My Grout Obsession

My kitchen floor was driving me nuts.  Seriously.

The grout was a nice light beige colour when we built this kitchen 9 years ago.  We had painstakingly sealed it and cleaned it but somehow over the 9 years, it ended up dingy, dirty and just gross:

Ew.  Don't look too closely.

  

Believe me, I became obsessed and tried absolutely everything.  I googled "grout cleaning" and did everything people suggested: scrubbed it, used vinegar and baking soda, used Oxiclean, used vinegar and ammonia, used hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, used various cleaners claiming to be able to dissolve dirt on grout, grout pens, grout "erasers", you name it, I used it.

Except grout colorant.

The product I purchased was from Home Depot.  It is called Polyblend Grout Renew.  This is what it says on its website:

"Polyblend 8 fl. oz. Grout Renew is a water-based, acrylic, urethane stain and sealer for renewing or changing the colour of cement grout joints. It seals against stains while it colours. Contains patented technology to inhibit mold and mildew."

Another similar product appears to be Grout Refresh by Mapei.

This is the AFTER picture:

And here is the before and after side by side.  I can't get over it.  My floor is gorgeous again.  I am in love with this product.

It was cheap.  My kitchen is about 200 sq ft and I used about a half of the little bottle which cost about $14.  But it was time consuming.  The whole kitchen probably took me about 7 hours to do.  I picked the sweatiest heat wave ever to do it in and somehow, I was driven to complete this project.  I love the results and am kicking myself for not listening to my husband doing it earlier.

Because it is acrylic based, it does not have much of an odor at all and is quite safe to use around kids and pets.

My armamentarium:

I steam cleaned my floor and then used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser
on it.  It was mostly for my porcelain tiles as the grout was hopeless anyways.  The product calls for an acid cleaner to be used first on the grout but me, I had no patience.

    

The plastic bristled brushes are from Testors.  They are the pointy type.   I bought a 20 pack which included flat brushes that I didn't need but were cheaper this way.   The toothpicks are also the pointy type.  And I used lots of Kleenex.  I tried toilet paper but it was too soft and ripped easily in the process.

One thing I have not pictured on there is the Foam Mat that I used to sit, kneel, crouch on while I worked on the tile floor.  It saved my knees and elbows.

After I cleaned my floor (or you can obviously use this on any tiled surface),

1.  I dispensed a small amount of product into a shallow dish.

2.  Using paint brush, I painted small sections and cleaned up the excess with a toothpick

(after the first day, I used gloves so that I didn't have to scrub paint off my hands)

and Kleenex.  Do not wait to clean the excess as it will dry on the tile.  I have made a video to show this step in more detail.  It is linked below:



3.  Then I moved onto the next section.  Because I did not finish the whole floor on the first day, I labeled the tiles I painted with little bits of blue tape to alert my family not to step on the lines.

 The product states that it takes 24 hours to dry but in the warm temperature I was using it at, it was closer to 2 hours.

That's it!!  Super simple!

Rescued by The Kitchen Scale...

Last night, I was panicking.  Like full on, sweaty palms, heart palpitations type panic.  I had an incredibly small ball of yarn in my hand and a few more rounds yet to go in my Blackberry Cardigan (which by the way I started four months ago!).

Here is a pic of it a few rounds before last night...when I wasn't worried yet and was happily snapping pictures:

I had two more rounds to go before binding off.  Two rounds wouldn't have been such a big deal if it were not for the fact that each round had 472 stitches!  I did not relish the idea of having to undo any rounds if indeed I did run out.  So...3 rounds remained.

How do you know if you have enough yarn left??

You grab your handy-dandy digital kitchen scale!!

The one pictured at the top is the one I have.  I love it.  It can show you measurements in grams, ounces, pounds and kilograms.  It is the EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale.  The most important thing is that It comes in five different colours.  No one in the house is allowed to use it. I'm serious.  But I digress...
 

So I weighed the ball of yarn that I had left:  27g.

I knit half a round and weighed the ball again:  24g.  So, half a round took about 3g.  Thus, one round would take approximately 6g.  

I finished off my round to check this number:  21g.  Good.  I was on the right track.  This meant that to do another round and the bind off would require about 12g of yarn.  I was comfortable with the extra 9 g leeway.  I breathed a big sigh of relief and knitted.

So in the end, I was left with 10g of yarn.  Phew!  

~ ~ ~

Even though I call this my kitchen scale, it never lives in the kitchen.  It lives with the rest of my crafting supplies.  Helping you make an estimate to see if you have enough yarn left is one fantastic thing it can do.  Another is this:

Do I have enough yarn for another one of these?

Say you have a leftover ball from a skein of yarn you knitted a hat from.  You wonder if you have enough now to knit a second one. You weigh your hat.  It is 90g.  You weigh your ball.  It is 110g.  Yes!  You will have enough to knit your second hat.  Or a more unfortunate case.  You knit one sock and am not sure if you have enough yarn for the second sock.  Weigh the first one to see how much you will actually need.

How much yarn is in this leftover ball?

Do you ever have those leftover balls of yarn that you don't know what to do with?  You aren't sure if you have enough yarn to knit a particular project?  Your pattern is asking for 150m of yarn.......

If you were super organized and kept the ball band (hint: tuck them into your skeins or keep a file of them with a small piece of yarn attached), you would have information on how to calculate the amount remaining.

The ball band should mention a length:  in this example, it is 389m.

The ball band should mention a weight:  in this example, it is 197g.

This means that the meterage per gram is 389/197 or ~1.97m/g

So now weigh your ball.  Say it weighs 56g.  Just multiply that by your number above:

56g * 1.97m/g = 110.5m.  If your pattern asks for anything less than this, you should be good!

Or another way to calculate this...Remember your algebra?

In words:  Multiply the original length by the weight of your ball.  Then divide this number by the original weight.  Make sure you write it all down on a piece of paper where if someone finds it, they will be impressed.  Trust me.  My husband just looked over and asked me why I was solving equations.

But either which way, you find out how much yarn you have in your ball.  If you don't have the numbers/ball band, you may be able to head over to Ravelry and dig out the information if you know what brand/type of yarn you have.

Did you notice they changed yardages on me for this yarn?? 

Splitting up skeins evenly

Say you need to knit from both ends of a ball but it is getting super tangly.  Split up the skein into two balls instead!  Or if your pattern requires you to just need to split up a skein evenly ... you can use your kitchen scale!  You would start off by weighing your skein.  Then wind a ball using a ball winder or by hand until you get to a ball that is exactly half of your original skein.  That's it!

Saving a trip to the Post Office

This is what our scale is used for the most.  Weighing the little goodies that I send out to all of you!


Last but not least...

You could use it to weigh food but that would just be way too boring!

Have fun with your kitchen scale :)

The Northern Collective April Edition

With the travelling from Spring Break and our home renovations, I have barely had enough time for crafting!  So this month for the Northern Collective upload, I am offering some custom spots.  Dolly boots and outfits!

You can choose any design or colour you would like as well as the sizing.

For the Tomboyknits skirtall or overall (below), it will come in a 15" size.  If you prefer smaller, that is fine too!

Alongside my items, my fellow crafters at The Northern Collective have created an amazing group of items.  Drop by and have a look!

Here is the link:  THE NORTHERN COLLECTIVE