Eucalan Delicate Wash...a Whole New Spin on Laundry!

Re-Imagine History the Fun & Crafty Way

We're proud to sponsor a unique contest hosted by Colleen Babcock of The Magic Bean blog and The Doll Street Dreamers; The Re-Imagine History Challenge is your chance to win great prizes while flexing your creative muscles. Entrants are challenged to reinvent a historical era to completely reinvent the past - or even the future!

You may recall Colleen's adorable free tutorial on how to turn a Eucalan bottle into a doll which we shared with you last year. She's done it again with her latest tutorial which shows you how to make an adorable lightning bug night light using an empty bottle of Eucalan (shown below).  Colleen also has several patterns for sale on Craftsy and Etsy in addition to her free tutorials on her blog.  If you need a little inspiration for your contest entry (such as Colleen's Fathoms, A Deep Sea Mermaid Cloth Doll shown at right), be sure to pay a visit to The Magic Bean! 

The Re-Imagine History Challenge combines dollmaking with historical costuming elements and a dash of ingenuity to truly think outside the box.  There are several categories for experienced dollmakers and newbies alike: 

• Fairfield's Best Overall Doll made by a Beginner
• Most Imaginative Concept - This prize is to be judged on concept only, not the execution of the doll, so imagination counts here, not experience!
• Best Use of Historical Costume Elements by a Doll Street Member
  
• Best Overall Doll 
  

There are tons of great prizes that have been donated by Eucalan, Fairfield, Colleen Babcock, Doll Street, and Studio Galli. Your entry can be an original design or from a pattern, so long as you credit the original designer; for full contest rules, click here.  Entries are due on June 15th - good luck! 

Winner + Teddy Bear Care with Eucalan

Thanks to everyone who entered our blog giveaway this month.  We're thrilled to know so many folks are interested in exploring Eucalan's many uses for baby care and beyond!  Here are our lucky winners:

• Eucalan Gift Pack: Krystyn WF
• Getaway Gang Travel Set: Kaiya Voigt Allison

Please e-mail info@eucalan.com with your shipping information so we can get your prizes out as soon as possible! Stay tuned for more giveaways next month; we'll keep you up-to-date on Facebook, Ravelry and Twitter!

Here are some of our favourite baby care tips from our fans:

"My favorite baby tip is to take baby socks (before you clean them) and pin them together using a safety pin. That way you don't lose a sock." -Liz

"Best baby tip...just go with the flow and expect the unexpected. Plus keep wipes and diapers in your purse, car, and every level of your home, because new baby explosions don't wait for anything!" -Angie S.

"My favorite baby tip is do something nice for yourself while your baby is napping. Don't spend that precious time folding laundry cause laundry can wait. Take care of yourself instead and read, nap, watch a show." -Estella

"I've used Eucalan to spot clean my kids' wool rug. Love it for all their knits and soakers too - will try it next time we need a stuffed animal cleaned." -Rammy

"For the older baby or young toddler, I suggest a pack of Post It notes for desperation airplane or road trip entertainment. Easy to clean up. Love the scent of Eucalan. Thanks for the giveaway!" -DKW

"I use Eucalan on my baby items so they are not faded from normal detergents." -Victoria B.

"My favourite baby care tip is to give babywearing a good try - for many people (not everyone!) it's a great way to keep baby close and pick up on hungry cues before the baby cries! :) I've been using Eucalan for several years now on our woolies. Love the stuff!" -Juliette

We'd like to share yet another use for Eucalan when caring for your little one: washing a teddy bear! Invariably, your child's favorite friends will need a bath - and Eucalan is the perfect way to gently clean and care for stuffed animals of every persuasion! Click here to view more helpful tutorials on the Eucalan YouTube Channel.  

 

April showers bring baby showers...and a giveaway!

Springtime means new beginnings - and whether that's in the form of spring cleaning, a wedding, or baby showers, we've got you covered. This month, we'll be sharing our favourite uses for Eucalan when it comes to caring for little ones - and giving away fantastic Eucalan prizes so you can see for yourself just how versatile our no-rinse wash can be!

Eucalan is a wonderfully mild soap, gentle enough to be used to care for all your babies favourite things - we recommend Lavender for its relaxing aroma as well as its natural antiseptic properties. Read on for time-saving tips as well as your chance to WIN one of two prizes so you can see for yourself!

• Caring for Wool Soakers - Parents who choose earth-friendly cloth diapers will love Eucalan to use between lanolizing wool diaper covers. Not only does Eucalan wash and sanitize soiled covers, it helps prolong the lanolizing, keeping wool covers soft for baby! Click here for full instructions.
• Washing Stuffed Animals - Eucalan brightens and cleans favourite stuffed animals. A little elbow grease has to be used for particularly soiled stuffies, but its worth the effort when your little one cuddles up with their best friend again. Click here for detailed instructions.
• Cleaning Blankies and other items - Keep blankies and other items that are in close contact with baby clean and sanitary with our naturally antiseptic Lavender wash. Click here for instructions.
• Washing Nursing Bras - Nursing bras should be washed between every use to keep them clean and help them maintain their shape. Washing does not deteriorate bras; body oils, lotions and potions, milk from unexpected "let down" and simply wearing your bra contributes to fibre wear and tear. Washing keeps fibres clean and helps elastic maintain its original tension - click here for step-by-step instructions.
• Diaper Bag Essentials - Our stain-treating towelettes are an essential item for every diaper bag. It never fails, when you're dressed up and away from home, your baby will either spit up on your clothes or his/her own outfit. A Eucalan wipe kept handy in your diaper bag will save the situation! Click here for detailed instructions.

You don't have to take our word for it, though - we're offering two great prizes to our blog readers this month:

• 1 Eucalan Gift Pack (pictured below), containing four 3 oz. bottles of Eucalan in each of our three scents plus one unscented - great for travel or stashing at grandparents' house!
• 1 Getaway Gang (pictured above right), containing everything you need for on-the-go care: Contains 2 each of the individual use singles (eucalyptus,lavender,grapefruit,unscented), 4 wipes, 1 pack lint removers, 1 nail file and 1 sewing kit in a re-usable vinyl zipper bag. Fits perfectly into your diaper bag for busy parents on the move!

To enter, leave a comment sharing your favourite baby care tip OR why you'd like to give Eucalan a try! To double your chances of winning, you can also follow our blog by clicking the "follow" button on the right sidebar. We'll randomly choose two lucky winners on Friday, April 27. Be sure to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for more chances to win great prizes this month. Good luck!

Welcome Knit Traders!

One of our retailers here in Ontario has some exciting news!  For those of you who aren't local, there are two Wool-Tymes stores:  Wool-Tymes Kingston and Wool-Tymes Nepean, both of which are in the Ottawa Ontario Region.  For many years, the sister stores have coexisted, but as the Kingston shop's internet presence grew these last few years, it's become confusing to have two shops with the same name (you can read more here on the Wool-Tymes blog). We'd like to give a warm welcome to the Knit Traders of Kingston - same great shop, now with a new name! Be sure to stop in to say hello if you're in the area (and don't forget the Eucalan while you're there!).  

 

Say 'I Do' With Eucalan

Wedding Season is about to begin - and whether you're a bridesmaid or a bride, you don't want to forget the Eucalan! 

Don't let an unexpected stain ruin your special day!  Your "emergency" kit should include lipstick, band-aids, safety pins, tissues, and Eucalan stain-treating towelettes.  They will quickly clean up any little marks that get on your dress, be it make-up, food, or bird poop (yes, those outdoor photo shoots can get messy!).  Bring enough for each person in your wedding party as well as your mother and mother-in-law, too.

After your special day, the hem and train of your wedding dress will most likely be filthy, and it will definitely need a good cleaning before being put away.  Cleaning and preserving your dress couldn't be easier (or more cost-effective) with Eucalan: 

• Add Eucalan to washing machine or bath tub and fill with tepid water. 
• Immerse dress in water and allow to soak for 15 minutes.
• Add Eucalan full strength to tough stains and rub gently with a soft tooth brush until stain disappears.
• Squeeze dress with hands to incorporate soap and water through the fibres.
• Soak dress for additional 15 minutes.
• Remove from water and squeeze or spin out excess water.
• You may roll in a towel being careful not to get beads stuck on towel fibres.
• Hang to dry away from direct sunlight or heat.

Often times, stains don't show up until much later.  When you pull your dress out of storage, you may notice discolorations that hadn't been there before!  Our newest tutorial video will show you how to remove the most stubborn stains; click here for instructions on our website.

Knitting Daily TV

Exciting news!  Series 800 of Knitting Daily TV is now available for purchase on DVD, including two Eucalan-sponsored episodes. 

After spending so much time making a garment, sock, or really any hand-knit (or crocheted) item, knowing how to properly care for it will extend its life.  Watch the clip from episode 804 below for great tips on washing and blocking your finished projects.  Eunny uses Eucalan in this episode to hand-wash her sweater. 

 

Sometimes food, makeup and other stains find their way onto your WIP (work-in-progress).  When stains strike, Eucalan shines in emergency spot removal.  In the clip from Episode 813 below, Kristin Omdahl removes a stuboorn makeup stain live on camera using Eucalan Wipes.  She also gives some fantastic quick cleaning times for your delicate handmade items and talks about why she prefers a product with essential oils such as Eucalan for all of her hand-made and vintage care. 

 

Get to know Grapefruit

Our newest scent to the Eucalan family, Grapefruit is gaining in notoriety amongst our longtime fans as well as new users.  Grapefruit was our most popular scent in the Canadian Country Music Awards gifting suite, and it's a great scent for the spring months to come.  Grapefruit's energizing aroma is not only refreshing and uplifting to your senses, but the essential oil contains natural antiseptic and antibacterial properties.  This is perfect for washing anything that will be close to your skin such as lingerie or sportswear, although it's also great for baby items and hand-knits (it should be noted that grapefruit essential oil does not contain moth-inhibiting properties).

The grapefruit itself has a mysterious history; though it appears to be a hybrid of a large, sour citrus fruit called the shaddock (or possibly the pomelo) and the sweet orange, there are actually no records of intentional crossing of any of these plant species.  It's even possible that grapefruit were a spontaneously-occurring hybrid in the Caribbean.  The long and short of it is that we just don't know for sure how they came to be! 

Grapefruit arrived in Florida in the mid-1800s and their production spread to other states with similar climates; today, the United States is the top producer for grapefruit and pomelo.  The older varieties of grapefruit are better suited to juicing, and the production of essential oil is a by-product of this juicing process (the essential oil glands are embedded deep within the outer peel).

Have we piqued your curiousity?  Give grapefruit a try the next time you're shopping for Eucalan - natural and synthetic fibres alike will love a soak in this refreshing aroma, and your senses will enjoy it, too!

Romance is in the Air!

This month we're attending two lingerie trade shows AND sponsoring the Lingerie Journal's Designer Showcase!  Having just returned from CurveNV in Las Vegas with CurveNY following close on its heels, we're thinking a lot about lingerie these days! 

Many of our fans are unaware that Eucalan is a fantastic way to care for delicate items such as bras, cami's, hosiery, medical hosiery, shapewear, costumes and panties (just to name a few). We recommend our calming Lavender or energizing Grapefruit scents due to the antiseptic properties of these essential oils, an added benefit for garments that lie close to the skin.

Click here to read our lingerie laundry lesson, or watch our tutorial video below for step-by-step instructions:

 

We know you'll fall in love with Eucalan once you give it a try, which is why we're giving away two fabulous prizes on our Facebook Fan Page this month!  Click the link below for your chance to win one of two prizes - we're giving away one Getaway Gang set and one Gift Pack to two lucky winners!

 

Click here for your chance to win FREE Eucalan!

2011 Charitable Organizations

It's important to everyone here at Eucalan to donate our time and resources to charitable organizations.  Throughout the year we receive many requests asking for sponsorship.  In 2011, we supported several charities which we’d like to share with you now. Please click on the links below to find out more about these fantastic organizations:

Aurora Waldorf School - 9th Annual Artisan Auction

Brant Community Healthcare Center Ultimate Day of Golf

Chicago Yarn Crawl

Ian Somerhalder Foundation - Empoweresque Event Sponsors

Lights! Camera! Fashion!

Reel World Film Festival - Lounge Sponsors (we're looking forward to being event sponsors in 2012!)

Scrap Cancer! - all proceeds raised donated to Breast Cancer Support Services

 

Stitch n' Pitch - with Knit-O-Matic in Toronto, we sponsored last year's Blue Jays vs. Mariners game

Unionville Home Society Fund - Project Comfort Excellence

Worldwide Knit in Public Day - in conjunction with the Tidewater Knitting Guild in Virgina

New Year's Resolutions?

If you find yourself taking up yoga or spending time at the gym in 2012, chances are you've also invested in some brand-new workout wear. Protect your investment with Eucalan! Manufacturers recommend using a delicate soap to keep your garments looking and performing like new - the antiseptic properties of our Lavender and Grapefruit scents will clean and disinfect your clothing naturally.

Make clean part of your routine in 2012 - your clothing will last much longer if you follow our easy instructions:

Machine Wash - Front Load Machine:

Select Rinse and Spin cycle. Cold or tepid water.

Add Eucalan** to fabric softener drawer.

Load articles into machine and start cycle.

Follow drying instructions below.

Machine Wash - Top Load Machine:

Add Eucalan** to machine.

Select gentle cycle and add cold or tepid water.

Stop machine. Add articles.

Allow to soak 15 min. (minimum).

Gently squeeze articles to incorporate soap and water through fibres.

Spin water out.

Follow drying instructions below.

*Use 5mL/1 tsp per 4L/1G of water (more for heavily soiled items)

**Use 15-30mL/1-2 Tblsp per load (adjust amount based on size of load)

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Drying:

Important: Dry all items out of direct heat and sunlight.

Lay knit articles flat on clean dry towel. Roll article in towel to remove excess moisture. Lay flat to dry on drying rack or clean dry towel.