Knicker Knotter #5 - Peace in washing

On a stitching message board, I recently read what turned into a rather heated discussion among stitchers regarding washing their finished projects.

For the record, I wash everything I stitch. I hand wash in cold water with Dawn dish soap. I rinse thoroughly, then roll the project in a clean white towel to absorb excess water, never wringing the towel. Then, placing the project stitched-side down on another clean white towel, I iron the project dry with a dry iron. I am at peace with that.

I am aware of a couple of ladies who chuck their finished projects in the washing machine and the projects come out clean and unscathed. It makes them happy and works for them. I am at peace with that.

I wash all my projects because I know that my body oil is more acidic than normal. I stitch in hand with a hoop using the stab method, so my skin comes in contact with the fabric and floss. This is the way I like to stitch. Stitching is my hobby that I do for enjoyment. Yes, if I used Q-snaps or scroll rods and stitched two-handed, I might minimize the skin contact. But I don't like to stitch that way. I am at peace with that.

I take care to wash my hands before stitching and I don't eat while stitching. Unless it's M&Ms - melts in your mouth, not in your hand! Because I have a hairy dog who sheds, my stitching may occasionally acquire "pet hair specialty fibers." I am at peace with that.

I know stitchers who are meticulous to use the no-soap hand cleaner on their hands before they stitch (but it only kills germs and contains alcohol). They are happy with their choice. They don't feel their stitching suffers. I am at peace with that.

Because I wash everything, there are some fibers and fabrics that I won't use because they are not color-fast. That is my choice. I am at peace with that.

And normally, I can read these types of posts (while gleaning worthwhile information from them) without getting my knickers in a knot. But this one person posted a response that bugged me. She sanctimoniously stated that she NEVER washed her projects as she took great pride in her work as a true craftswoman and took great care to keep her work clean. She went on and on, basically bashing the rest of us as filthy and uncouth droolers who could barely thread a needle. This gave me the urge to whack her upside the head; I had no peace with that.

I have news for her. Unless she only touches her floss and fabric while wearing unbleached white cotton gloves, she's leaving body oil on her projects. If her projects do "last for generations" as she proclaims they will, eventually, the oil will show up. And unless she's an alien, she's got body oil. I wonder if she knows how many of her shed dead skin cells end up on her projects? How does she avoid that? Hee hee! Let's not tell her about it! I am at peace with that!

New Blogs

I enjoy finding new blogs to read and I found a couple recently.

This one, Acerca del bordado, is in both English and Spanish. The author, Aury, has some cute Quaker-themed animals and stitch-along (SAL) patterns for download. Her site also has tutorials for various stitches and techniques.

I also found Ginnie's blog because she found mine first! Ginnie's Cross Stitch!!. I think these two blogs are my first "non-American" blogs. We truly live in an international age via the computer.

Freshly decanted kibble!

Emma was out of dog food and DH poured the new bag of food into the airtight container. We call this The Decanting of the Kibble. Emma gets very excited and loves to try and eat as much as she can as it pours out of the bag. Maybe it tastes better, who knows? This ritual never ceases to amuse her humans!

P.O.D.S.

DH and I took delivery of a P.O.D.S. (Portable On Demand Storage) container today. We saw one in our local Home Depot parking lot and investigated them. As we are having to move in before all our remodeling is complete, we looked into renting storage space for a lot of our stuff so it won't be underfoot. All of them wanted at least a six-month contract. And we would have had to make repeated trips in our pickup truck to the storage place twice - once to take all our stuff there and once to pick it all back up.

Enter the P.O.D.S.! You have these delivered right to your door/driveway and load them up with your stuff. Once loaded, you call the P.O.D.S. truck to come and pick it back up and take it to your new home. The mechanism for getting it on/off the truck is cool. The P.O.D.S. is never tilted or tipped, so your stuff won't get damaged (unless you pack it wrong or too loose). If you don't want to or can't unload it right away, you can continue to rent the P.O.D.S. monthly for as long as needed. They rent for about what a storage place would cost. Cool, huh?! One of the guys DH works with said his brother used them to move cross-country.

They come in 8'x8'x12' or 8'x8'x16'. They have a tambor door that you can padlock and the containers themselves are impervious to rodents and insects. Here is the website: P.O.D.S., toll-free 1-800-776-7637.

House progress and a little stitching

During our usual weekend of new house remodeling, we had a friend from DH's work drop by to help for a couple of hours. (And to check out locations for tree stands and feeders on our land for deer hunting with DH.) As he was capable (taller than me and male) and interested in a little demolition, he and DH (FINALLY!!) removed the railroad ties from around the kitchen doorway. Then, he and DH had fun removing the peninsula bar at the end of the kitchen counters. All of my kitchen counters are made of concrete and I do not like them. But the guys had fun with the sledge hammer, crow bar, and Sawzall. Removing the bar and the railroad ties really opened up the kitchen and made things more roomy.

I apparently never took a picture of the kitchen entry - probably because I disliked it so much - but you can see the railroad ties in this picture at the end of the cabinets. The rustic star is hung in the corner two of them make. You can see part of the bar, too, right underneath the little cooler.

Here is the after picture:

Here is what the end of my counter looks like for now:

And I stitched while keeping an eye on the Redskins/Colts game on Sunday night. I've been so "ready for some football!" I love watching football! I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan from childhood, but I'll watch just about any football game as long as it's not boring or too one-sided.

A WIP and stash

I'm making slow progress on my WIP. Here it is:

Here it is the last time I posted it: July 18.

Here's my new stash:

This is called "Singin' the Wash Line Blues" by Dimensions, designed by Adele Earnshaw. I love the colors and can picture it hanging in a lot of places. Only the birds, quilt stripes and clothespin is whole stitches, all the rest is half stitches. Even though it is 16" x 8", it should stitch up quick. I'll substitute Monaco for the Aida.

I blame its acquisition on an evil-enabling blogger who shall remain nameless. She posted photos from her new "The Stitchery" catalog, and I just HAD to go online and look at the clearance items. Normally I don't buy kits, but I found two I really liked. I ordered them, but only received one as the other was sold out.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

For the last three days, I've been rolling paint on the bedroom walls and ceiling out at the new house. In hundred degree weather. Without air conditioning. Up and down the four-foot ladder. I am one tired woman. And I'm really tired of drinking Gatorade. However, the bedroom is all painted and looks lovely.

Last weekend, the tiny little water heater in the new house died. Whee. We get to buy a new one. Heavy sarcasm intended. It began leaking through its rusted out bottom and made a huge puddle outside of its lean-to home. The dog found the puddle and had mud up to her body (armpits?) on all four legs. She did not take kindly to having them washed off.

Once we get our new bathroom done, we will gut the old bathroom/utility room and redesign the space for more efficient usage. We will remove the water heater lean-to and put the water heater in the house where most normal people have them. I'll be glad to have the lean-to gone; I think it looks like a wart on the front side of the house.

I haven't stitched since Tuesday, but I did get stash in the mail! I will find time to post a picture this weekend. I had time yesterday to take a picture of my WIP, but the camera was out at the new house.