Red Heart Scrubby-The New Cotton Yarn

Okay, Red Heart Scrubby isn’t cotton yarn but was developed to replace cotton yarn when making washcloths or dishcloths. Come learn a little more about Scrubby and each of the yarns that make up the Scrubby family. Be sure to give all of the Scrubby yarns a try to find what works best for you and your next project.

*This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on one of these links and making a purchase a portion will go to the blog. The price you pay will not change and the small commission I receive helps me to keep brining you free content and giveaways on the blog. Thank you for your continued support.*

About Scrubby:

Red Heart started out with Scrubby yarn to give an alternative to the traditional cotton that you could find on the market to make washcloths and dishcloths. If you have ever made one yourself out of traditional cotton you may have found that after using it for a little while it starts to get a smell and ‘sour’.

Scrubby does not get that sour smell because it is made up of 100% polyester. You will still get the strength and softness with this yarn making it perfect to use for washcloths. These also tend to last longer because you don’t have to discard them after they start to smell.

Once the original Scrubby yarn started to take off Red Heart branched out into Scrubby Sparkle. Scrubby Sparkle is the same as the original but now there is a strand of sparkle running through it. Red Heart didn’t stop there, they then created the Scrubby Cotton yarn. Scrubby Cotton had the same texture as Scrubby Original but was now made of 100% cotton. Once Scrubby Cotton was on the market Red Heart listened to all of you and introduced Scrubby Smoothie. Let me break down the differences of each one and when you might want to use them.

Scrubby Original:

Scrubby yarn started out as a 100% polyester yarn. This yarn is so unique for a few reasons. First, it has extra fiber that stick out along the yarn. With the added texture it makes a great yarn for picking up the dirt that you are trying to clean up. People assume that the nubbs, for lack of a better word, on the yarn would be scratchy and harsh, but that is not the case. I use Scrubby Original to make my own face cloths. I like how they feel and they aren’t harsh but they get things moving off of my face.

Red Heart’s original Scrubby is PERFECT for making dishcloths and washcloths. Many times when working with cotton you may start to notice a sour smell after using the item. This typically happens because it takes cotton a long time to dry and it isn’t fully drying out. Since Scrubby is 100% polyester it dries quickly and doesn’t get that sour/moldy smell.

Although the original Scrubby was loved by everyone Red Heart knew there were ways to change the way it was to make more people fall in love. Next they came out with Scrubby Sparkle.

Scrubby Sparkle:

Scrubby Sparkle is the same as the original scrubby but now has a strand of metallic in it. The metallic strand is to help make quite and unique projects. Scrubby Sparkle allows you to use the Scrubby family for crafting and making outside of washcloths and dishcloths.

Red Heart has a few FREE patterns on their website for Scrubby Sparkle that are worth trying out. Remember, if you like a pattern from any of the Scrubby yarns feel free to swap them out to get the look that you are going for.

Scrubby Cotton:

Many times we become conditioned to think that there is only one way to do something, or one product to use. Really that is called AMAZING marketing. Red Heart heard its customers saying that they wanted to work with a cotton yarn when making dishcloths.

Before Scrubby Original came out the only choices you had for washcloths was to use a cotton yarn. Rather than fight what people wanted to use Red Heart they came out with Scrubby Cotton.

Scrubby Cotton is the combination of the texture of Scrubby original and the fiber content that you were all looking for. This is a great compromise because it allows you to try out the texture of the Scrubby family without changing too much for what you are used to using. Once you try out Scrubby Cotton give Scrubby Original a try and see which you like better.

Scrubby Smoothie:

Once again Red Heart heard what you were saying and your concerns about using the textured yarn. Their team put together a new cotton yarn, worsted weight like many of the others, to let you have the Scrubby family of yarns in a new way.

Scrubby Smoothie is the only yarn in this collection that does not have a texture to it. When you look at it you will assume it is just like all of the other cotton yarns on the market made for making washcloths. Once you pick it up and feel it you will know that it isn’t quite the same.

Scrubby Smoothie is softer, in my opinion, than many of the other options out there. I hear often that people struggle with using cotton yarn because over time it will start to hurt their hands. The nature of cottons fiber makes it more stiff and harsh on your hands while working with it. Although Scrubby Smoothie is still a 100% cotton yarn, it is softer than what you might have been working with before.

When using Scrubby Yarn:

Because the yarn has texture it can be hard to see where the stitches are. In order to find your stitches, just feel around for them. You will need to rely more on your fingers finding the stitches vs. your eyes finding the stitches. A great way to know where the start and end of the row are is to use removable stitch markers.