After mugs, knick-knacks, cats and dogs - tell us about your teatowels

I have far too many teatowels Jacky considering that the dishwasher does most of the washing and drying.
I have a huge drawer full, some dating back about 25 years.
So many memories, ones from far flung places, ones from the seaside, ones bought as gifts.My fave one ( good quality Irish linen) is very very old given by my Grandma in about 1969 to me, and has dancing hares on it and bluebells.?

I have enough tea towels to last a few years. After Mum died, we found all the tea towels the kids had brought her from holidays carefully stored away.
Think of her every time I use them, also the new commemorative decimal coin one (1971) that I haven’t yet sullied.

I have one of those Calendargirl*, also from my MIL's unused stash of tea towels.

I have a whole drawer full of them! I thought only the other day that my collection was a bit over the top. Will count them tomorrow! I love household linen and always have, ever since I was a child. Tea towels always provide a quick and relatively cheap thrill! (I suppose there are worse addictions...) I have some of my mum's and some of my mil's which I treasure. Some given to me as gifts, especially by DD1 who shares my enthusiasm, some bought as souvenirs on holiday. And then there's the Christmas ones, including one which was a present the first Christmas we were married...

Refuse to use tea towels. Nasty germ-laden things. Yuk!

If you just collect them that’s OK.

Loads of tea towels, some very pretty given as gifts from holidays and some just serviceable and plain. But one has a special place in my home because it has a printed message on it about the meaning of true friendship. My best pal gave it to me, after 45 years of friendship, just a few weeks before she died. I think of her every single time I see it.

Mine are pristine Pikachu!

I might get them all out tomorrow and admire them
Just for something to do

Admiring tea towels Callistemon? Time hanging heavy?

I might count my spoon drawer tomorrow. Or I might save that for a quiete day!

I look at linen tea towels on eBay and some of the designs are worth a lot of money. There's a Beatles one for £50 and last week one special design was priced at £140.

<everyone rushes to their kitchens to check on their tea towel collection> ££££££???

I've done the cutlery drawer, Chewbacca!

Off to check tea towels on Ebay

I always buy a tea towel from places I visit and now my son is married I buy him one too and he buys me one. It’s become a standing joke between us. Harmless silly fun. And I use them but never more than once before washing as yes - they harbour germs.

My father, who grew up in Lancashire and worked in the cotton industry, always insisted we had linen tea towels, and I do too. I have a large, varied and holey collection, as few places apart from the National Trust seem to sell them now.
Found a collection of those tea towels with the glass stripe down the middle when I emptied their house.

My favourite, never been used, is one which my GS , 21 tomorrow, did along with all his classmates in their first year at school.
They all had to draw themselves and write their name underneath. Most are a head and stick arms and legs and many names are unreadable.
A lovely memento.

Yes, I have one of those too Ann that our son did when aged about ten, a very funny drawing of himself.It sits at the bottom of the drawer unused, as I would like him to find it.....one day (but not just yet!)

I'd forgotten about that one annsixty, thanks for reminding me! I must have that hidden away somewhere; must dig it out.

Am thinking of having similar ones printed for the clientele of The Alphabet Bar.....start drawing Chewy

Mine I’m afraid not very interesting mostly red and white or plain red to match my kitchen walls

I have one of those too - never used. Most of mine are multi-striped linen, bought at Glamis Castle at least 20 years ago. They had been woven on the premises and you could see the looms at work. The weavers were very particular about quality and mine were sold cheap as "seconds", but I couldn't find any flaws. They are still as good as new, in spite of daily use, as are the same ones I gave my son when he bought his first flat. I also have a couple of those linen ones with a red stripe down the centre with "linen" woven into it. They belonged to an older friend of my mother and had already been in use for years. The rest are various cotton ones with souvenir designs - not as hardwearing but useful just the same, and not just for drying dishes.

I have t-towels with the handprints of my Pre-School classes printed on them also a few that my childrens class had printed with self portrait on them. I was given one every year my DGD was at primary School that had a Christmas card she had designed printed on to it. I treasure them all and they have a special shelf all of their own

I bought a couple of tea towels recently but am planning to ask for a refund - not fit for purpose - far too beautiful to use, especially if you love hares.

People have given me various picturesque ones from their travels.
The cotton/linen ones sit in the drawer, utterly useless for drying pots. Eventually I give them away, in as pristine a condition as they arrived.

I use absorbent towelling ones for drying pots which in fact I rarely do.

I wash pots and leave them to drain and dry in the sun which shines through the kitchen window from about 3pm to sunset.

Pikachu Not germ laden if you change them after one use. If you iron the ones you have laundered, their insides are sterile or close to sterile and recommended for covering burns.

Well yes, if you use them once and then ‘change’ I agree. That presumably mean washing them and ironing them to maintain their germ-free status, but what a waste of value resources - water, electricity, soap powder - all for a tea towel.