Day 17. It’s High Time we Tout the Tea Towel
HOME–I have a peculiar habit, of an ilk I don’t typically admit to, especially when blogging to the entire planet accessing the Internet But here goes: I iron my linens.
I did it again tonight, as soon as I walked in from work. I ironed about thirty+ linen napkins, tea towels and dishcloths before I gave in to impatience. Perhaps it sounds a wee bit obsessive, but sometimes, when I’m shooting quick bursts of hot steam into the fabric, then smoothing out the growing square stack of layered color and pattern, I feel strength in my resolve. Side note in defense of sanity: I hardly ever iron my sheets.
Somehow, this insistence, this weekly discipline of ironing dinner napkins to be used once and discarded immediately into the laundry bin, defines my meager attempt at gentility. It makes me feel like I’m honoring myself, as if I’m worthy of unwrinkled linens.
Yes. I am worthy.
This admission makes me want to step out of myself, lean down and softly pet my little head. I suppose as crazy as it is, one part of me, appreciates the other part of me, continuing this antediluvian chore.
So much for self-realizations, here is my latest cottony crush– a recherché linen source that I’ve run across while out window shopping and wish-listing:
Look at these gorgeous tea towels! I am so taken with these sweet somethings. The typography is bold, the ideas are wry and woven with wit, and the soft colors– cinnamon, mineral, slate, copper, and willow– come hither. I believe these supple cloths are destined, in fact, to hang at my side, in my kitchen. I must have one or two or three or more.
Christina Weber runs Studiopatro (Pattern Studio), located in San Francisco. A former art director/designer, Christina began the studio as a way to weave her love for design into patterns and onto fabric. Today, she collaborates with her own studio/community of artists, weavers, screeners, and friends, who fabricate these beauties in a show of clean, pure adoration for the art of the tea towel.
Ah, to find your true destiny in a tea towel- now that is poetry in linen. I think I’m going to go iron now.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:30 am
I iron my napkins but only when company is coming, lol. It’s the one chore I hate, but I can totally see why people love it. My Mom is an ironing fool, she used to iron my jeans. I will always have a vivid memory of her standing in the kitchen with the ironing board, humming to herself, then happily announcing “Done!”.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Gosh, I don’t even think I own linen napkins. Now I feel trashy. I bet you have decorative soap in your bathroom, too…that nobody is allowed to use
November 18th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Nah, no decorative soap. Although I do love good-smelling soaps, I have to use them. My illness stops at napkins. Or somewhere around there. As most of my friends and family note, I have a huge pile of un-ironed clothes on a chair in my bedroom. It moves and grows like Sigmund the Sea-monster. And if there’s ever a napkin lodged in it, I fish it out and promptly iron it.
Go figure.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:34 am
we use cloth napkins and i would love to iron them but don’t. maybe one day i will. just curious..do you have kids?
November 18th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
@deva. No kids. If I did, I’m sure the daily racing around and stress would be too much for me to even remember their names half the time, much less napkins. I’d be in the fold-em-as-best-you-can mode.
When little ones come to stay, we use trusty IKEA paper napkins. They’re sturdy and cheap! When they get old enough to iron and no longer need a napkin to wipe their cute little faces, they’ll get a cloth napkin, too. It will be a ceremonial right of passage at Auntie’s house. There’s a time and place for everything.
(BTW- the bangs look GREAT. I can’t believe you did that and pulled it off!)
November 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
lol..thanks, kim. i was hoping you had a secret easy method for ironing napkins…although i see child labor is in your master plan (when they get old enough to iron..). love it!
November 19th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I come from a long line of Scandinavian women who buried treasures of scented soap in freshly ironed linens. What a delicious feeling to slip into a bed made with smooth and softly scented sheets. I really hesitate to tell you how wonderful it is, because once you try it, you’ll be hooked. And who needs one more thing to do?!
I iron napkins, sheets, tea towels . . .but I do have my limits . . . I stop short of ironing my husband’s boxer shorts.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:41 am
@Nancy OH, you’ve done it now. I’m off today and on my list of to-dos is changing bed linens. My iron is up and the steam is piping hot! You knew I would have to try this. Now, to find a soap that smells like sweet dreams….