Sunday, December 7, 2008

Sham Wow WOW!

I reported before about my trip to Houston, and seeing the International Quilt Show. What I didn't tell you about the show was that they had a BIG market place - with lots of quilting equipment and material, there were some yarn stores, and then they also had some side booths selling other stuff. We stopped at one booth selling ShamWows. These are cloths that are supposed to wipe up spilled liquids, and soak up water and other liquids really quickly. So, my friends and I stopped to listen. At first, we laughed - the salesman's patter sounded just like the ads you see on TV. You know - But WAIT. If you buy it now, you can get another one free! Well, that meant we'd get 6 ShamWows (3 to a package). But it was still just a joke! However, I was designing some felted bags at the time, and started to think how this ShamWow would help me when the bags were drying. Maybe it would make the drying process quicker if I stuffed them in the bag, instead of the newspaper I usually used. So, as we were walking away, I asked one of my friends if she would be interested in splitting the cost with me - we'd each get 3 ShamWows for half price. She agreed, and so we told our other friends where we were going, and amidst much of their laughter, we headed back to the ShamWow booth.
Now, fast forward another week. I felted a bag, and stuffed it with the ShamWow and some newspaper to let it dry. It dried overnight! Really! Overnight! I never had that happen before.
Then, fast forward another couple of weeks, to last night - Saturday. I had two more bags ready to felt. When they came out of the washer, I just put a ShamWow on the bottom of each bag. I didn't use any newspaper (my husband had thrown all the papers out just that morning). I followed the directions - wetting the ShamWows first. Then I squeezed the excess water from them and put them in the base of the bags. After a couple of hours, I examined the drying progress. The ShamWows were soaking - the bags were nearly dry! So once again, I squeezed the excess water from the ShamWows, put them in the base of the bags, and set them out to finish drying. This morning, the ShamWows were soaking again, and the bags were dryer. I couldn't do anything with them then - so I once again squeezed the excess water from the ShamWows and put them in the base of the bags. This evening, when I checked on them, the bags were dry, and there was just a little excess water to squeeze from the ShamWows.
So - all of you who laughed at my purchase (and you know who you are!) I have one thing to say. SO THERE!
I have to wait for the handles to finish drying (I didn't ShamWow them on purpose - they were the control!) And when they do dry, and I put the bags together, I'll post a picture of them!
Moral of this story - well, I'm not sure there is a moral. But ShamWows are great!

6 comments:

Vashti Braha said...

Marty! Contact the company, provide the link to this blog entry, and then suggest that they get a booth in the marketplace of the CGOA Chain Link conferences!!

Red883 said...

Hi Marty!
I couldn't resist a comment on the ShamWows...
I too saw that ad on TV and said to Brian "I can't stand it anymore, so let's try them". You should have gotten 8...4 large chamois colored and 4 smaller blue colored ShamWows. I use them exclusively now. Love it when something REALLY works!!!! They are GREAT!
Anne
http://www.brainsbarn.com

Marty Miller said...

I use mine all the time for felting bags. I need to remember to use them for drying sweaters. They are fantastic!

Leanne said...

I am trying to contact Marty Miller for some informay=tion on one of her designs from the book cool crocheted hats does anyone have any idea on how to contact her?

Marty Miller said...

Hi Leanne,
If you want to send me an email with your question, you can email me at:
thecrochetdoctor@aol.com

Or you can post your question here.

Thanks,
Marty

digifigi said...

Something similar to Shamwow was marketed at state fairs at least five years ago. I'm on my second set, but never used them for felting. Just don't put them in the dryer.