22 August 2007

Steeking & a Skunk Update

Okay, I had originally planned to take some photos of the steek last night, but we all know how that turned out. So this afternoon I got out my camera and took the vest swatch outside for what turned out to be some very flat light. Anyway, here is the side that I picked up stitches on first. You can see by my middle finger that there was a little bit of fraying of the first column of stitches in from the cut, but that was all.

082107Steek_fray

And after doing a little garter stitch band on that side, I rolled the whole thing up, tucked it in a ziploc with the rest of my current knitting and threw it in my backpack, where it got toted around for a week before I picked up stitches on the other side.

082107Steek_side_2

As you can see, no harm done, and I did not do any sewing or crochet reinforcement before cutting. That raw edge on the second side was just plain old knitting that had had a pair of scissors taken to it and been thrown in a bag for a week.

Maybe if I had only been working with a one stitch steek like Ryan, I'd have been just a tad less cavalier, but several months ago I read this post from Sam and figured if it worked out okay on acrylic, then wool should be no sweat. And it totally wasn't. Wait, it was no sweat. Damned double negatives. Anyway, that whole sewing thing is just a crutch. The stiff drink part? Well, maybe that's a little bit of a crutch, too, or maybe it's just a good excuse to have a drink.

Anyway, I got to show it off at Chicks with Sticks tonight with Annie & Julie and the rest of the usual suspects. And I'm hoping I've convinced Steph that it's safe to do with her Kauni cardigan. After all, if she doesn't need to wait for the sewing machine (or Ken's), then she can get the thing off her plate and show it off as a FO already.

Speaking of Stiff Drinks

I actually did have a little bit of bourbon before bed last night. After all the unplanned excitement, I felt I had earned it. When I got up today, though, Rosa had again been banished to the yard. I had apparently not quite gotten all the smell out of her coat - nothing too bad, but the right side of her head was still just fragrant enough to disseminate the odor through the living room. So I picked up a new product from one of the local clinics when I was out stocking up on hydrogen peroxide, just in case. Rosa's opinion of said product was pretty clear...

082107Stinky_round_2

...but it seems to have done the trick.

There was one other unmentioned casualty in all of this. Since it was supposed to be a nice night out, I hadn't bothered to close my car windows and even though the sideyard is at the top of the hill and my car parked way down at the bottom, enough of the scent wafted along on the breeze that it still stinks in there. I may have to see how that spray works on car upholstery.

To answer your question, Elemmaciltur, yes, it is that bad. At least when it's up close and personal, when it smells like a combination of burning rubber, fuel oil, and rancid garlic. One of the main components of their spray can be detected by the human nose at concentrations as low as 0.004 micrograms per liter (a liter having mass of roughly 1.000.000.000 micrograms).

And to answer your question, Barbara, I linked to the formula from "hydrogen peroxide", which was probably not terribly obvious. Anyway, it's one quart (or roughly a liter litre for mes amis canadiens et de la reste du monde), 1/4 cup of baking soda (about 60cc), and one teaspoon (5cc) of dish soap. Mix and apply, taking care not to get it in the eyes, wait 5-10 minutes, then rinse off. The problem with dogs, of course, being that they tend to get it in and around the eyes, which means that you end up with residual stinky areas, as Rosa demonstrated. Otherwise, it works quite well.

10 comments:

yarmando said...

It works well on boyfriends too. Just remember to take off any silver rings before using.

Anonymous said...

Poor Rosa; she does not look happy!

Scoutj said...

Oh the steeking looks fabulous!!!

And skunk smell is HORRIBLE!! When I was 13 years old my first job was working at a vet. I was the lucky one who got to bathe animals who had been sprayed by skunks. EWW!

knitnzu said...

Your steeking swatch looks great! And it makes the concrete background look so artsy. Poor Rosa! Yeah, stinky cars....had a cat spray inside mine once... And I think raw and fresh skunk odor is much worse than you're describing here! And to give Elemmaciltur an idea at how little it takes to smell funky... the dogs got sprayed (another wonderous event), shoved into the basement by dh, I was upstairs (pregnant!), had to leave, and folks at the supermarket were giving me a wide berth. I asked the cashier if I smelled badly. She had this worried what should I say look on her face, I told her the dogs got nailed by a skunk, and she hesitantly said, yes, you do smell bad. I wasn't within 50 feet of them! I left after just a couple minutes! Skunks are good at their funk.

Sheepish Annie said...

Poor Rosa! You don't have to speak Dog to get the message. Puppy sad...

But I can only imagine that she would have hated the smell even more so deep down, I'll be she's grateful. Very deep down...

Mad Hatter of Knitting said...

Poor Rosa!

My dog got sprayed when I was a kid and she made it the house before we knew! It was just as you described --like burnt garlic!

Tallguy said...

Oh, steeks are so much fun! And not scary at all. Yes, just cut and there you are! I don't know why they make all that fuss over it.

I folded my edge over, and then picked up the stitches through BOTH layers (in effect, sewing it down) and that was more than secure. It's such a neat little trick.

Norma said...

Am I weird for actually LIKING the faint smell of skunk? "Faint," of course, being the operative word....

Carol said...

David Letterman swears by Masengill Vinegar & something Douche for his skunked dogs.

But the downsides are (1) you have to patronize Masengill and (2) you look like a weirdo buying a case of douche.

Anonymous said...

Great steek pics! It looks great, and obviously from the other comments not a big hassle. Who knows, someday I may even try it.

Good luck with your car. I'm sure you'll get that skunk smell out in no time. *crossing fingers*