Investigative Blogging Time Part 2: the Crocheted Tampon

[STANDARD LADY-BLOOD DISCLAIMER]

It's been a long time coming - I had a series of minor problems that have held this back (mostly involving how much time I have to crochet and how shitty my camera is). But I think you'll find it's worth it! Oh yeah.

CONSTRUCTION/STRUCTURE
The crocheted tampon that I've used here is based on a pattern by Fern and Faerie. I don’t want to give too much away about the construction of the tampons because these people are running a little independent business which is very brave of them, and the pattern is only going to set you back 50c US. I'll let on enough to say that it’s made in two parts – a crocheted shell and an inner core made of towelling. The best and safest plan would be to make the shell out of an undyed natural fibre like cotton (like I made for the photo), or maybe a cotton bamboo blend for extra softness.

In Real Life, when I got the pattern I was too excited to wait until I had a chance to buy new yarn and I blasted ahead, making my initial crocheted tampons out of pink cotton and teal bamboo (both of which go "interesting" shades). I made the core out of some towelling that I had left over after making my reusable face wipe/pad things. The construction then was pretty straight forward, although my crochet accuracy leaves a lot to be desired and the towelling was easily frayed so I ended up using my overlocker around the edges of the insert.

Natural cotton on the left, teal bamboo and cotton on the right. Behold my poor crochet skills.

EASE OF APPLICATION
As you can see these bad boys aren't tiny, but they’re quite comfortable to wear and insert. They’re inserted exactly as one would insert a regular digital tampon. The pattern suggests using a wooden lollipop stick as an applicator if you’re an applicator gal – I suggest that if you’re ok with having a homemade wad of cotton and towelling up inside yourself you may be ok with touching your own vagina. Just saying.

I don’t have especially heaving lady-blood times, so I found this reasonably absorbent and quite ok wear for the same length of time I would a super tampon. I confess I wore regular disposable liners the first few times I used my crocheted tampons, but I want to make some cloth liners (part of my Grand Plan) and would probably be using these in future.

CLEANING UP
A quick rinse with a mild soap is recommended. I found using regular bathroom soap fine - nothing too perfumed. The towelling inner pulls out of the crochet shell and washes quite easily. I then sterilised the whole thing by boiling it in some water on the stove. At the end of my period I seperated the shells and linings and threw them into a laundry bag before I put them through the washing machine.

CONCLUSION
A little bit of work to make, but the pattern is very easy to follow and even with my poor crochet skills it's fairly easy to whip up a couple of these in one evening. The tampons were fine to keep clean at home, but it would possibly be a bit trickier to keep them clean if out in public (I suspect this at home/public/camping problem might be ongoing). I would use one again as they suited me and my flow fine and I found it quite empowering to make these myself, but I confess that it takes a little while getting one's head around reusing something fibre based - it seems as though it would be more hygenic to use something like the silicon Moon Cup. Also, finding a place to hang out one's crocheted tampons while their drying isn't too easy, especially in a house of male flatmates.

Upcoming adventures in Lady-blood: Knitted Tampons.

See also:

• Introduction.