101 things to do with Soak | 023 Dog baths
Posted: 21/07/2010 Filed under: Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, Dogs, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, wash 1 CommentWe always get emails and hear stories from our customers about how they reach for a bottle of Soak when it’s time to bathe their dog.
I have a Shih Tzu named Toby who is a little furry terror but is so cute and affectionate that it’s hard not to love him. He has a strong hatred of baths and will hide for hours in an attempt to avoid one. I swear I just have to think about giving him a bath and he’ll take off and hide under the couch.
He runs around the house while I run after him shaking his bag of treats to try to bribe/trick him. This has never worked but I am still hopeful. Once I finally catch him and put him in the tub, he’ll do anything to try to get out. This creates a big wet mess. He eventually gives up and just stands there looking at me with his unimpressed eyes. If this is anything like bath time with your furry friend, perhaps adding some Soak to the mix will make it slightly more pleasant. I know my favorite part of the whole ordeal is that when it’s all over, my hands are soft and smell like Aquae.
One of our loyal customers, who also happens to be Chris’s mom, sent us some wonderful photos of her bathing her beloved friend, Jenna. Jenna is a beautiful Rottweiler who is much better behaved during bath time than my mischievous Toby.
Please give your pup a good rinsing. Soak’s no-rinse properties are only effective when the item being washed is emersed and surrounded in water. I’m assuming that you aren’t soaking your pup in a giant basin of Soak and water. If you are however soaking your pup in a big giant basin, I’d like some pictures please.
Does your pup become extremely hyper and run around at lightning speeds after a bath? Does anyone know why this happens?
101 things to do with Soak | 022 RC car filters
Posted: 13/07/2010 Filed under: Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, Jacqueline Sava, soak wash, soakwash, wash 1 CommentAuthor: Jacqueline
Boys and their toys.
Rumor has it, my sweetie pie Ted’s friends were stealing their wives’ bottles of Soak. Crazy, I know, I didn’t believe it myself… until this past Saturday. Ted and his pals were at a radio control car race , as they often are on summer weekends. This particular weekend was of interest, because the track was half way between home and the cottage at Hardwood Ski and Bike. Interesting how, you ask? Well, it’s rather simple. I was able to spend time with the guys at the track and make it to the cottage for the balance of the weekend.
We were a couple of hours in; the pit was full of people working madly on their cars between races when one of the guys, Marco started asking for dish soap. Dish soap? Why on earth would they need that, there were no dishes to be found… just beer cans, junk food and barbecues. Before I could even ask why, Steve stood up and said, ‘Jacq- got any Soak?’ Well, as it turns out, the washing in question was for the foam car filters. Steve always said Soak was the best for degreasing the filters between races, I had just never witnessed the sacred washing event before.
I sent Marco off to my car, to the ever faithful Soak sales kit, consisting of bottles, mini-soaks and catalogs. It is, after all, my job to always have Soak on hand. A bottle of Citrus was secured, and before I could even say, someone pass me a camera, Marco had immersed the dirty foam filters in Soak and water. He was even resourceful enough to use an old zip lock parts package as his wash basin. No Carrie or Phil needed here.
After an undisclosed time frame (I told him they were soaked enough, but he insisted on soaking and squeezing them longer- he is passionate about how clean his filters need to be) the filters were removed and rinsed, ready to be reattached to the cars.
On the left, you’ll see a shiny, soft and round filter. On the right, a grease filled dirty one. We think this photo speaks for itself. So ladies, hold on to your bottle of Soak if you have RC racers in the family. Or, next time you order a bottle, buy one for your beau.
Oh, and for the technically inclined, the air filter keeps dirt out of the engine. It needs to be clean and oiled. When it gets dirty, dirt can start getting into engine. A dirty filter also restricts air flow to engine thus reducing power and making fuel consumption rise. So really, we’re cleaning out dirt and dirty oil. Pretty fancy!
PS. No names were changed in the documentation of this event. Steve is really proud of how much he loves Soak. He also uses Soak to wash his rags after each and every event.
101 things to do with Soak | 019 The autographed shirt
Posted: 22/06/2010 Filed under: Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, spot cleaning 1 CommentAuthor: Ngoc
I spent last Saturday at the Mississauga Waterfront Festival. There’s nothing like sitting on the grass under the stars and listening to the talented Jim Cuddy sing “Pull me through”. Listening to Mr. Cuddy’s soothing voice made me think of Blue Rodeo, and my autographed shirt.
I love this shirt. This 5 dollar white tee with its bad paint job brings with it the memories of an amazing night. This shirt is from my very first concert, with my very first real boyfriend. After the show, he took my hand and went up to the security guard and asked if the band would sign my shirt; and they did!
It’s hard to tell in the pictures but the shirt is very dirty. It was quite hot when I was wearing it so it became sweaty and had small stains from other sources that I can’t quite figure out. These stains have become increasingly yellow over the years. I wouldn’t dare throw it in the washing machine or even hand wash it in case the paint and marker ran. Instead, I used Soak to spot clean the stains.
I put a little bit of Soak right on the stains and gently rubbed it in.
I then used a slow stream of water to rinse the area, carefully avoiding the signatures.
I put a towel on the inside of the shirt so the wet back wouldn’t be touching the front and possibly making the ink on the front run. I gently pressed another towel on top to absorb as much water as possible and then hung the shirt to dry. 
Now I’ll safely put it away until Aug 26th where I will be sporting this shirt and singing along to “5 days in May” at the Molson Amphitheatre.
101 things to do with Soak | 018 Fabrics. Quilting. Pre-washing.
Posted: 15/06/2010 Filed under: Craft, Quilting, Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, Jacqueline Sava, quilt, soak wash, soakwash, wash 3 CommentsAuthor: Jacqueline
Truth be told, I love it more than yarn. I love looking at it, cutting it, designing with it, wearing it and resting under it. My mom was a clothing designer. I grew up with fabric. I’ve recently acquired an exceptional stash of Liberty of London fabrics from a recent trip to England.
My first thought was to introduce these limited edition fabrics from the V&A collection to my stash immediately, so the various prints, colours and textures could get to know each other. My fabric stash enjoys new friends. I also had a few select acquisitions from the Liberty store itself but I wanted to include some of them in my summer quilting projects. I knew what had to be done. They all needed to be unfolded from their neatly packed pile and given a good Soak.
There are some basic rules to pre-washing quilt fabrics. We’ve talked about pre-washing fabrics for textiles in general, but here, we’re talking quilting specifically. The liberty fabrics I bought at the V&A suggested cold water wash, and discouraged drying, ‘do not tumble dry’.
First, if you are making a quilt that is going to be used, like this one which was a wedding present for my cousins in the UK, at some point it is going to be washed.
Second, if a giant quilt gets wet, it is likely to end up in the dryer, regardless of instructions. So, I recommend pre-washing and drying all fabrics.
I did wash and dry my liberty prints, fear not, I’ll share my secrets.
First, unfold all your fat quarters, yardage and fabric.
It is essential that the pieces be loose and relaxed when they go into the wash.
If you have (or have access) to a front loader, I would suggest using it. The agitation caused by the upright machines does add a bit of roughness to the washing (and it tends to increase fraying).
Use cold water, and of course, Soak.
Nothing too crazy happens in the washing machine. Sometimes, you get a bit of fraying at the edges, but mostly you just end up with a tangled bunch of fabric swatches. It is imperative to separate and loosen all the pieces again, before they go in the dryer.
Drying is an important part of the washing process, arguably, the most important. For my machine at home, 6-9 minutes on medium heat is enough to dry cotton. I highly recommend not leaving the room during drying. Your goal, when drying fabric is to remove most of the moisture, while leaving the fabric slightly damp so you can take it out, flatten it and keep it from wrinkling. Clearly I left my liberty print too long, it wrinkled. I am not looking forward to the arduous ironing that will follow. Every fabric and every machine commands different drying times. Once again, grab your favorite craft magazine, say, the summer issue of Studio magazine, featuring Soak and hang out in the laundry room. Your fabric will love you for it.
I remove a few pieces at a time, fold them in half and flatten them out. The continuous movement and heat from the dryer keeps the cotton soft and wrinkle free. If the dryer finishes and the cottons remain still, they will wrinkle. I suspect Liberty suggests not drying, to avoid wrinkling and the countless hours that follow, should one choose to try to iron the wrinkles out.
Here is my stack of fat quarters after I took it out of the machine. Note the small amount of fraying that occurred along the edges.
When I get my fabrics back upstairs, I drape them over chairs and other firm objects, to air dry.
Once dry, my fabrics were transferred to the stash where they took great comfort in all the other prints. Some were cut up for my summer project, as I mentioned, and more importantly, the rest are ready to go on a moments notice. There’s nothing worse than wanting to start a new quilt and knowing you have to do laundry first. That’s how unwashed fabric ends up in quilts. It’s never pretty, so wash new fabrics immediately for safe keeping.
Distracted by the liberty prints? Find them in Canada at Hyggeligt. Your local home for liberty prints. Both online and in a store front in London, Ontario, Hyggeligt is a haven for fantastic prints. I’m grateful that some of my chosen prints can be found there. I will never be without liberty again. Oh, and if you pass through, they also now stock Soak!
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101 things to do with Soak | 016 When the tag says “wash separately”
Posted: 25/05/2010 Filed under: Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
Don’t you love when the tag says “wash separately”? Throwing it in with the rest of your laundry could result in excess dye staining the rest of your clothing, but washing it alone in the machine just seems wasteful. This is my dilemma with red shirts. I love red t-shirts. I don’t love how many of them run the first time you wash them.
I have a cousin who only likes fans and vacuums. ‘Likes’ is a fairly modest word, obsessed might be more suitable. He’s loved them since he was 3 (that was almost 10 years ago) and carries them everywhere. He lives in the States and every time he comes to visit, you can be sure that he’ll bring along at least 3 fans and a vacuum. You can also count on the fact that he’ll vacuum your home when he visits. When he walked down the aisle at my aunt’s wedding as a ring bearer, he had a pillow in one hand and a fan in the other. He called and informed me that he’d be coming to visit on his birthday. So what do you get a kid who only loves 2 things? Well I decided to get him t-shirts with pictures of vacuums and fans on them.
My aunt and uncle modelling the shirts.
I didn’t want his mom to curse me later on if she accidentally threw the brand new red shirt in with the rest of his laundry and turned everything pink. So I handwashed with some Soak to remove most of the excess dye and give it a nice light aquae scent. It took me about 4 washes before the water stopped coming out bright red.
Even after the second rinse, the water was still coming out bright red. This could have resulted in many pairs of pink tinted socks.
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101 things you can do with Soak | 015 Sequins
Posted: 18/05/2010 Filed under: Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, sequins, soak wash, soakwash, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
Shiny sparkly flashy sequins. There’s just something about sequins that calls to me. I’m attracted to them the same way an insect moves towards that pretty blue light.
I’ll walk into a store and just naturally gravitate towards things that sparkle and shine. No matter how tacky the piece is, I’ll pick it up and whisper to myself, “ooooo pretty!” Now a lot of people avoid buying sequined apparel, or buy it and never wear it because of the hassles involved with washing it afterwards. Well I’m here to tell you to stop holding back!
I tried washing a few different sequined shirts in Soak and they all came out beautifully. I checked the care tags and they all said that you could hand wash in cold water or dry clean. I’d recommend checking your tags for instructions but if it can get wet, then it can be washed in Soak. I tested several different shirts made of different materials. I had silk, polyester, cotton, and sheer chiffon.
I filled my basin with cool water and left my darks and lights to soak separately. Sometimes the sequins are not sewn on tightly so being able to leave it to soak without all the extra agitation helps to keep the sequins on your clothing, where they belong.
Squeeze gently to remove excess water. Be careful to not squish or bend any of the sequins. Lay flat or hang to dry. Avoid the dryer as the high heat can melt, distort or discolor the sequins.
101 things to do with Soak | 014 Carrie separates your laundry
Posted: 11/05/2010 Filed under: lingerie, Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, carrie, hand washing, laundry, soak wash, soakwash, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
We had a very busy day at the frolic last weekend. Carrie and Phil’s popularity soared as they flew off our tables and into the welcoming arms of their new families. Carrie and Phil have many uses and this week, I’m going to talk about my main use for Carrie.
How many of you have one hamper and end up mixing your delicates and hand washables in with the rest of your dirty laundry? How often have you accidentally thrown one of these hand wash only items into the machine? I have enough slightly pink tinted white shirts, bras with bent underwires, and stretched out lace panties that I’ve learned to carefully sort my dirty laundry instead of throwing it all in the washing machine together. Carrie makes the job of sorting slightly less painful.
I keep Carrie in my closet where she discreetly holds my not-so-fresh undergarments and delicates. My silks, cashmeres, panties, bras, lace, and sequins all go in her instead of with my everyday laundry. Trust me, your pretty bras and expensive garments will thank you for this little extra bit of care.
At the end of the week, I just grab her handles, and easily take all my delicates to the sink to hand wash all at once. Nice and painless.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 15: The yoga bag
Posted: 07/05/2010 Filed under: health, Uncategorized | Tags: bags, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, wash, yoga Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
Mother’s day is just around the corner and Dafina brought in this sweet plant that her son lovingly grew for her to show his appreciation. For those of you who don’t have a green thumb consider giving your mom a gift certificate to take some yoga lessons.
Yoga is meant to be therapeutic and unite the mind, body and spirit. There are many physiological, psychological and biochemical benefits of practicing yoga. Visit the ABCs of yoga to learn more about how yoga can enhance your life.
CNIB is running a national yoga campaign, the Great Canadian Yoga Stretch, for the month of May in support of blind and partially sighted Canadians. 
Soak is great for washing yoga gear so we’ve been asked to contribute mini-soaks to be given out in the goodie bags to all of their participants.
As I was exploring their site and reading about yoga, it was interesting to learn about all the products offered to enable those who are visually impaired to safely learn how to practice yoga. With a VIYM and a cd with step by step instructions geared towards those with little no sight, even someone who has never tried yoga can easily learn.
101 things to do with Soak | 013 Washing winter knits
Posted: 04/05/2010 Filed under: Knitting, Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
It’s that time of year when you collect all your scarves, toques, neck warmers, balaclavas, and other winter knits and pack them away until next winter.
I am an embarrassingly slow knitter and can usually only finish one project before the snow melts. This year I used Louet’s Riverstone wool to knit myself a pretty burgundy slouch. Unfortunately for me I only got to wear it about 5 times before the weather warmed up.
Now as much as present Ngoc wants to just throw all these knits into a box and go outside to enjoy the sunshine, she knows that future Ngoc will be very sad when she goes to open that box next winter only to find them full of moth holes. Do your future self a favour and take the necessary steps to prevent moths from having a feast in your knits.
The best way to prevent moths from ruining your garments is to keep them clean. Moths are especially attracted to dirty fibers that smell sweaty. Giving your winter knits a good washing in Soak before storing will help to ensure that you get another season’s wear out of them.
Once clean, store your winter knits in a tightly sealed container. Now give yourself a pat on the back from your future self and go outside and enjoy the weather.
101 things to do with Soak | 012 Wash swimwear
Posted: 27/04/2010 Filed under: Uncategorized, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, beach, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, swimwear, wash Leave a commentAuthor: Ngoc
Some girls love shoes, others love purses, I love swimsuits. They are colorful and bright and when they start popping up in stores, it means that my favourite season is just around the corner.
As many of you lucky ones are getting ready for your vacations, remember to wash your swimsuit after every beach or pool trip. Take care of your suit and it can last you through several summers. Washing is especially important after swimming in a pool as the chlorine can damage the fibers and weaken the elasticity of the fabric. If going on vacation, remember to take a few single use mini-soak packets so you can easily hand wash in your hotel sink.
I absolutely cannot wait for summertime. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, you can hear the chimes of the ice cream truck, picnics are had, pools are open, and beaches are filled with happy smiling people. In an attempt to persuade mother nature into giving us Ontarians some nice warm weather, I’ve decided to put away all my winter clothing and pull out my bright colorful spring/summer wardrobe including all of my swimsuits.
I know I have more swimsuits than any sensible marketing coordinator living in Toronto should have.
I like to give my swimsuits a quick wash at the start of the season as they’ve been sitting in a box for a good 8 months. Luckily for me, my Carrie and bottle of Soak made this process very easy.
I put all my suits into Carrie, let them soak for 15 mins and rolled them in towels to absorb most of the water. You can lay them flat or leave on a drying rack to dry. Do not throw them in the dryer as the heat can damage your suit and ruin the elastic in the material.
Nice and clean. Now all I need is the sun.
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