Breaking the Song Lyrics Theme

[ase]

Tonight's dinner is that super-sophisticated apple with celery sticks and peanut butter, served with this year's vintage vanilla soy milk. I call this inspirational cuisine "available, and not tomorrow's lunch." I'm also watching ST:DS9 DVDs borrowed from dad (at Christmas, whoops); apparently I saw more DS9 than I thought. Season Four is on tap next, and I already remember bits of the cliffhanger resolution! I think.

I'm moving into the unfortunate settling-in period where the drawbacks become evident: location cost inflation, living without a car in places that assume of course everyone has a car, and minor apartment irritations. Tonight's is the laundry, which has normal and permanent press settings, but no delicate setting. This is a problem, because half of my shirts are gentle/delicate cycle!

[Poll #1203637]

Tonight, XKCD rocks on once more.

Comments

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

My 2001-vintage Frigidaire has a delicate cycle, but it seems to differ from its permanent press one mostly by having "time-out" periods where the agitation stops and the laundry is quietly soaking. The interspersed agitations, when they occur, are no less vigorous than those of the other cycles.

If I had to mimic its delicates cycle by using the permanent press one, I would press in the knob to stop the cycle after every 1 to 2 minutes, for 1 to 2 minutes, until the wash + soak times totalled maybe 10 to 15 minutes, then let the machine continue through the rinse & spin part. Maybe a "cool down" period (turn off & sit for a minute) before the Final Spin. The babysitting might turn out to be a drag, so much so that I might end up discovering just how well my "Gentle Cycle Only" things can tolerate unadulterated "Perm Press".

And yes, Alex had that XKCD printed out and taped to the door of our biophysics lab before noon today.

[ase.livejournal.com]

I ran one load with the fragiles in pillowcases, and nothing spontaneously shredded. So I give the method a tentative pass.

That XKCD comic re-images the circle of studies I think every science major knows: soc < psych < bio < chem < physics < math < philosophy (logic linking math and phil) < soc. It's made of awesome.

[yi-sen.livejournal.com]

1. Happy Birthday!

2. Perm Press can be okay, but use cold water, like colors and use Woolite if you can. Also, I've heard that the "Dark Woolite" is a ripoff, so regular woolite is fine.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the information, and the birthday wishes.

[loup_noir]

What, exactly, are we talking about here? If it's silk, sure. The dyes might run, though. You should probably handwash those a few times or wash with dark colors. If it's rayon...I haven't had great luck with rayon, but I also haven't tried in a long time. Handwash. Wools? Handwash. Linens also bleed dye. Don't use bleach anything with linen as it discolors. If you need to whiten linen, place it in the sunshine.

[ase.livejournal.com]

One silk shirt (second-hand), and cotton shirts, including a couple extremely fragile-looking superthin shirts. Sheets and a couple pairs of corduroys that want a gentle cycle. Bleach is one of those things I didn't grow up with, so I look at it a bit askance. (Especially because I've seen what 10% does to previously-nice shirts. Look what a good biology lab teaches you!) Thanks for the suggestions!

[loup_noir]

Silk is really quite tough. If it's already second-hand, my guess is that the dye has bled as much as it's going to. You can wash it with stuff like towels or, really, anything. I recommend that you either dry it separately for a few minutes and yank it out of the dryer or you can line dry. Depending on how quickly you get it out of the dryer, you might not have to iron (I hate ironing.).

Cotton is probably more fragile. If you value these, I'd either wash them in cold with gentle items like sheets or handwash in the sink. You don't need special soap. Heck, all the soap is is a surface tension depressor, which you already know. You're selecting for smell as much as clean, so believe it or not, shampoo works just fine.

If you get a nasty grease stain, I suggest dish washing detergent. I've had the best luck with that sort of thing. It's formulated to lift grease off of pans, and it works just fine on clothing, but make sure to wash it quickly. I have had dishwashing soap fade colors.

ETA: Happy Birthday!

[asciilifeform.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[ase.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[nwl.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!!

[ase.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

no because...

[sarahcnnr.livejournal.com]

Here's the thing. It's not the wash cycle I worry about. It's the spin cycle. I'm of the firm belief that it sucks the life out of clothes while sucking out the water. I often put delicate items in a mesh bag, to minimize the wear and tear from the machine.

[I've been trying to tell John this for many years, but when it comes to laundry he just doesn't listen. ]

Re: no because...

[ase.livejournal.com]

Bagging seems to be a common solution. Thanks for the input!