Friday, March 16, 2007

New Towels

I mentioned once that my mother was very good at gift giving. Freakishly good.

Until recently we had what could be described as an abundance of bathroom towels. Then we added a second bathroom. Then I had just enough towels for both bathrooms. Thanks to a gift that arrived in the post this week from my mother, we have gone back to our abundant towel status. She sent a lot of towels.

Here are some of the lovely white, fluffy towels. (the others are being washed)
You really need to wash towels just after you get them. New towels still have lots of fabric treatments on them. These fabric treatments or size makes the toweling fabric easier to handle during manufacture and look nice on the shop shelves. Sadly, it also prevents towels from absorbing water, their primary function. If you find yourself drying off with a new towel that hasn't been washed yet, you will find that you are merely smearing water around your skin and none of it is going into the towel. If you wrap your hair in one of these new, unwashed towels, you will find water trickling down the back of your neck and by your ears, which is most unpleasant.

When we were in Egypt last year, we stayed in a hotel for two weeks. The hotel was nice and the staff there really made such an effort to make us feel comfortable. The room cleaners put brand new fluffy towels in our room. They were new out of the wrapper and the staff set them out in pride of place in the bathroom. Sadly, we had to ask the confused hotel staff for older towels. The new ones just weren't doing the job.

I am in the process of washing, drying and refolding the new towels. They're such a bright white at the moment. I want them to stay that way for a long time. This means that I have to be extra vigilant in grabbing the towels before they get stuck in a mixed colour wash. They'll go grey, a bit yellow or an odd shade of not quite blue if I'm not careful. These are whites only wash towels. I also have to protect their whiteness by keeping them away from these items.

Purple grape juice

Muddy wellies
Dogs

Thanks Mom! I love the new towels!

11 comments:

Betty said...

I love new towels, although I haven't bought any in a long time. Big, soft, cozy, comfy, towels.

Tink said...

Hoop and only have two towels right now. The rest are packed, God knows where. Those towels look lovely! *Sigh*

Anonymous said...

I also lovenew towels, the softness never lasts long enough! If I was well off I would get new towels every couple of months!

Anonymous said...

What you say about washing towels before using them is so true. Recently, I got a new bathrobe. I hadn't had time to wash it yet and in the morning I spilt something on my robe. So I put that one in the washing machine and put the bathrobe on for the time being.
Fifteen minutes later, my eyes started crying and my nose running. I didn't understand it straight away, but it was just an allergic reaction to the robe. As soon as I had taken it off and taken my shower, the crying stopped.
My mother always used to say that one should never wear anything that hadn't been washed or cleaned before hand and she was right.


Like you, I just love brand new towels.

Anonymous said...

glad you like 'em. they look nice stacked by your new sink, too. my guilty secret is that i never wash things before i use/wear them. can't be bothered. my other guilty secret is that often i fall asleep at night doing a crossword, and until i finally figured out to stop using my beloved fountain pens, i ruined a bunch of sheets. and when i washed the sheets with towels, the ink would spread to the towels and NEVER come out of either. now i use a nice sharp lead pencil with a good eraser. (do you have any idea how many BAD erasers are being attached to pencils these days? now i'm very choosy about what kind of erasers are on the pencils i pay for.)

i like the rug on the wood floor next to your glass door, btw. place looks very homey and attractive.

xo, ma

Jay said...

The only new towels I have gotten in a long time are the ones I have stolen from hotels. haha

But, I had to stop that cause most hotels count towels in each room and charge people fro missing towels. Can you believe those people? ;-)

Joy Des Jardins said...

I love new towels. I just got a lot of towels as a present not long ago too when I redid my upstairs bathroom....finally. I have accumulated so many towels over the years, but for some reason I just can't get rid of them. I have passed some on to a couple of my kids, but my closet is full. I love the really big, soft ones.

Shammickite said...

Lovely picture! White towels always look so pristine and inviting, but I usually buy coloured ones because I find it hard to keep the whiteness white enough. Maybe I'm just a lazy washerwoman and I don't take enough care.

J-Funk said...

How lovely! Your ma is a good gift-giver.

Gordon said...

What is it with you wummin and towels? My missus is the same... on and on about getting new towels, then when you finally cave and agree, you wash your hands ONCE after working on the car ... all hell breaks loose!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.