainably for quite some time now, mainly because the amount of plastic packaging material that exists in Germany is terrifying and the fact that Germany recycles is not actually something the country should be proud of! Not using plastic at all is the solution, so over the last few months I’ve changed to shampoo bars, I make my own moisturiser and even a tooth cleaning powder, which my daughter and I use. We both also have bamboo tooth brushes and I found – rather expensive – bamboo cotton wool buds online (I recently saw that the drug store I go to sells paper ones, so I’ll buy those once the bamboo ones are finished). I’ve also started using reusable cloth pads and a moon cup.
One thing that I didn’t have a real alternative for though was cleansing pads. Honestly, I also didn’t think they were that big of an issue, after all they are made out of cotton wool, right? However, the manufacturing process isn’t very environmentally friendly and hey, if you can use a reusable product rather than a throw away one, that’s a win, right?
So, yesterday I sat down and worked on a pattern. I showed it on my Instagram and Facebook page and some of you were interested in a pattern, so here it is…
You will need:
2 balls of ColourSpun 100% cotton aran weight yarn in the colours of your choice. This cotton is a chain plied yarn and is extremely soft, if you can’t get this type of yarn in your area look for a natural, non mercerised cotton with a gram to weight ratio of approximately 50g/62m.
4mm crochet hook
scissors and tapestry needle
I was able to make seven cleansing pads out of one ball and I still have quite a bit left from the ball with which I made the basket.
I am using US terminology
ch – chain
inc – increase
MR – magic ring
puff – puff stitch (*yo, insert hook and draw up a long loop* rep from * to * 3 more times, close with ch)
sc – single crochet
slst – slip stitch
rsc – reverse single crochet (this is worked like a regular sc but in the other direction. It can get a bit fiddly but it creates a lovely edge. Make sure you work quite loosely here! Insert the hook in the last stitch from the previous round, pull up a loop, yo and pull through both loops on the hook.)
yo – yarn over
To make the cleansing pad:
MR, secure with slst. Round 1. Draw the loop on your hook up to the hight of a double crochet and make one puff, 5 puff, pull MR closed and close with slst into ch of first puff.
Round 2. Draw the loop on your hook up to the hight of a double crochet and *make one puff into the stitch directly above the puff, make the next puff into the space between the two puffs* ( you may have to use your fingers to move the puffs apart a bit, this also helps you avoid catching pieces of yarn from the puff), rep from * to * 10 more times. You should have 12 puffs in total. Use a slst to close the round. NOTE: If you are using thinner yarn, you might want to make a third round, in order to make your cleansing pad larger. You will be repeating round 2 exactly as before but this time you will end up with 24 puffs at the end of the round.
Round 3. Make a rsc into each stitch and between every puff. You will end up with 24 rsc. Cut the yarn leaving a good length to weave in the end pull the loop up so that the tail exits through the finished stitch. If you are not a fan of the crab stitch you could make a row of sc alternated with 2ch instead. This will create a pretty picot edge similar to the reverse single crochet.
Weave in the ends.
The basket
MR, secure with slst. Round 1. Make 6 sc into MR, pull ring closed, slst round closed.
Round 2. Ch1, 2 sc into each stitch (inc), slst round closed.
Round 3. Ch1, (sc inc, sc) rep to end, slst round closed. (12 sts)
Round 4. Ch1, (sc, sc inc, sc) rep to end, slst round closed. (18 sts)
Round 5. Ch1, (3 sc, sc inc) rep to end, slst round closed. (24 sts)
Round 6. Ch1, (2 sc, sc inc, 2 sc) rep to end, slst round closed. (30 sts)
Round 7. Ch1, (sc inc, 5sc) rep to end, slst round closed. (36 sts)
Round 8. Ch1, (6 sc, sc inc) rep to end, slst round closed. (42 sts)
You may have noticed that I did not place the increases in the same place on each round. This way of increasing creates a rounder form instead of a shape with six slight corners. If you are using thinner yarn continue with this method of increasing until your base is big enough. The rule of increasing is quite simple: you need to increase by 6 stitches in each round.
Round 9 – 14 (6 rounds). Ch1, sc in each stitch around, slst round closed. (42 sts)
Round 15. Rsc in each st around. Cut the yarn leaving a good length to weave in the end pull the loop up so that the tail exits through the finished stitch. If you are not a fan of the crab stitch you can use the same finishing round as for the cleansing pads.
I don’t use a makeup remover, I just use coconut oil, which works really well.
You can wash these cleansing pads in the washing machine. I would suggest placing them into a laundry bag, so they don’t get lost… like some socks 😉
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