Little Package Blog

Digital Cycling Cap Patterns Now Available!
2013.04.09
Sewing
People have been requesting this product for years, and I’ve finally made it! My two cycling cap sewing patterns — with the best instructions, templates, and style/fit available — are now downloadable as PDFs. You can buy, print, and be cutting and sewing within minutes from now! Check them out: These patterns include the same templates and guidelines that I follow when sewing caps in my studio. They even include instructions on how to add a cozy earflap for cold-weather riding. I worked for several years ironing out hiccups and honing the style so that these would look and fit great on everyone. The patterns print out on letter sized (or A4) paper. Just make sure to print at 100% – no shrinking to fit. Thank you! […]

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The Assholes of Bon Appetit Ads: February 2013
2013.01.22
Opinion
I was automatically subscribed to Bon Appétit when Gourmet magazine died. At some point I might have even renewed that subscription, because it’d become a tradition to hop into a steaming hot bath and pore over the recipes while getting giggly drunk on gin or wine and eating ice cream. Every time one landed in my mail box it screamed, “bath time!” It meant I had to set aside an evening just for me and my magazine: a pretty special date. I’m not renewing this subscription for other reasons, but I thought I’d share what flipping through the most recent issue felt like. It felt a little icky. It felt like Adam Rapoport, the former style editor of GQ magazine, had taken over a cooking magazine. The […]

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Bike Craft 2012
2012.11.03
Bikes
It’s getting busy in my studio but I had to take a minute aside to let everyone know Little Package will be at the Bike Craft fair this year. This will be the 5th or 6th time I’ve tabled at this wonderful, homegrown Portland event, and as always, I’m looking forward to it. It’s so fun to be in a room with dozens of other local crafters who have worked hard to bring their bike style to life. Please put it on your calendar! BIKE CRAFT 2012 December 1 and 2, 11am-6pm Sandbox Studios, 420 NE 9th Portland, Oregon USA This month I am trying to catch up on the wait list that formed when I was out of action in August and September, packing and shipping […]

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Collarbone – 6 weeks, 5 days out
2012.09.29
Bikes, Nursing
So this is my new right collarbone. I’m pretty happy — as happy as one can be, I guess — with the new shape. And I’m proud that I healed it myself, trusting nature to do its job (though that was tough sometimes). There are some fairly good resources online for people with broken collarbones wanting to know what to do. I really had no idea, and never went to the doctor, so I did a lot of Googling. I got the most (but not necessarily the best) information from these two websites: – Pinkbike broken collarbone recovery time Of course that’s the first thing people want to know. How long will I endure this hell? – John’s Clavicle Page Lay expert-ish, though a bit pro-surgery. Some […]

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Collarbone Update
2012.09.10
Bikes
Exactly 4 weeks ago I crashed a dirt jumper on a wooden ramp & broke my right collarbone. Looking back a month has gone by quickly, but trust me: individually, those 28 days each took an eternity to pass. I thought at week three my bone would be fused and by week four I would be sewing, but last week I had a setback. A massive spasm in the middle of the night re-broke my collarbone. No joke. It was a nightmare. But real. I thought I’d have to start over… But this morning I woke and realized my bone had finally fused! Seems like broken bones learn from their mistakes. Now that it’s fused I can move around much more freely. I took two walks. I […]

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Regression Success!
2012.08.20
Bikes
It’s been a week since some mean gravity stole me from the air and threw me down on Lumberyard wood, breaking my clavicle. Mean, mean gravity. That choice little moment cut in half everything that preceded it, and what followed, into two separate worlds. Here I am in bed strapped together with braces and slings, in awful pain. This time last week I was just figuring out how to clear all the tables in the beginner flow sequence, looking a little more like this: You can see exactly where I fell 11 seconds into this video (the first 15 seconds of the video shows what I’ve been working on). There is a little jump I was experimenting with, trying to get some extra speed. The third or […]

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Human Whisperer
2012.06.30
Bikes, Sewing
This week I pulled an insane maneuver: I sold the sewing machine I use to make cycling caps — before getting a replacement. I sold it right out from under my business, without warning or much planning. It had been listed on Craigslist for several weeks as part of my plan to buy a new machine to improve my tax situation, and suddenly one evening someone wanted it badly. Off it went to a happy new home, perfectly good but massively depreciated. Off it went, leaving me high and dry. A replacement won’t be here until mid-next week. I do own these two vintage “backup” sewing machines, though. They sit pretty, high up on a shelf above my desk, collecting compliments and dust. I pulled them both […]

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Women’s Cycling Jersey Options
2012.06.21
Bikes
This is a rant-y opinion piece. If you disagree, or wear any of these jerseys, that’s your style and you’re certainly entitled to it. I am opinionated and can sometimes come off as bitchy, but those things go hand-in-hand and for the most part I’m a very smart and nice person. So hear me out. There’s a comment form at the bottom of the post if you would like to rant, too. So yeah, I’ve been shopping for cycling jerseys for several years and still only own two. Two of the same jersey. Black, short sleeve, three quarter zip, wool. Why only two? Because shopping for women’s jerseys is awful. I normally have to stop after a few moments of browsing because nothing pops out at me. […]

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Things We Will Do
2012.06.19
Bikes
On Saturday I called up Boone and asked if he wanted to go mountain biking. Of course he did. I printed off a map to a pretty out-of-the-way and lesser-traveled trail and picked him up, and off we went. I got a new fork for my bike, switching out the old 80mm SID Race for a burlier 100mm Reba RL, so I was pretty excited to try it out. Improved bike, new trail, lots of excitement… right? Well, it doesn’t work like that. We were on strange trails with no idea where we were going. Strange trails that twisted and turned more than a pissed off snake. And my fork just proved too much for me. I couldn’t get in the groove. I couldn’t ride fast. That […]

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