Gift Lab #3: Joanna Gets Grabby

1) Product Name: Grab and Dry Terry Dishtowel Gloves

2) Background Research: The day I was tall enough to reach the kitchen sink, my mother made it my responsibility to wash and dry the dishes. Occasionally, I could use a crisp dollar bill to bribe my little sister to dry, but usually it was a one-woman job and one that I loathed. Fast-forward 10 years and even though I now reside with my boyfriend instead of my mother, I’m still the dish girl. Fun (not so much for me) fact — I’ve actually never lived in a house or apartment with a dishwasher.

3) Hypothesis: I’m making a bet that these dish towel gloves will max out after drying 10 items (a mixture of glasses, plates and bowls).

4) Experiment: While preparing for a house guest to arrive last Monday, I had to quickly get rid of the heap of dishes sitting around my kitchen. Now, unlike most people, I only have a countertop as wide as a cutting board and therefore have create a designated “dish drying area” by placing a towel over the stovetop. It’s a little lumpy, but it does the job. However, it takes a couple of hours for the dishes to dry and I only had 30 minutes. Behold the bright orange dish drying gloves! This time I used the lure of extra Modern Warfare II playing time to bribe my boyfriend to wash so that I could try out the newly acquired cleaning helpers.

5) Results: At first, I was in love. With my little mittens, I could actually keep up with his washing speed! The dishes weren’t as dry as if I had used a towel, but it was good enough for me. Yet, soon enough I realized that while I was removing water, I was actually adding tiny bit of orange material to every dish.

The gloves lasted until about 10-12 items before they became soaking wet. I tossed them over the sink and in a couple of hours they were dry and ready for more action.

Conclusion: 1) For optimum results, take the time to wash the gloves before using them. When I used them the second time to dry a sink full of dishes, the pilling was significantly less frequent. 2) Bribery is always the best policy. 3) While the grab and dry gloves are cute (in a blindingly bright, hunting glove kind of way) and pretty fun to wear, nothing beats a dishwasher.