Travelling Mini-soaks
Posted: 21/01/2011 Filed under: Design, Travel | Tags: mini-soaks Leave a comment »We constantly get emails and praise from our customers about how mini-soaks have become a must bring item on their travels. The little single use packets are great in hotel rooms to wash hosiery, swim wear, blouses, or almost any garment for that matter. I’ve also heard stories of people bringing them on road trips, or when back packing because it allows them to pack light an easily wash their outfits without a washing machine or a large amount of water. I wanted to share some of the great photos that I’ve received from our world travellers. Did Soak go with you on your latest trip? Send me your photos and fun vacation stories.
Mini-soaks by a fountain in the Rathaus in Basel, Switzerland
A menu in Strasbourg, France
On a ship on the Rhine.
Luzern, Switzerland
Citrus strapped to a bicycle on a Canal in Amsterdam.
Celebration mini-soaks in China.
Send your Soak success stories and photos to ngoc@soakwash.com.
Welcome to 2011.
Posted: 10/01/2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: 365 photos, dragon's den, Ngoc Nguyen, photography 2 Comments »Author: Ngoc
Did you make any resolutions this year? Interestingly the majority of people give up on their resolutions by mid-February and though most know that this happens, year after year, they will continue to make new resolutions (or reattempt old ones). I heard that people continue to do this because it feels good to make goals. In those few minutes when you are committing to make changes or better yourself, you invision the ‘new you’ and how your life will change due to these resolutions. These images of your ‘better life’ are enough of a reward for us that we will continue to make resolutions even if we know we are destined to fail at them. For those of you who have been successful at accomplishing your resolutions, please give us some of your tips.
One of my resolutions was to make better use of my camera. That brings us to the 365 project.
We’ve decided that our photography skills need some sprucing up. What better way to do that than to just get out there and start shooting? We’ve committed to participating in the 365 project, a photo for every day of the year. Not only is it a great way to make yourself pick up the camera, but it also helps to capture memories and document our year. We’ll be posting them on our Flickr account and we’ll post a mosaic of some of our favourites on this blog every now and then. Here are a few from the first week of 2011. 
Dragons’ Den
That’s right. We’ll be appearing on Dragons’ Den for the second time. Tune in to CBC on Wed Jan 12, 2011 at 8pm. Send us your thoughts and comments after the show. Here is the video from when we were on last time.
Tradeshows
We’ve been at The Needle Arts National Assocation tradeshow all weekend where we officially launched our newest product, Heel, with great success. If you plan on attending Vogue Knitting Live in New York City, make sure you stop by our booth to say hi. Here’s a video of us setting up at TNNA over the weekend.
101 things to do with Soak | 032 Suitcases
Posted: 21/09/2010 Filed under: Travel, Uses for Soak | Tags: 101, Esther, hand washing, soak wash, soakwash, suitcase, wash Leave a comment »Author: Esther
I love everything that comes with travelling: exploring new places, trying new foods, experiencing new cultures, and meeting wonderful people. I have been lucky enough to travel to many different cities around the world for both missionary work and for pleasure. My trusty bright green suitcase has been the perfect companion during my trips to Seoul, Puket, Vancouver, Torreon, Monterrey, Tampico, Nava and most recently, New York City.
I’ve had this suitcase for years and the once bright vibrant green fabric is now decorated with stains and has dulled in color due to the thin layer or dirt and dust. Having a brightly colored suitcase makes it easily spottable when it circles the luggage conveyor belt. After returning from my latest vacation, I decided that my suitcase needed a good cleaning.
How I cleaned my suitcase:
Please remember to empty everything out of the pockets.
I put the suitcase into my bathtub and poured some Soak directly on the heaviest stains and used a slightly wet brush to gently scrub away the dirt. I gave the bag a quick rinse and was amazed at how dirty the water was.
Open up all the pockets/compartments and leave it to air dry.
I left it in the bathtub overnight to dry and when I went to check on it in the morning, it looked brand new. I forgot how bright and vibrant it used to be. My green suitcase is now clean, smells great and is ready for our next great adventure together.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 29. Huile d’Olive
Posted: 10/09/2010 Filed under: Design, Food, Travel | Tags: bags, Ngoc Nguyen Leave a comment »Author: Ngoc
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
Surrounded by home-made tapenade, artisan breads, fresh spices and beautiful flowers, they were reminded of Chris (from the Soak office) and decided to pick up this wonderful bag for her.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 22. Loop. London.
Posted: 25/06/2010 Filed under: Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: bags, Jacqueline Sava, travel 1 Comment »Author: Jacqueline
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
While in London, we visited a myriad of beautiful shops. One such shop was Loop. Loop has been working hard in the last month as they have moved into a beautiful bigger shop at 15 Camden Passage, Islington (right around the corner from Angel tube).
They had their opening party last Saturday with great success. When Susan opened the doors to the new shop at 11am, she was greeted by 150 wonderful customers cheering and clapping. 
While their previous shop was lovely, the new shop boasts several floors, workrooms and equally brilliant neighbors.
Loop also has a booming online business. We enjoyed browsing the shop for vintage buttons, yarns and magazines alike. I love the extensive use of the word Haberdashery in the UK. It is highly underused here in Canada. Seriously, where, here, would you ever find this phrase? ‘Pompom kits, olivewood buttons and knitting Nellys are just a part of the huge range of haberdashery available’. Soak will now be part of this great shop, both in its online shop and retail outlet. It’s no surprise I left the shop with a cute bag and some fab finds. That’s the joy of travel.
Loop is also sponsoring the opening night party of Knit Nation, a UK based knit event occurring this summer. If anyone can figure out how I can go back to the UK for this event, do let me know! More on that another day.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 19. Melt.
Posted: 04/06/2010 Filed under: Business, Design, Food, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: bags, Jacqueline Sava, Melt, UK Leave a comment »Author: Jacqueline
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
There has been great debate about whether this blog is about just Soak, or great products in general. Is it commercial, or personal? Is it promotional or creative exploration? Well, we’re not ready to commit either way, but we feel that anything that inspires us enough to share should be included.
Sometimes it is about Soak, sometimes our customers, sometimes, like today, brilliant design, merchandising and products in totally unrelated fields. Today, I bring you, Melt.
While in London (yes, there’ll be several posts about great British discoveries), we discovered, at Liberty of London in the ‘confectionery department’, Melt chocolates. More specifically, hot chocolate lollipops. A stick of perfectly square chocolate, wrapped in vividly coloured papers, filled with deliciousness. Single origin hot chocolate blocks, as they are called. Hand made in their own kitchen.
Directions: swirl the lollipop in steeped milk and enjoy. How decadent.
A few steps from Portobello Road in a posh neighbourhood in Notting Hill, we found a Melt retail store. There were bars of chocolate, truffles and other caramel treats in the most perfectly elegant space.
There was even a Melt bike for carrying chilled bundles of deliciousness around town.
As I was leaving with my perfectly lovely bag filled with hot chocolate lollipops, I couldn’t resist photographing the shop, to share it with you. From brand to bar, Melt is a true example of a leading company. Check them out; we hope you’ll be as inspired as we were. Oh, and yes, the hot chocolate was delicious!
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 18: Part 2, Feast of Fabric.
Posted: 28/05/2010 Filed under: Business, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: bags, Jacqueline Sava, travel, UK Leave a comment »Author: Jacqueline
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
Katherine called it the Mother Ship. Some refer to it as Mecca. You may know it as Liberty of London. This London-based department store is, in my opinion, the perfect store. I could live there (on the fourth floor, in modern antiques/home textiles to be exact). I would venture to the second floor for cosmetics, linens and art deco printed towels and go to the ground floor for sweets, garden accessories and an endless supply of scarves.
Most importantly though, I would spend time on the fifth floor, in the haberdashery. Four walls. One yarn, one fabric, one crafts, and one of books and trinkets. An endless wall of Liberty prints is truely my quilting dream come true. I bought six half yards of decadent fabrics as well as an assortment of cotton hankies and scarves.
There’s a Rowan concession, filled with Amy Butler fabric, Rowan yarns and knitters who demo yarns and books all day long. They can knit on the job, but they can’t sit. One lovely lady told us it took three months for her arms and back to adjust to knitting while standing up. Best of all, when we talked of our Soak travels, they had heard of us! Fancy that.
More London updates upon my return. I’ll be flying home when this post goes live. I hope my fabric stash will accept my new Liberty prints with the same enthusiasm with which they were purchased. I can’t wait to get them home.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 17: Mission accomplished. Well, the first half.
Posted: 21/05/2010 Filed under: Business, Craft, Design, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: bags, Jacqueline Sava, travel 3 Comments »| Author: Jacqueline Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
I’ve travelled across the Atlantic to see the Quilt Exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. This morning, we started off at Quilts 1700-2010. What a way to start the day. The exhibition includes historical work created in the UK from eighteenth century patchwork through to modern times. My favorite piece was a quilt made entire of wool by a tailor, James Williams, of Wrexham, Wales, 1842-52. He, yes he, used left over pieces of wool from his tailor shop and spent over 18 years making innovative quilts. Following the exhibit I went to the shop to secure a stash of limited production, reproduction fabrics made especially for the show. Needless to say, my bag was full. I bought fat quarters galore, and don’t worry dear quilting friends, you know who you are, I bought fat quarters and treats for you too. We bought one copy of the show catalog, which I’ll surely bring to the next Quilt Sunday. Incidentally, I’ve also been photographing inspirational patterns as I come across them on my travels. A new sketchbook is surely in the works… but that’s another story.
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The second half of the journey you ask? Liberty of London, on Thursday. It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 16: Have hat, will travel.
Posted: 14/05/2010 Filed under: Craft, Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: antique, bags, Jacqueline Sava Leave a comment »Author: Jacqueline
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
It is a hectic Friday at the Soak office. I leave tonight for the UK. While the main purpose of our trip is pleasure (fantastic family wedding in a castle!), I’m also meeting up with Alice Yu our new National Account Manager, UK for the yarn market. We’re really excited to have Alice join us as part of our team.
While there, we’re planning on a visit to Loop, where we’ll be hanging out with owner Susan Cropper. We’ll be bringing treats for the grand opening of their new shop on June 12- on Camden Passage, in Islington, London. Their new address, in case you are in town after June 12th, will be 15 Camden Passage, Islington, London N1 8EA.
I’ll also be meeting Robynn, of the extraordinary shop Purlescence, as well as the ladies from the make lounge. How exciting! I’m sure there will be many other stops (Liberty of London, V&A museum) that will delight my senses and satisfy my need to rummage through textiles and other fun finds.
Speaking of rummaging, back to the above mentioned wedding. I’ll be sporting my favorite navy and white dress and shoes, only this time adding a bit of British flair to the outfit with my new (and lovely) hat.
I found this and other fine works of millinery last weekend when Karyn, Chris and I trekked to Brimfield Massachusetts for the Brimfield Antique Market. We walked through miles of antiques, textiles and treasures to find unique items and treats.
Sometimes a hat box is better than a bag. This striped one is the perfect way to protect my new hats, one of which is already packed away for travels.
It’s Friday and I’m bagged. Week 2: Bag that bra.
Posted: 29/01/2010 Filed under: lingerie, Soak Stockists, Travel | Tags: bags, Bra, brachic, Jacqueline Sava, lingerie, soak Leave a comment »Author: Jacqueline
Grab a coffee or tea and join us each Friday, to learn how these Soak worthy bags came to be. Are you bagged? Send us your favorite bag. If we feature it here, we’ll send you a Soak gift pack, in a pretty bag, of course!
Meet Brachic. Located on Richmond Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Brachic packages the perfect bra in the perfect pink bag. When I bought my insanely beautiful and comfortable purple bra (Salome) during my last visit, I was captivated by Marianne (the owner extraordinaire) as well as her staff, her store and her shopping bags.
While the store is simply lovely, the fitting rooms are brilliant. One even has a cork board for fitting women to exchange business cards! Each has a unique theme to make every woman feel at home.
I brought my pink bag back to the office and I just can’t part with it. It has the style and durability of a re-usable bag, but it’s crisp lines and un-tarnished surface makes it more suited to visual display than daily carry-along. So, we’ve decided to use it as a mini-soak display.
We also shopped and danced ’till we dropped with Marianne at the CurveNY Lingerie trade and fashion show in NY… but that’s a story for another day. Does your shop have a unique and lovely bag? Merchandise with it. Don’t forget to send us the pics!
