TNNA Columbus 2011
Posted: 15/06/2011 Filed under: Business, Knitting, SWevents Leave a commentTNNA is always a great trade show. I particularly love the Columbus show. With the North Market for excellent lunches, Jeni’s ice cream, Pam’s popcorn and On Paper stationery store just down the road, what’s not to love?
There is always something weird and wonderful happening after show hours at the Hyatt bar. Sadly we missed the night that Amy Singer played her ukulele and everyone sang like they were sitting around a campfire. Happily we didn’t miss the night that Alisha pulled a taxidermy grizzly bear head out of her suitcase and proceeded to knit a massive ‘bear skin rug’. 
That bear became famous at the show. Everyone wanted to take a picture with it.
We got to see old friends.
Dave from Louet doing a weaving demonstration
Ravelry with their first booth at TNNA. As a footnote, they are a truly innovative company.
We met some new friends.
Marly Bird, host of The Yarn thing Podcast
We bought another Namaste purse even though we swore we wouldn’t.
The fabulous new mini messenger bag from Namaste
We celebrated milestones.
5 years of Potter Craft
We spent time admiring pretty yarn.
Be Sweet booth
Koigu booth
We launched new products.
Lorna’s Laces new Solemate. It contains a fiber that interacts with your body’s microclimate to moderate temperature. Out of this world!
We decided Nancy from Namaste was our favourite person when she showed up to a bar wearing this
Another hat saved…
Posted: 25/05/2011 Filed under: Craft, Knitting, SW101, SWCustomerContributions, SWhowto, SWmain Leave a commentWe love when Soak users are so happy with their results that they have to send us an email or call us to say thanks. Send us your great Soak rescue story with photos and we’ll feature it on our blog.
Shireen specifically seeked us out at the Knitter’s Frolic so she could meet us and tell us about how Soak saved her hat. She had lost a hand-knit hat last fall and after the snow had all melted this spring, her friend found it looking quite sad and dirty. With some Soak, she was able to give life to her hat again. You can read her full story at her blog, The Blue Brick.
Before
After
You would never know that this beautiful hat had spent a hard cold winter buried under snow, slush and mud.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Shireen!
Send us your Soak experiences to ngoc@soakwash.com.
Exciting delivery.
Posted: 07/03/2011 Filed under: Business, SWpress, SWpromotions, Uses for Soak | Tags: basin, magazine, Martha Stewart, Media, soak Leave a commentWe received an envelope this morning and much to our enjoyment, it was the April Spring issue of Martha Stewart Living. Flip to page 38 and you’ll find Soak featured under “75 Spectacular Spring Things”!
It’s been an exciting day for us media-wise as we’ve received news that we’re also in Chatalaine for the April Issue as well on page 89! We haven’t seen it ourselves yet but you can bet we’ll be picking up the issue.
I have been reminded of Spring all morning. First it was the brightly coloured fabrics shown on Red Pepper Quilt’s blog. And then these magazine spring issues. Not to mention the sunny skies and melting snow. If you’re anything like me, and can’t wait for spring cleaning time (not because I enjoy cleaning, but because it means warmer weather is just around the corner) than perhaps a brightly coloured Carrie or Phil basin can help you with a few jobs around the house.
Spring uses for Carrie and Phil
Clean your blinds. Fill up a basin with some warm water and Soak and dip a wash cloth in the water to wipe down your blinds. It’s amazing how much dust can accumulate on each blade.
Wash your winter accessories. Carrie’s larger size makes her great for hand washing several pairs of mittens, scarves and hats all at the same time.
If you are a big gardener, the basins are great for outdoor use. They are great for holding soil and fertilizer or to keep your bulbs and roots in one place.
Do you have any other ideas of uses for our vibrant basins? We’d love to hear them.
101 things you can do with Soak | 005 Removing dirt and oil off wildlife
Posted: 09/03/2010 Filed under: SWeco, Uncategorized | Tags: 101, soak wash 1 CommentAuthor: Ngoc
Most of us have heard stories about oil spills and their effects on wild life. One of our customers, Laura Westlake is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and she sent us her Soak story.
“I can’t tell you how much I love your product. As a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, I use your “Soak” to bath my wild birds that need more than just water to clean their feathers. It is non toxic and gets the “bad” dirt and oil off them safely! I also use “Soak” to wash my 11 year old dog. I’ve used all other dog products, but there is none that compare to the way it cleans and makes her fur feel. It is also so gentle on the skin. It is the best!”
– Laura Westlake
These are two birds that she has saved. They are happily swimming and bathing after she has clean the oil and dirt off their feathers using Soak.
We all loved her story and it stirred my curiosity about how exactly the oil effects the birds. Here is a summary of why oil spills are so detrimental and how wildlife rehabilitators are saving these birds. The information for this post was taken from here.
If you’ve ever looked at a feather closely, it has the stem in the middle and little veins coming out of both sides of the stem. These veins are then covered in tiny little barbs. All the little barbs link together to create a water proof barrier to prevent water from seeping in and keeps their skin nice and dry. When their feathers become covered in oil, the barbs don’t link together smoothly and the feathers clump and leave gaps, which essentially strip the feathers of their water proofing nature. Birds will then try to preen their feathers to smooth them out and in the process they will ingest the oil which is toxic and damages their organs. If left too long with oil on their feathers, these birds tend to freeze to death due to their inability to keep the water off their skin.
These wildlife rehabilitators find these birds and clean their feathers with a mild soap or in Laura’s case, Soak. They feed the animals until they are back to a healthy weight and free them back into the wild.
Thanks for the great story Laura!
soakworthy.com 