Yarn friendly knitting totes, bags, and needle cases.
Sewing
Hank’s New Friend
Jul 14th
Yesterday marked a remarkable occassion. Yesterday I purchased my first sewing machine.
I have been wanting one for almost a year now, and for the first time, I have been able to buy the one I want. I have been researching sewing machines almost as long, and I can say from a place of a great deal of information, I have one of the best quilting machines on the market today.
Of course, I could not go get said sewing machine without the whole posse in tow. Mom had to come, I mean, it is my first sewing machine. David had to come, it is a huge purchase, and I couldn’t very well leave my little man Hank behind for so long, so he had to come meet his new buddy.
Hank got a new friend yesterday. He was very excited to go meet her.
We went to the nearest Viking Authorized dealer which is, I know you are shocked, inside my favorite crafting store, Jo-Ann’s.
It wasn’t a hard decision, however, I was planning on getting a different model. However, they had sold the last one the day before.
The lady called the Cool Springs Store, and they had the very machine I wanted, but it was way more than I wanted to spend. But, to make the sale, the Cool Springs store sweetened the pot, she offered to throw in a $200 dual feed pressure foot for FREE!
It was tempting, but still out of my price range. So I turned back to the sewing machine they had at my local shop.
Hank had made a new friend. He liked the sewing machine in the store. The sales person I was talking to made a deal to try to close the sale. It was a good deal too. She offered the same pressure foot OR a custom acrylic sewing table that fits around the sewing arm that makes the sewing machine feel like it is in a cabinet (that allows you to have endless table space without your project falling off the machine.)
This thing is so amazing because it gives you the sewing cabinet feeling without having to buy a sewing cabinet! It is a $150 item that is custom made that she was willing to give me free with this machine. Needless to say, SOLD!
I got it home, and promptly started un-packing and playing.
This is me and total elation.
and the control…
And we are all happy together…
And finally me playing with the new family member. This was the coolest thing ever.
It was an amazing night of discovering lots of things my machine can do. I am super excited. Many presents will made and many things will be sewn and listed on Etsy. Keep an eye out for sales on first production runs..
Go, go Sewing machine, AWAY! I am off to play…I mean sew…
Work, Work, Work…
Jun 21st
It’s crunch time people.
We are in the studio fighting unbearable heat and making KNITPacks like crazy people.
My Aunt Jan has a friend who saw my mom’s KNITPACK Ultimate and she immediately wanted one. (All of Aunt Jan’s friends have great taste, what can I say?!) She also works in a yarn store in Michigan and wants the owner to see one.
Ummm, let me think, YES!
So off to JoAnn’s and then to the studio to cut and plan and sew.
I know most of you out there love a handmake product, but many time, and I am guilty of this, I forget how much effort goes into each piece.
The Ultimate reminds me of that EVERY TIME I MAKE ONE!
I love the Ultimate, but sometimes it seems never ending.
Here is the first stage, after of course cutting. This is where we decide which fabrics lay where and how to best match the canvas for the Interchangeable pocket.
Stage two is sewing all the Interchangeable pockets. I will spare you the tedium…
Here is stage three: We lay out the ribbons and decide which ones look the best.
Stage four is where we cut each ribbon for all the different pockets and fold lines.
Stage 5 is where we START sewing.
I think you are probably getting my point, but I have to say, when we are done, it is totally worth it in every way.
Check this out.
Oh, Canada…
Jun 19th
Today marks a momenteous event. Erin.Lane has had it’s first international client. A lovely lady on Etsy convo-ed me to see if we could ship internationally. I then easily found out that it was totally possible. I was thrilled I messaged her back and then promptly found out I had sold the item she wanted.
After several messages sent and received, while cleaning up the studio, I found the exact fabric already cut into the product she wanted, the KNITPack Crossover.
I informed her, mad the KNITPack, and rushed to the post office!
In no time, there it was going over land, not sea, to get to our northern neighbors in Canada.
I couldn’t think of a better way to start the summer, than shipping a KNITPack to another country.
HOORAY!
Stitches South and Simple Pleasures
Apr 26th
This year was the first year I was able to go to Stitches. I saved and saved from Etsy sales and sales from Bliss and special orders, and was able to make out like a bandit.
All said I had a nice little stash to play with when I went to stitches. I had only a few ideas of what I had to do and see there, but no doubt, I was sure that it was going to be “TOTALLY WICKED!”
The simple pleasure of the entire thing is that I took my first personal day in 2 years on Friday. It was awesome to know that I could go knitting on Thursday and not have to stress about getting up to deal with another Friday with the kids at school. Plus I was able to get the best sub our school has. Always a good thing. The kids dread her presence, I love leaving her my class. They never misbehave because she is a feisty little lady who will put them in their place. ::Insert evil villain laugh here::
Mom picked me up on Friday, and we went to the bank and got everything read to go to Stitches. It was a total blast.
We stopped by Sew-Bee-it on the way to drop off their order and some of the prettiest bags we have ever made. Gloria was thrilled with them as were we. While we were in Ringgold we decided to pick out our summer fabrics. We spent probably two and a half to three hours picking out fabrics, but they are ALL amazing. Stay tuned for pictures, they will be on a later post!
We pulled over and ate our chicken salad picnic lunch on the way down, and had a blast laughing at the scenery.
Once we got to the convention center, we went in and were immediately excited to see everything there was.
We made the decision to walk the entire floor before buying anything that way we would make sure that we knew we were getting the best deals and not missing anything that was crucial to be purchased and stashed.
Since we got there so late, we only were able to walk about half the floor before heading out to a fabric store that one of the vendors told us about.
When we got to my sister’s, she was getting ready for a date, and we were getting ready for bed. We had dinner and I showed my mom some youtube classics, like “All the Single Ladies” and “All the Single Ladies gone wrong”. We watched flash mobs and Glee videos. It was fun.
The next morning, we were up and out the door early to make sure we didn’t miss anything on the floor.
And let me tell you we found things, and people found us. We met up with some friends who had come down a day earlier and whom we missed on Friday. Then we ran into everyone we could name from Bliss.
While looking around we met several people who were impressed by our bags. One company wanted to carry our stuff and they only sell in shows, that was exciting. Then we met a sales rep who was thrilled to see a handmade product that was so fun and funky. She told us she was looking for a bag and needle organizational company. We told her we would be thrilled to get together with her and discuss the possibilities. Needless to say, this was another get in the car and scream with glee moment. Turns out she works with the owner of Bliss and she loves this rep. She is totally nice and professional. She covers like 7 states and DC. This could be the beginning of something huge and we were totally psyched about meeting her.
We also talked with the owner of Whole Nine Yarns, and despite the fact that she had some fabric in her store and some small bags that were obviously hand made, she seemed interested, so we are going to contact her later too!
At this point you can see that Stitches was a TOTAL success, but let’s not forget the entire purpose of Stitches…YARN.
And there was yarn…. Here is my Stitches Stash turned into actual Stash… (and I have to say, I am very proud of myself, I didn’t buy a single skein of yarn without a pattern chosen or a person to make the project for. No simply stashing. I am too poor for that. I have to have a plan. )
1. From the Sanguine Gryphon: Eidos (this was sale yarn, though I don’t see why. The reason for the sale was “small spots” which is why I liked it! YAY! Plus those women’s costumes were amazing and that is just awesome!
The plan is a simple pair of socks for me. I think I will try toe up with the help of my sock knitting diva friend who loves me.
2. From Webs ON SUPER SALE, Valley Yarns 70% merino, 20% baby alpaca (they are so cute) 10% silk. I got enough for a gorgeous cabled sweater that will make people I work with wish they knitted instead of looking at me like a leper for knitting during bus duty.
The plan: Debbie Bliss’s Frances from her Cashmerino collection book.
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3. From The Knit Witch, Sock yarn that is the perfect answer to what to get a man who is hard to shop for. His favorite football team is the Baltimore Ravens, and he only has a few hobbies which he indulges in making it impossible to buy the man anything for Christmas. I went with the mission of finding the perfect Ravens sock yarn. I knew it existed, I had seen it online, but I couldn’t remember where. I had just about given up when I realized, that I had not seen the Knit Witch’s shop. I was thrilled as I turned the corner and found the yarn that was just waiting to be Ravens socks hanging there just for me. Most of the people around me looked at me like I had three heads with how excited I was to find it, but hey, I am loud person who doesn’t feel the need to hide my excitement about fiber. Deal.
The plan is to knit socks, not sure which pattern for the big guy for Christmas, or his birthday depending on when I get them finished. He he…
4. The next stop was Mrs. Babs who is a hand dying GENIUS. They were nice enough to give me a sample of the sock yarn to swatch with to make sure that I liked it before I bought it. I mean hey, that is proof you know you have a good product!
I bought 3 Yowza- Whatta Skein! in Tulipa. It is amazing and I was told that it doesn’t pill. I saw the proof too. The girl was wearing a sweater that was a sample that was made about a year ago and it was pill free! She said it had to do with the twist of the fibers and the length of the fibers. I was very impressed. Not to mention that the yarn feels wonderful.
The plan a sweater for me. I am a selfish knitter most of the time! The Sweater is Berroco’s Nonpareil from their Blackstone Tweed Booklet.
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5. From Mrs. Babs again. ” Yummy” 2 ply sock yarn. In New York for my big sis. She loves grey and loves New York, so it seemed fitting. Plus her house is way old, a beautiful craftsman, and her floors in the winter are almost unbearably cold. I knit, problem solved.
The plan is probably no purl monkeys for her. That will be enough lace for her to feel like they are girly without killing me.
6. From Mrs. Bab’s a third time more “Yummy” 2 ply sock yarn in Wisteria. This is for me. I don’t know the pattern yet, but I know that I am going to make something for me out of it. Probably socks. I love socks in the winter at work, they are a life saver. They make heels bearable amid all the eighth graders.
The plan: Play the pattern by ear, possibly Fruit Loops. I like that one.
7. This is the total and complete nerd in me coming out. Please do not judge. Everyone has a nerd in them somewhere. I just let mine out more than most people. I am proud of my inner nerd. I went to Dragonfly Fibers last. Their colors are so saturated and beautiful. I love them. When looking around I saw that they had a fiber combination called Dragon Sock that is 100% merino. As I am a die hard Eragon fan, (Its a beautiful book about a boy and his dragon named Sapphira who is blue like a Sapphire and I love it. I am even willing to overlook the several, okay TONS of mistakes the author has written himself into.) I looked at the color way and saw that it was blue and teal like Sapphira. I was immedately in love as this skein of yarn will make my very own pair of Sapphira socks. Yes, I am that person, but I LOVE IT!
The plan is something simple like seed stitch to show the colors and make it look like dragon scales or possibly using the Pomatous pattern on Ravlery that looks a little like dragon scales to me.
So there it is friends, the wonderment of Stitches. I am very tired and want to play with my yarn now…
Friends, Favors, and Faux Pas
Mar 27th
As I am sure many of you have deduced by my blog, I am a school teacher. That means that I spend 200 days a year with 130 OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN.
It also means that I am responsible for teaching them how to use a comma and write a coherent sentence. (This is no small task alone, but hey, if you haven’t noticed, I am insane anyway.) On top of teaching them writing and English grammar, (let’s remember most of my kids can’t pick the adjective out of the sentence “I am wearing a blue shirt.” but I digress,) I also have to teach them how to be an acceptable member of society, how to maintain proper personal cleanliness, like wearing deodorant, and in general be a positive role model.
Therefore, I spend a great deal of time at school after the bell rings, and to be perfectly honest, before hand too. I spend time doing things like planning engaging lessons, while differntiating instruction for the student who can barely write his name and the student who writes as well as I do in one class. Needless to say it is a difficult balancing act. I have spent Friday nights many times this year at school until 7:00 or later at night. Clearly I have erased any question of my insanity.
Therefore, you can understand why I treasure my time away from the kidd-os highly. I generally try to avoid family movies during family friendly times to avoid screaming children. I have enough of that at work, and don’t want to have to put up with other people’s children on my time off.
You will see why the following happening really got under my skin.
My husband and I have a friend who has just finalized a very messy divorce. He has been a friend of ours since college and he has 2 amazing children. Of late, because of stress with the lack of steady work, and no permanent housing, he has been bringing the kids over for dinner occasionally. This bothers me none, as his little boy will play Wii until his fingers fall off, and his daughter is just inthralled to be a part of a grown-up girl’s happenings, be it cleaning the kitchen or baking cookies.
On Wednesday of this week, said friend stopped by the house and asked a favor of me, as I was sewing for our planned and highly successful trip to northern Georgia. He started by telling me I looked good, obviously a lie as I was sewing for the 10th hour straight without air conditioning and horrible allergies.
I knew something was up, and there it was, “I have to work a 10 hour shift tomorrow, can you babysit?”
Now, he knows I am a school teacher, and though I am the only positive role model in his daughter’s life, I do have things I have to do on my own. Especially since he was going to drop them off at 7:00 AM. ON MY SPRING BREAK!
I couldn’t really complain, he did offer to pay me $10 an hour to watch his kids, so that was going to be $100, and I needed it to add to my Stitches Stash.
They arrived bright and early, and I went to work. I had to sew. The kids weren’t bad, they were quite polite, but as I was leaving my husband with them because I had to go to Bliss with the drawstring bags, I felt like something was not quite right.
I couldn’t have been more correct.
Turns out, friend doesn’t get off work until 6:00, the excat time that my husband is suppose to meet friends for gaming.
6:00 comes and goes. Husband calls friend. No answer. 7:00 comes and phone rings. He is in the emergency room because he was stupid enough to NOT EAT anything while working an incredibly long shift AT A RESTAURANT!
He passed out and protocol indicates that he has to be taken to the hospital. So, that works, I guess, but that leaves my husband at home with 2 children to feed and no kid friendly food.
Not to mention friend’s sister lives approximately 2 miles down the street, but no one has her number.
Around 9:00 sister finally showed up to pick up kids. Yea, that is great. ”Friend” ruined my night, my best knitting friend’s night, my mother’s night and day, and then my husband missed gaming with friends who have been to busy to game in about a year. Good job.
I just don’t see how someone with an EX-WIFE can’t figure out someone to take the kids during the day on spring break because you have to work. What about sister, or sister’s 16 year old daughter? Why the off duty teacher and her husband? Why didn’t you call EX-WIFE to have her pick up HER children from a friend rather than make my husband tell them that you are in the ER.
Great planning.
Love it.
Rant complete.
The End of Spring Break
Mar 26th
So the end of Spring Break is here, and it has been a total whirlwind.
After we finished mom’s bag, mine proved to be a little bit of a problem, to say the least. The ever-apparent problem of making the inside of the bag fit finally got the best of us and we went to work on fixing the problem. At first it did not go well.
My first bag was a disaster, and that is putting it nicely.
After that fiasco, we decided to scrap the batting idea, it is SOOO Vera Bradley anyway, and try using some stiffener we had purchased YEARS ago for our first bag which was from a pattern.
After about 20 minutes we discovered that the stiffener in the bag meant we didn’t need the canvas interior. That is easier on the sewing machine and all so that is happiness incarnate. The stiffener makes the bag fit perfectly on the inside and it is truly lovely to not have to fight with the interiors anymore.
My bag # 2 is a masterpiece.
We made bag after bag after bag and all of them turned out beautifully. We finally don’t dread a Carry All request. woejf’a;eknf’[peoiangbv;enba’;eihgba[pikebn’;ija[pienb’;knba[peinb’;eknb’[apowbhjn’piksndb.,nmb’pi
“Just Knit” Stamped on Michel Miller’s new summer fabric. I love a dot…d ;lfja;ldfkja;dlfkjsd;lakfjal;sdkfjsdlkfjdlskfjds;lkfjladskfjaldskfj;lasdkjflakdsjflaksdjfl;akdjf;lakdsjf;lakdsjf;ladskn
Let’s face it, we are all yarn snobs. I mean stashes don’t lie. You can tell what my favorite fiber is pretty quickly, and I am guessing I am not alone in that one. dfks;dkf’;lkf’;sdlkf’;dkf’a;sdlkf;aldksf’;aldkf’;aldksf’;asdlkf’;asldkf’;alsdkf’;lsdfk’;sdlkf’;sdlf’sd;l
This has to be my mom’s favorite. Everyone should love this bag, I mean hello, its red and black and white! At least that is what my mom tells me. ifd;lfj;dslfkj;asldkfja;ldksjf;ladskjf;ladskjf;lsadkjf;lsdkjf;alsdkjf;laskdjfpwoeij;lkanvb;oeilh;alkbn;leriahgrljdnba;lieha;pljbkne;poilagh
With this triumph under our belts, we were sure we could land at least one more retailer.
We sewed NON-STOP all Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then we went to knitting. Our friends atBliss Yarns were thrilled to see us, and we had brought our ever popular drawstrings. To our delight and total astonishment, the owner bought all 22 of them we had brought.
Since we were planning on handing these to shop owners as examples of our “best selling” product, we knitted for a few minutes, and headed home to sew some more drawstrings for the next day’s adventure to Chattanooga and northern Georgia.
Friday morning we got up and hit the road. We met my friend from Chattanooga and headed to our first destination, Sew-bee-it. My friend already had an appointment with the owner about her hand dyed sock yarn, so we decided to tag along. We walked in and were SURROUNDED by the most gorgeous fabrics we had probably ever seen–3 ROOMS of FABRIC! (It was originally a quilt shop that expanded into knitting.) We had died and gone to fabric heaven. Obvioulsy the owner loved purple. We finally had found out purple hideaway, not to mention that the fabric was all organized and neatly put on shelves–this is a welcome change from the local fabric store we generally have to get our designer fabrics from. (ICK.) We started wandering around and picking fabric. Choosing was hard, and when we turned around, my friend, Dana was missing. Realizing she was with the owner, we wandered through the other 2 rooms and found her in the back room, the new Knitting section where she polietly introduced us and then showed the owner all the Erin. Lane products she had on her, which was several. Well played.
The owner, was immediately impressed and took us on a tour of the store, and asked if she gave us fabric if we could use that and then she could put it in her shop. Ummmm, YES!
She gave us yards and yards of beautiful fabrics, and placed an impromptu order. When we got in the car, we all just screamed with glee. Though we totally played it cool in the store and on the way out.
We decided to hit Dalton for lunch and had a great lunch.
Then on with the road trip.
We stopped by the Whole Nine Yarns, and unfortunately the owner was out, but her manager, was thrilled to see our bags. She told us to stop by thier booth at Stitches South in about a month and talk to the owner then.
So, all in all another win. Even if it is only a maybe.
We drove home totally stoked to have landed one retailer with the possiblity of another within a month.
Overall this was an awesome Spring Break, but I am so ready for bed, and maybe 2 days where I don’t work, since the children are waiting on the other side of the weekend. And in 10 school days, there is TCAP, our state test and all the chaos that goes with that. Ugh.
Oh, and I splurged and bought the Superhero colorway by Dream in Color for my hubby. He is my superhero, so I figure a hat would be lovely to keep his little ears warm in the winter…
The Beginning of Spring Break
Mar 21st
This weekend has been a good weekend. We have been getting tons done, and best of all, I am not exhausted. Next best of all, I am not NOT NOT going to work TOMORROW!! I am going to stay up late, watch TV with my husband, and sleep in tomorrow morning. That is what will happen, but this is what is what HAS happened.
Saturday I slept in, that was truly special, for the first time in months. I called mom, and we went shopping. I know, you are surprised that we went shopping on a Saturday. We had gotten so many special orders that we had to go buy the fabric to fill them. While we were there, we got fabric to match mom’s favorite fabric, so she could make her bag. Also, we got me a fun fabric for a bag and an Ultimate. After shopping, I came home and was able to catch up with a friend I had not been able to see or chat with in almost a month. She was able to hang out instead of work for the first time in what seems like FOREVER. Not to mention she hasn’t been able to go to knit night because she is the only one who will close with this one person. So she was able to come over and hang. We had great time.
This morning when I got up I watched TV. That was fun since I didn’t have to worry about what I had to get done, because let’s remember, I am on Spring Break. (One of the only perks of teaching public school.) I called my mom, and we started working on the bags for her and me, so we can be “up to date” with the latest design. We had to run a few errands to find the correct color ribbon, then our sewing machine decided it wanted to have issues. We got that fixed and started sewing along.
We finished mom’s bag and it is BEAUTIFUL! It screams LISA all over and back again. Then, we decided that we should start on my bag. We cut everything cut out and then had the task of figuring out what to stamp on my bag. About this time, my husband came up to find out what we were doing for dinner. We posed the question to him about what to stamp on my bag. It is a tricky thing. It needs to encapsulate everything that I am, so we had to think because it also needs to be quippy and funny, not to mention knitty. I mentioned that I thought it would be cute if we turned KNIT into an acrostic. After about 5 minutes of all three of us staring at a blank piece of canvas, my husband says, “KNIT, Knitting Needles In Transit.” We all thought that was genius.
The best part is the fact that we already have KNITPacks which are designed to transport knitting needles. We were elated. We couldn’t believe that we had not thought of it before, but to celebrate we had burgers and continued to celebrate my husband’s genius.
On another exciting note, we are working on trying to get more retailers. Since I am on Spring Break, we have decided to try to get a few retailers that are within a day’s drive and going and talking to the owners. My friend in Chattanooga knows everyone there is to know in the knitting industry, and she has given us the names of several knitting stores that she thinks would like to carry our stuff. So we are going to start calling shops on Tuesday morning.
Big things happening for Erin.Lane. Keeping checking back for pictures of us in the studio and updates on if we are heading out to spread the Erin.Lane organizational goodness to all.
Drawstring Madness
Mar 18th
Today was another big day for our little Erin.Lane. We went to our local yarn store, since it is, in fact, knit night.
However, I am getting ahead of myself.
Today is Thursday. That means for me, the school teacher, I have to get at all the assignments I have gotten graded and recorded, so I can give the students a progress report. This is not required by my principal but, it allows me to tell parents, “You should not be surprised about your student’s grade, I have sent home a progress report every week all six weeks.” Also, it shows the students what they are missing in my class. They have NO excuse to say they didn’t know they were missing something that was a grade.
Now, I had to teach all day and students graded a HUGE assignment in class so they could get their grades right away. That made me have one less thing to grade. I was thrilled. Except, (you knew that was coming didn’t you?) we had an assembly and my 3rd period class got cut 23 minutes short. That is HALF my class. Therefore, 3rd period’s assignments weren’t graded in class. UGH.
So they day ends, and I know I have my work cut out for me in order to make it to knit night to get more of our little KnitSacks to our favorite knitting friends. I have to grade a test, and the one class of that huge assignment. Then, I have to enter all 5 of those grades from the week into the computer. That doesn’t take too much, but I still have to take the time to do it.
I grade like a crazy person and the clock just keeps running away. Before I know it, I am leaving SCHOOL at 6:30. It takes 15 minutes to get home to meet mom and then another 30-45 to get to our Brentwood shop.
We get on the way finally at 6:45 and we get to the shop at 7:30. The shop closes at 8, but we promised more drawstring bags, so we had to deliver.
We did, but little did we know that we were going to be the targets.
These bags literally were in my hand when the entire knitting table of women started swarming the bags. I thought they were cute, but some of these women were actually FIGHTING over the bags. They were thrilled that the bags won’t come open, and people were making SPECIAL ORDERS! It was thrilling. The bags are a huge hit. One of the friends at the store not has three of them! She actually said, “I am so glad that these bags don’t come open. I threw the other bag away!”
Needless to say, this made our day. When the owner was able to get our of her office for a few seconds and asked me how many we had. I had no idea how many bags we had. My fabulous husband gathered them from the studio, and I didn’t count them. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. I had so many out on the table and in people’s hands I was totally lost. Luckily, my friend there had counted them and we were able to get a check.
Needless to say, we had another big night. Second week in a row the bags were a total success. The knitters love them and they are dieing to get more of them. If you knit and need a bag, let me tell you, these are HIGHLY recommended by all of the knitters at our local yarn shop.
Plus, they are on sale in our Etsy store. Swing by and find out how fabulous they are for yourself. Join the Erin.Lane fab train!
Spring into Savings…
Mar 17th
In the spirit of the budding of new green things in the world, we have been busy in the studio and working hard to make sure that the world of fiber enthusiasts is organized and happily knitting along. Also, in the spirit of spring cleaning, we have decided to have a MAJOR sale. Everything in the store is 20% off. All items have the regular price listed so you can see all that you are saving.
In order to get ready for this sale frenzy, mom and I worked tirelessly to get lots of our new KnitSacks up 
and ready for the feeding frenzy. When we went to our local yarn shop last Thursday, they were a huge hit. The major selling point, that these bags don’t come open. And trust me we have tested it. I put 5 sock needles and a ball of yarn in one, handed it to my husband and told him to make it come open without pulling the drawstring.
30 minutes later he handed me the bag, panting, and gave up! That is total success. At the yarn store the owner brought all 9 bags and sold 6 in about 2 and a half hours. That made us feel like we had definitely hit a home run.
All the while with the sale and all the mayhem at school, there is Stitches South 2010. Since I am just a lowly English teacher, I didn’t think that I would have the means to get to the fiber festival. However, due to two of the best friends a girl could have, and the world’s best husband, I have a “Stitches Stash.” My husband has committed to working hard to make sure that I can have some money to spend at the event. Isn’t he great? In order to help, my husband went around the house and collected all the change we had be hording for 5 years and decided that the thing we had been saving for is Stitches. Not only that, but he has also decided that my “stash” gets 10 dollars from every sale we make on the Etsy store.
So friends, help me make it to stitches, and enjoy the savings at the same time. Think of it this way, we can “save” together!
A Challenged Proposed and Defeated
Mar 8th
We have finished the Ulitmate. The only KnitPack you will ever need. Having done a little market research, thanks to the friends at Bliss Yarns who are always willing to give a helpful opinion, and my dear friend in Chattanooga who was willing to see what others (her knitting groups, yes plural) had to say, we have learned a lot about the Ultimate and fret not we are listening. That being said you would probably be pleased to know that since March is National Craft Month, we are going to be having a sale in the Etsy store. However, that is another blogpost for another time….check back soon.
While at the fabulous Bliss Yarns, we were asked, nay, challenged to compete with a big wig in the knitting organization industry. I won’t mention any names, but this company, in my opinion is our only competion, and we have her beat HANDS DOWN! We have listened to what others have to say about the problems in those products and have fixed them. But I digress,
The challenge, create a bag that is ideal for small project storage and organization, say for a pair of socks. The catch was that, get this it wasn’t lined. There were raw edges everywhere. For those of you out there who don’t sew, you need to know that that is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. I start thinking and talking to mom and low and behold we decide that raw edges are just so NOT erin.lane.
After a Sunday, by the way, coupon commotion is going on pretty much all month at JoAnn’s, spent shopping at our favorite craft store, see previous, we have to track down an essential to our sewing party. For this item, we have to drive into Franklin from Murfreesboro which takes at least 30 minutes. We start talking about the possibilities about how to make said Challenge Bag. We are sure we have it down, we know the dimensions, and we are thrilled to get home and get started.
When we arrive home, we make dinner, and get started. It was a little slow going, but we did come up with something totally and completely GENIUS! Our new little drawstring project bag solves all the problems generally “dealt with” from other project bags. Not to mention it is totally and completely ADORABLE!
This is the answer to the challenge. It is a roomy 12 inches X 12 inches. It is perfect for shawls or socks, or hats. Things you wouldn’t want to get picked or tossed about. However, the best part is that this bag is completely lined in 100% unbleached cotton fabric. It is neat and tidy inside to make sure that your yarn or project doesn’t pick up any extra threads from fraying raw edges. It also means that you can wash this bag if need be, other bags, where you see the raw edges, I would be careful as the agitation of your washing machine could make it fray. Icky.
Also, as with all erin.lane products, because we are knitters we think like knitters. I can say with a good deal of certitude that I would not want my sock needle to poke through a drawstring bag possibly pushing my patterned sock off the needles and throwing off my row count and making my life a living nightmare. Because of this, we actually tested to see if you can push a sock needle though out bag as apposed to the people we were challenged to “give a run for her money.” It is extremely hard to poke a sock needle though our bag, not so much with the unlined bag that we are challenged to create.
Also, because we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE grosgrain ribbon, we looked at the problem with the drawstring coming open.
Solution: grosgrain ribbon. We couldn’t just let the grosgrain be all black with nothing else to jazz up the fabric, so we also added the colored grosgrain ribbon on exterior. With that epiphany we wanted to sew one up immediately. I have to say, I think it was a total success. I have to say I am happy with the way it has worked out.
I think the part I like best is the fact that it is completely lined. It really helps you see your project no matter what color it is. I have to say it was definitely a success. Not to mention I think it is a way better designed bag than the competition. Also, I have to say that I would be lieing if I said I would be happy carrying the other bag as apposed to this one. It really comes down to the fact that I don’t want to make a bag or needle case that I wouldn’t carry or buy myself. 