For those of you, my faithful followers, I would like to say that the light box triumph quickly turned into disaster once again.  After not taking pictures for oh, 2 days, the light box decided it did not need to stay in one piece.  In fact, it felt that 4 or 5 pieces would be to its liking. When this was discovered, I will only say that I was instantly in a bad mood.  However, if you have read previous blog posts or know me at all, you probably know that I am not that easily defeated.  I do not give up on things that help me accomplish a goal.  Angry, though I was, I remembered an old addage that I learned as a young girl while watching my parents fix up our home with all sorts of things.  I also often watched my mom and dad come across things  that were past their skill level, but not outside of their ability to figure out how to fix in some manner of speaking.

This is a common addage, you probably have heard it before, but when it came to me I promise it was like a bolt of lightning to my brain: “If you can fix it, Duck it.  If you can’t Duck it, chuck it!”

I promptly, after discovering said light box’s rebellion to my stable world, went out and purchased one roll of white Duct Tape.  Magic.

I promptly went to work…

Now I have to say that I am quite pleased with myself over the fact that I was able to defeat my most recent arch-nemesis, the light box.

The reason this was so important, was because, guess what?  I needed to take picutures, and though it has warmed up, it gets dark here at like 4.  Depressing.  I know.

The reason I absolutely had to take pictures was because while hanging out with my best friend in the whole world and talking about knitting and all the lovely things we are planning to try to knit and accomplish this year, the KnitPack came up in conversation.  And let me tell you people, my friend is a total genius.  I would say that if Einstein was still alive, she could give him a run for his money.  Realitivity bah, finguring out total KnitPack genius, that is my friend Brittany.

She mentioned that she loved her KnitPack Interchangeable, and she also loved her Original, however, she made the apt point that I myself had recently started to struggle with.  Once you get out what you need, say out of your Interchangeable, it seems you immediately need something out of your Original.

She then says the most brilliant thing I have ever heard about a KnitPack. “Could you combine the two, and have like a KnitPack Hybrid?”

Let’s just say that my head was immediately spinning into how to make this work.  I was drawing ideas neglecting my freshly cast on sock.  On my way home, I immediately called my mom and told her of Brittany’s TOTAL GENIUS!  She immediately started drawing ideas and told me that we would start the prototype mock up the next day.

Today was that day, and let me tell you we did manage to combine the KnitPack Interchangeable and the Original in quite a unique and space saving way.  However, we are worried that you might be, dare I say it, be able to pack this KnitPack to the point that even our adjustable magnetic closure won’t meet.

So dear friends, I need feedback.  I know that most people have gotten on the interchangeable needle system boat as that saves TONS of money on buying those lovely single circulars.  However, then you do always have to deal with the circulars that you had purchased before your interchangeable needle obsession, if you are like me at all, began. Also, what about your double points from that first hat you knit, to your favorite pair of sock needles.  AHHH!  How many pockets do you need.  Help friends.  I need to know what you think.

Of all of the configurations my mom and I came up with, this was what we thought was the best way to secure all of the different types of knitting needles from interchangeable to double pointed.   Please feel free to leave comments or email us with any suggestions and feedback.

As of right now, the current configuration is designed so that theinterchangeable needle system is an KnitPack within a KnitPack.  It pivots and has a divided pocket on the back of the needle pouch to hold your system’s cords.

The KnitPack Hybrid also features 8 pockets for your traditional circulars.  It also has 8 pockets for double points and/or crochet hooks.  

As if that wasn’t enough, I mean seriously, there is also the return of the KnitPack Notions on the right hand side that folds out and can hold everything from stitch markers to a measuring tape and back again.

Here’s the thing.  I don’t have that much stuff in this Hybrid and you can see it is pretty full.  Do you really need that many pockets for your ciruculars?  What about double points and crochet hooks?

I feel that Brittany’s genius is on the verge of getting Erin.Lane a fabulous new product, but I just want to make sure that it has everything that is needed before we finalize the design.  Feedback people feedback.  I will probably be at the sewing machine after school most days this week, but without feedback I won’t know what to change.  HELP!

Okay, so, not that I am not totally grateful for the time off and less working for free at the end of the year, but here is the problem with snow days.

First, the kids were only back in school from winter break for 2 days, so really they are not back in the swing of things.  They still feel like they are on vacation and are not sleeping enough or going to bed in order to wake up and be alert in anything before lunch.  Just so you have a picture of what the first part of my day looks like, we eat lunch at 12:38, we leave school at 3.  Well, the kids do, I am generally there for another 1 or 2 getting things graded and copied and planned.  Gotta love middle school mayhem.

Second, I was prepared to be at school for the 2 days we were out.  That means that I am SOOOOO not prepared to go back on a Monday.  I had to go to school and get the things that I needed in order to get things ready for school.  Also, I only have a few days to get the kids ready for our big writing assessment.  That means that I have fewer days because of the snow, and they will be less attentive because, “It could snow again…”

But school aside, here are the other problems with snow days.  They give you the illusion that you have more time than you actually do.  I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day and have accomplished only 1 or 2 things on the ever growing list of things I need to get done.

For instance, I went to Bliss today to see if I could catch the owner.  She is currently our only retailer, and she asked me to bring in some KnitSacks in some new fabrics.  That meant that I had to make them first.  Since mom finished sewing them on Saturday, I decided to head over there this afternoon.  The owner is generally there, so it seemed like a safe bet and worth the time and gas to get out there.  Also, there is always a great group of people there to chat with and they are always asking about if mom and I can design them out of a problem they are having.  Most of our designs have come from our Sit n’ Knit nights around that big table.

I drove out there, and though I did see a good friend I have not seen in a long time, I missed the owner.  Great.  So we sewed all weekend on something that I was planning on selling, only to be told that I have to wait.  I could have been sewing KnitPacks for the Etsy shop.  I know that I can list the KnitSacks and I will, but you can see my frustration.  Plus, it has become blatantly clear that mom and I need a second sewing machine.

Had it not been for the fight with the light box, we could have gotten twice the amount done had I had a sewing machine too.  But I digress.

The problem with snow days is that Monday always look that much bleaker and I rarely get as much done when I have them.  I mean hello people, I haven’t cooked anything new in 3 days, and I haven’t touched a stitch of laundry.  Now I do have to say that I have made the kiddos their homework assignment for tomorrow, but I have not been able to locate my copy of their next vocabulary list, so I have to add that to the list of things to get up and do early at school tomorrow.

Now however, after going to Bliss, I spoke with several friends and had several KnitPack needle cases, and knitting totes requested.  Now, that is great and I am stoked that people want our product.  I do have to say that I think we make great stuff, but it is so nice to see other people think that too.  However, my mom is having a serious issue with her shoulder which makes sewing not so great on her.  Her arm goes numb most of the time or it tingles painfully.  Best part, she can’t see the doctor until the Monday of NEXT WEEK!  Silly specialist, people are in pain more than once a week….

So Mom would generally get right on the sewing and do her standard stellar job, allowing me to manage the website, blog, tweet, and photograph, but now it seems that I will be posting this blog and heading into my very nicely finished attic that has NO heating.  I have a small space heater, but considering that it is about 14 degrees here in my town, I will be wearing my coat and hat whilst I sew. Plus I am not nearly as fast at sewing as my mom is, as generally, I cut and organize and do all the tech stuff and she sews like the wind.

Well, I guess that is the problem with snow days, makes you think there is way more time than you actually have.  Realizing that, I have to get upstairs like right now in order to be  able to be in bed in time to wake up in the morning and not be a zombie 1st period.  I will have plenty of those in front of me with the kids…

Thank you for all of your snow dances.  It really worked.  Not only did they cancel school for Thursday even though there was not a snow flake in sight, but it did snow a little that afternoon, so I ended up with a lovely 4 day weekend.  Thanks to you all for your dances!

The 4 day weekend has brought with it several trials and triumphs.  Luckily for all living in my household, mostly my husband, the trials eventually turned into triumphs.  Clearly as I am a person who sells things online, I have to take pictures of them.  Mostly when I have taken pictures I have waited until it was slightly overcast and made my husband or my mother, sometimes my best friend in the whole world who always helps me no matter what –she is a saint, hold up a white sheet or towel in order to get the best, truest color of each of my hand sewn things.  Well, here’s the problem, it hasn’t been above freezing here in middle Tennessee for like 4 weeks.  I am thrilled that I get to wear my hand knits and snuggle with my husband because it is cold, but it is soooo not conducive to taking pictures especially since it is terribly windy.  I mean, I would even go so far as to say blustery.  That means that whilst my mom and I have been sewing away, we have just been stacking up the finished goods on a table waiting until it was not going to make your fingers turn blue to go outside for more than about 5 minutes.

It appears that that is not going to be the case here for a while.  Steps must be taken, I told myself and then asked my fabulously Google savvy husband to find out how to make a light box at home.  .oo3 seconds after he goggled it, I had my answer, pictures and all.

Being a highly task oriented person, I wanted to start immediately, so I dragged my husband with me out in the cold to go get the necessary materials.  We returned home and I started making the light box.  It only took me a mere 2.5 hours to complete when I realized that I had not gotten a big enough box and was going to have to start over.  Thank God, I was watching a funny movie or I might have just ripped my hair straight out of my head.  No problem I tell myself, I can do it on Friday since I don’t have to go to work.  HA HA HA HA! One of the only perks of being a teacher.

The next day, I could barely pull myself off the couch let alone think about the light box as the failed attempt stared at me with victory in its eyes while I pouted on my couch.  That may have been the reason I could not make myself make the new one.  That and I still didn’t have a big enough box.

I called my mom to give her the bad news about the light box, and she told me she would bring over a bigger box on Saturday.  Problem solved.  I start to feel better and I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Little did I know that this could have been considered foreshadowing, because I was going to need them.

This morning my mom came over and we pondered the age old question, how are we going to fix X problem.  It seems we come up with a great idea, I.E. the KnitSack, and then run into problems coming up with enough material to make the product.  Stupid cording. After about 30 minutes of debating, we decided to go to our trusty JoAnn’s to see if they had what we needed.

They didn’t.

We looked for alternatives which were few and far between, but did eventually find ribbon that was PERFECT!   (TRIUMPH!)

We got home, and mom got to sewing.  I immediately got to working on lightbox 2.0.  This task would definitely prove way more difficult than it should have been.  (Enter TRIAL).

While mom sewed happily away, making KnitSack after KnitSack, I measured and cut and taped and glued and measured only to find out that the box was now too big for the piece of Bristol I bought.  Don’t be fooled, the box has to be that big for the Carry All, but unfortunately it is about oh, 5 to  6 inches bigger than the biggest Bristol sold in my little city.  I discussed said trial with husband and mother and husband assures me that I can make this work tonight without having to buy anything else.  I can build shelves, and paint a room professionally in a day, this box is NOT enough to stop a heavy duty crafter and do-it-yourself-er like me.  Re-assured I went back upstairs to take on my current arch-nemesis.

Let’s just say that I was in tears less than 20 minutes later.  Thank God for moms who can keep their cool as I stand at the end of a table in front of what looks like the red headed stepchild of a skeleton of a box with interfacing in one hand, a tape gun in the other and just cry. Yes, I cried over a light box.  It was that kind of ridiculous.  Also, please remember that I have a high tolerance for ridiculous things as I teach 8th graders grammar and was told last year that Narnia was a real place because they made a movie there.  (No, I am not kidding, that is a true story.)

Mom came up with something that managed to save the lightbox from my total and complete annihilation  by stomping, and I kept going.  I got it mostly together and tried it out.  The best surprise is it works like a dream.  I can now control my photography for taking pictures for the shop without having to rush home from school leaving piles of papers ungraded, or stand in the bitter cold wind and hope the bags don’t blow over while my husband shivers.

And, yes, I cried when it worked too.  It needs some tweeking, and is definitley not my finest moment in the do-it-yourself category, but it will do to get the job done.  So evil light box trial becomes total light box triumph.

Thank God for the extra day off or  this might have taken place after a long day at school, and I can promise you, there would have been more tears and absolutely no light box.

As we look into the new year, I look back and notice just how much we did at Erin.Lane during the already busy season of the Christmas holiday.  This holiday season I saw many firsts.  It was quite impressive, and I have proved to myself that if I want to do it, I can.  Something my mom/other half of this dynamic duo learned as well.

A good knitter friend of mine received a set of interchangeable needles for Christmas, and was ready to get a KnitPack Interchangeable because she loathes the hedious, unfashionable, plastic pouch that came with her needles.  She hailed me on Ravelry and asked me to whip her up one of our pink KnitPacks.  I was elated, then I remembered, the seamstress, not this half of the Erin.Lane team, my mom, had just left to visit my grandmother in North Carolina, a mere 13 hours drive away!

Needless to say, I just about swallowed my tongue.  I knew my friend would understand why she would have to wait, but I, being a public school teacher, knew that once break was over, I was going to have trouble finding time to learn to sew this rather intricate KnitPack.

I called my mom with the great news of our friend’s desire for our KnitPack, and decided to steel myself and try my hand at the wild, wiley, and sometimes testy sewing machine.  EEEK!

My husband had all the faith in the world in me, and though I do know how to work a sewing machine, there were a lot of constructions in a KnitPack that I had seen made and completed A MILLION times, but actually doing these many techniques is a totally different ball of yarn.  We are talking cashmere and acrylic here.

I informed my mom that I was going to try my hand at the KnitPack, and prepared myself to spend many hours with a seam ripper and magnifying glass.  What happened next was a complete and utter surprise.

I am actually really good at sewing!  I sat down and after a few false starts and ripping out 10 or 12 seams, I started doing all the detailed work of adding ribbon and dividing pockets.

My mom delayed her trip for a day, my dad had a business call, and she came over just in time to teach me how to put the final ribbon on the outside of the KnitPack.  Needless to say, she was completely impressed with my patient fortitude to continue sewing without any guidance or help, and I have to say I was as well.  It took me about and hour, but I had NEVER MADE ONE BEFORE!! I was thrilled, and since my mom was there, since I was on such a role, I decided to take my intrepid sewing day one HUGE step futher.  I tried a CARRY ALL!

With lots of help and pointers from my ever patient and fabulous mother, I was able to make a Carry All from laying the fabric and pattern pieces to finishing touches and timing strings in just 3 hours!  And, if I do say so myself, it is quite a triumph.

I look at these two things that I did in just one day of putting my mind to it and remember all the lists of things I have at home and work waiting to get started, or worse, finished. (Don’t open the yarn closet; the unfinished objects might attack!)  I think, wow if I could do all of this in one day, surely I could get mounds of things done.

I sat down on my couch to ponder this very concept and promptly started knitting.  Then I thought, no….housework can wait, and kept right on working on my friends mittens.

Major accomplishments 2, New Year’s Resolutions about a million, but the joy on my friend’s face when I hand her new purple cashmerino mittens makes me not care if my house is a little dusty.  So, all in all a great revelation, but not a great follow through.

What can I say?  The yarn, it calls to me….