So last night I attended the Albuquerque SnB meeting, to eat some good food and dessert and get my knit on. Those ladies are a riot too let me tell ya. The usual suspects were there, Scout, Carole, Noelle, Beth, etc., and I also met Cheryl, Molly, and a few others that I’m totally blanking on names now. Crap, I always do that!
Anyway, I was eating my dinner, having a nice time, when I looked over to the empty table next to me where I’d set my knitting stuff…and almost died. The project that shall not be named had a big spot of oily chinese dressing sitting on it. When the server brought my salad, the dressing fell off the plate onto the floor, but I hadn’t noticed that a big glop of it went flying onto my knitting. You can only imagine my horror at seeing a week’s worth of knitting sitting there with oily dressing on it. So I went and rinsed it in cold water on Carole’s advice, and then decided to try getting the grease out with some Dawn and hot water at home on Noelle’s suggestion.
Well, it kinda worked. The dawn did get out lots of the dressing, but there’s still a visible oil spot, and it leaves your fingers greasy when you touch it. I’m fearing that I might have to frog it. I suppose better now than 15 or 20 more rows later when there’s a couple hundred stitches in a round. But if you have any suggestions, I would very much appreciate them. I’m thinking about giving the whole thing a dunk in some hot water and synthrapol, since that’s what I use to scour and degrease my yarn before dyeing, and it works pretty well. At this point, I figure that there’s not much I can do to damage it since it seems destined for the frog pond. Cause I certainly don’t want to gift a project that’s oily and smells like chinese dressing.
Alright, enough wool tragedy. I’ll finish off this post with some pictures of my backyard that I took recently, since it makes me happy :) And I better enjoy it now, because soon enough winter will come and turn it all brown. And if anyone needs tomatoes, I have a tomato plant in the backyard that’s cranking them out faster than I can eat em. Really, please take them from me.
come on guys, turn green!
the grass is receding like my hair line
__Oh, and we’re almost to 290 comments, so that yarn will find a home anyday now!__
ah, dang!!! I hope the synthrapol works.
and dang, I missed Molly! I need to stay later next time…
Ugh- that sucks! I have really no clue what you should do, but I do think you should try your idea. I hope it works- I know how much it sucks to rip back!
On a happier note, your backyard is so pretty! Oh, and you can drop some tomatoes off at my house any time…
I’ve got a pile of green tomatoes I need to pick off of my plants…they just taste so much better ripened on the vine…at least I have a green tomatoe tart recipe to try out!
Good luck with the wool…sorry I don’t have any tricks up my sleeves. Well, one trick. Stick to ginger cookies and ice water (just kidding…that’s what I liked to get at Flying Star once I pulled out my knitting).
oh noooooo!! that bites! you seriously should just rip back and cut that part out!
lovely pic of the green veggie type thingies!
and you’re too young to have your hairline receding!
Oily dressing is my favorite. You shouldn’t wash it off, it only makes it better.
Hi! I found your site a few weeks ago through Turtlegirl’s blog. :) I’m drooling over the India Spice 2400MHz skein, so fingers are crossed here! (I was also a physics minor once upon a time, so I “get” your new naming system!)
As for your salad dressing problem, BUMMER! The stain removal searches I have bookmarked suggest a heavy-duty detergent (not soap) for oily stain removal, including Era, Fab, Grease Relief, Tide and Wisk. All of this info is great, but if I had to guess, I’d say youre gonna be ripping that thing out. Booooo!
Good luck! :)
Ohhhh that’s too bad! I felt so badly!
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Hi! I found your site a few weeks ago through Turtlegirl’s blog. :) I’m drooling over the India Spice 2400MHz skein, so fingers are crossed here! (I was also a physics minor once upon a time, so I “get” your new naming system!)
As for your salad dressing problem, BUMMER! The stain removal searches I have bookmarked suggest a heavy-duty detergent (not soap) for oily stain removal, including Era, Fab, Grease Relief, Tide and Wisk. All of this info is great, but if I had to guess, I’d say youre gonna be ripping that thing out. Booooo!
Good luck! :)
[/quote]Amy, thanks for your suggestion, that one sounds pretty good actually, since laundry detergent seems to remove grease best. I think I’ll try that one tonight, and if it doesn’t work then I’ll send it off to the frog pond. I’m not too hopeful at this point, so I’m ready to try anything!
And sorry if I confused anyone with the yarn naming, but you really don’t need to understand it to buy yarn :) You can just think of it as my way of indicating if the yarn is sport or fingering weight.
And we’re dangerously close to naming the 300th commenter! So keep trying!
Just had to say that your tomatoes look fab! I tried to grow some this summer, but alas the plants succumbed to the tragedy of heat and not enough water. Nothing like homegrown tomatoes. If I lived close enough to you, I might try and help you out with your overpopulation of tomatoes…. But, I think it might take awhile to get them over to the west coast. :)
I think I’m actually going to cry. I hope that you are able to get the oil out. I’ll be crossing my fingers for you. If I were Catholic, I’d figure out who the patron saint of degreasing lace projects is (they have saints for everything! And no offense meant to anyone) and pray to them for you. Let us know if you get it out and how.
I’m afraid that I don’t know any tips for getting out the spillage. Perhaps just find someone who really likes chinese dressing to gift it to?
Sorry to hear about the oily dressing! Have you tried spraying the area with Oxyclean then giving it a dunk in cold water? Great tomatoes. A couple of years ago I had tomatoes that grew to a pound to a pound and a half EACH. Never had tomatoes that huge in my life. Yummmm. Marie and the cats
I would talk to a dry cleaner before a visit to the frog pond, if the yarn can be dry cleaned. Those people seem to be able to get out many, many a spot and stain if they get to it soon enough. You could even run a lifeline and take it unfinished to them, if they appprove, or loosely bind off and pick it up from there.
TK
I love fresh tomatoes! I don’t get that many any more, since my mom hasn’t grown a garden in several years. Still, if you need to find a home for a few of those tomatoes, maybe I could help you! They look like they’d make great eating straight–just like apples.
Your backyard really is looking good!
Hello Adam! Thanks for your coffee comment on my blog. I read on your blog that you are a coffee snob and I knew we were kindred spirits!
Josh (my husband) is the true connoisseur in the house, I’m just the peripherally involved addict. We lived in Seattle for 10 years and Caffe Vita was Josh’s favorite roast. We still order our coffee from Vita or Lighthouse in Seattle. It’s a difficult thing to admit in most circles, but I can tell you understand.
He’s been trying to convince me that we need to buy a two thousand dollar espresso machine and a three hundred dollar conical burr grinder. I’m almost crazed enough with addiction to go for it, but not quite.
Come over for coffee and knitting someday! The espresso machine is ALWAYS on.
Your yarn is beautiful too! Happy knitting. -m
Holy comments! Wow!
I was going to say to try sprinkling salt on it first, but you’ve already washed it. My favorite stain remover is Zout. Recommended by the Queen of Clean herself! I’ve used it on numerous stains on clothes that have been through the washer and dryer after the fact. Works every time. Got ink out of a whole load of laundry that had been dried.
Talcum (or baby powder) is the magic word!!!!!!!!!!! To get grease (oil) out of clothing, even if it has been washed or it is an old spot, put the item on a flat surface where you can leave it a couple of days… Put a thick layer (a couple of milimeters) of talcum powder on the spot… pat lightly to compact/press it into said spot and let the talcum absorb the oil. It really works!!! You may have to repeat it once or twice though. As you’re knitting lace, I suggest putting a towel or so under it, and then taking it to the bathroom (or outside) to shake the talcum powder out of it. After the oil is out, you will need to wash it or rinse it to get the rest of the stain (non oily components) and talcum powder out of it. I hope this helps… and sorry it took me so long to get an answer out to ya… I was running around in Oregon :)
cheers Eva