inspired by: manufacturing in the past

We both come from parts of the country where quality textile manufacturing used to be an enormous industry. Most of the mill buildings in these areas are now just vacant shells, and most of the skilled people who spent their lives working in these factories are dying off or living pretty close to the poverty line.
Today, most of the products Americans buy are cheaply made on the other side of the globe (by people who are grossly underpaid and overworked.) Quality goods are getting harder to find and cost has become more important than conscience. It's really a sad situation, and it's a motivator to try and make some serious changes. It's scary to think about what could happen if people don't start making some big changes.

Finding domestic manufacturing partners is not an easy feat, but it's not impossible. We've been fortunate enough to find a few of the good ones that still exist. Everything we are using, from our yarn, to our buttons, to our thread and labels is being made in the USA. We are just one tiny company, and we are just getting started, but we feel like we are helping to begin the process of turning things around for the better!

This map shows what manufacturing in NYC in 1922 looked like. Less than a third of these industries still exist here.

These photos are what typical Massachusetts mill towns looked like in the early 1900's. The work that was done in these buildings created enough income to sustain entire towns.



(all images from NYPL digital image gallery)

inspired by: advice from a six year old

Here is a note from a very wise 6 year old when asked "What do you do when you encounter a difficult situtation?".....
Translation:     

calm
relax
calming

chill

                     

in the loop: happy birthday to the big S and our very first knit swatches

Our first knit samples were born January 6th, which also happens to be S's birthday. We celebrated these two glorious births with some delicious chocolate cake :)


here is the birthday girl approving the fabrics that our sweaters will be made from:

here are all of our yarn cones waiting to become something even better:

and here is the little cake that helped to make the day even sweeter: