Saturday, September 12, 2009

regia cardie & furniture

regia cardie by you.

first things first, i am almost finished my baby cardie in Regia 6ply Design Line (the Kaffe Fasset sock yarn, but the DK thickness). i think it looks great, despite the over exposed photo (sorry, i will take a better pic when finished). i just washed it and it is drying now. buttons and labels go on, the it is finito!  i had to wait a while to get the heathered grey trim colour in, but in general it took very little time.  i love the way superwash wools loosen up after a bath in Eucalan!  beffore they go in they are so uptight, and when they come out they're all "hey man, wanna get high?".

sofa by you.

but lets move on to important things like my new sofa!  i am furniture proud, i spent thursday cleaning my new/old sofa, gratis kristen.  the fabric says it can only be cleaned professionnally, but it is scotch guarded and i have my methods.  actually, my method comes from doityourself.com.  i don't guarantee any results, i only attest to my own. test it first in a small spot in back to make sure you won't be wrecking your sofa.  also, i found this to be a gentle and slow process, i had to go over the dirty parts several times. that said, the sofa is a fairly light colour and dirt befirends light coloured fabrics.  i have not found that the Eucalan discoloured the fabric at all, but parts that were stained i scrubbed harder are noticeably lighter, although when i went back over the surrounding area it all came togther. my sofa only had surface wear, but if you have to dispatch some smells i suggest you maybe try the Eucalyptus or Lavender scent.  i also tried the grapefruit sent near the end but found the smell extremely gentle and i don't think it really  astayed in the fabric afterwards.

this is how i did it:

1. vaccum sofa, clean off solid debris.

2. in a big mixing bowl (the bigger the better) pour 1/4 cup Eucalan and 1 cup water (i used unscented, but none have dyes anyway).

3. with hand mixer or mixer whip the soap into a stiff foam. it is acutally a very satisfying feeling.

4. with a clean sponge scoop up a generous amount of foam (no water) and gently scrub the foam on in circles.

5.  you do not need to remove the suds as instructed in the link above, they dissipate quickly.

6. let fabric dry. repeat util your sofa is as clean as you want it to be.

cash register by you.

While i was picking up the sofa a few other pieces of furniture came into my possession.  this is my new cash register nook.

baskets by you.

the shopping basket district.

vignette by you.

and a new addition to the front window vignette! so basically, now Knit-O-Matic looks like Kristen's sun-room. the sofa is soooo comfortable! love it! someone intoned a desire to bring their dog on it and my reaction was reasoned, but inside i was thinking "You want to do WHAT? You want to put your drooling, ass sniffing, unbathed pet on MY beautiful new sofa, which I've spent ll day cleaning? I don't think so.  I don't even know why you presumed to think so."  but ya know, in retrospect, I think maybe they were playing with me. From the outset I was planning to get a cover, but i don't think it is the shape of sofa that will fit a cover properly, or at least elegantly.  i've seen stretchy lycra covers that are designed for the less conservative sofa, but they look like a unitard and feel even worse.

anyway, hat's about the size of where you set your eyes. xox

addenda 9:06 pm
it was not a joke, she really wants to bring dog on sofa. will purchase sofa-tard.



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