Where's my Hankie?

An unusual question in this day and age?  It must be if the looks that complete strangers give our family is anything to go by.

Hankies or Tissues?  This is one of my favourite topics mainly because it evokes such extreme reactions.  I put it up there with the cloth nappy, disposable nappy debate.  People ask, How could you use those disgusting things?  Quite easily really.   Tell me, what is nice about a tissue that won't accommodate the world's biggest blow?  Chances are you only have one tissue and I'll leave the rest to your imagination.  Another pet hate of mine is a tissue going through the wash.  If you leave a hanky in your pocket, it doesn't matter.

Hankies have an interesting history and are thought to go back as far as 3000 years ago.  By the 19th Century, hankies were considered a sign of wealth.   19th century ladies regarded the handkerchief as an indispensable accessory for an elegant costume. It no longer disappeared in the bags that they carried but were artistically decorated articles to be displayed. Ladies carried them openly in the hands, even in the streets. The custom made it easy for young people while chaperoned to evolve a system of signals that enabled them to carry on a discrete conversation across the room. For example: drawing a hankie across your cheek meant “I love you”, a hankie held to the right cheek meant “yes” but if it was held on the left cheek it meant “no”.

I am a third generation hanky lover and I've passed it on to my 4th generation.  My mother's partner reckons he can always find mind mum, just follow the trail of hankies.  Erk! You say?  We never thought anything of it. 

The Eldest Ruffled Crafty Offspring's girlfriend expressed her disgust when she discovered that ERC keeps her hanky up her sleeve.  How disgusting she says ....  Where else are you supposed to put it where you won't loose it?

There is something so charming about hankies.  They can be big and functional or small and dainty.  I spend lots of time in Op Shops finding the most stunning hand embroidered hankies that have been discarded from people's estates by tissue loving relatives.

Do you have hanky love? The first three people to declare their hanky love will receive a bar of handmilled Maia Rose soap made by me!

Comments

[GossMagSlag]

I love a hanky and hate a tissue through the wash too (how does that happen when you are a non-tissue user, the pesky things still seem to find their way into someone's pocket!). I think if you use a clean corner every time, there's no way you can get snot-on-snot or whatever the tissue-nostrilled ones think happens. My dad, a retired high school teacher, often tried to convert his students to blow their teenage trumpets into a nice usable cloth square, but he told me the comment he used to get was "yuk!". The only habit I haven't inherited from my hanky-using mum is that I don't iron our hankies. They just get folded and squashed into creased piles in our bedside drawers. I quite like a dainty one for every day use, but if I get a cold, I'm straight into hubby's drawer for a man-size kind.

[crafty]

Ha ha, my littlest Monkey came home from tennis creche with a tissue stuffed up her sleeve... I don't see the difference between that and a hanky...

We always had hankies as kids too, but my Mum likes tissues now, she always brings her own when she comes to visit. Recycled toilet paper is not soft enough apparently, (that's what we mostly use.)

I have just started using hankies again, and I have to say a hanky in the handbag is much nicer then a screwed up bit of old toilet paper.... and the washing thing...ewwww.

[Diz]

I do love a hanky as an object, a tiny piece of art, but I don't actually blow my nose on them. I used to, but gradually the idea of tranporting snot around in my sleeve (because women's clothes rarely have functional pockets) no longer made hygenic sense to me...
I still buy them in op shops, and carry them about in summer to dab at my glistening brow. As a child, my mother used to leave the handkerchiefs for me to iron, which I always enjoyed.

[Stacey]

I collect embroidered hankies. I dont' actually use them, just keep them in an old tin and take them out and play with them.
I use tissues for their intended purpose, though.

[Stomper Girl]

I'm a tissue user for my nose but a hankie user for ironing the delicates. When I can be bothered to iron the delicates of course.

[Craftygirlwithruffle]

I admit to having a collection of those too! Do you buy them in Op Shops?

[rebecca]

I LOVE handkerchiefs! I am prone to runny nose--the kind that can go through 100 tissues a day--one good hanky takes care of it. and looks way nicer than gross tissues filling my bag.