I'm curious; were you able to clean it up?

a good shop vac should suck the worse of it out, use paper towels to blot the rest up- if the carpet is dark, you can use newspaper.

sprinkly the area liberally with corn starch, and vacuum. repeat until it's as 'dry' as it's going to get. then break out the carpet washer, and add a teaspoon of TSP cleaner to the mix.

Dawn dishwashing detergent is good for oily messes--it's what the bird rescue people use to clean sea birds after oil spills. (I first learned of this after the Valdez spill) It's also great for spot treating oil stains on clothes!

melanie