CPSIA

Whew! This is interesting...

http://www.apparelnews.net/news/manufacturing/082409-Fabric-and-Yarn-Excluded-in-New-CPSIA-Requirements

Fabric and Yarn Excluded in New CPSIA Requirements

August 24, 2009

A new vote has exempted fabric and yarn from the lead testing and certification requirements for children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The exemption, which is expected to go into effect within a matter of days, does not include snaps, buttons, zippers and the like. The result is that the final garment will still need to be tested.

The testing of fabric and yarn has been a point of contention among children’s apparel manufacturers, who argue that the two items are not lead-bearing and that the costly testing of them places an undue burden on manufacturers.

The CPSIA says it reached its decision on fabrics and dyes after studying hundreds of test reports and analyses that examined lead levels in various textile and apparel products.


“After reviewing and verifying this test data, the staff was able to determine that most textile products are manufactured using processes that do not introduce lead or result in an end product that would exceed the CPSIA’s lead limits,” said a statement released by the CPSC.

The act, which became law last August, rankles and confuses manufacturers and retailers alike. The CPSIA made significant changes to previous regulations, which now imposes additional compliance requirements for consumer products produced domestically and abroad. Manufacturers making apparel primarily for children age 12 or younger take the brunt of the law, facing staggered deadlines for new lead-paint requirements and third-party testing of lead content in small parts and metal jewelry. Other requirements call for tracking labels on children’s products that show where the garment was made, its batch number and other information not previously made available to the consumer.

The apparel industry continues to petition for changes to the CPSIA. On Aug. 25, Kevin Burke, president and chief executive of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, will testify at a CPSC public hearing in Bethesda, Md., on the Commission’s agenda, priorities and strategic plan.

For more information on the CPSIA, visit http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/cpsia.HTML. —Erin Barajas

Spitting Stella

Stella is busy spitting up a storm!

Crazy Daze - July 11th

Hey there all you fiber lovers! July 11th is Viroqua’s Crazy Daze, a city wide side walk sale! Ewetopia will have lots of yarn on sale, and possibly even Clover Needles! It’s a good reason to take a beautiful drive to Viroqua!

PS - There is also a blue grass festival at the fair grounds and i hear a bunch of antique tractors will be gracing us all around town!

We hope to see you July 11!

Cybal and Brita

We have a couple of new additions to Woolly Bear Farm, a couple of rambunctious white and tan Great Pyrenees pups to be exact! Their names are Brita and Cybal. Brita meaning "exalted one" and Cybal meaning prophetess or fortune-teller. They are quite joyful, especially when they grab a a sock from one of our boots and run with it! They have met their woolly charges and are a little intimidated, but brave and quiet, just what we need! Our former sheep guard, Herman the donkey is now in exile with our small herd of cattle and recieving the same treatment he gave to the sheep!

NEW diaper cover pattern

Now that Stella is here, it has been easier to dream up design patterns that will actually work! My new twist on the diaper cover that I had been designing pre-Stella is to make the whole thing bigger all over and use Ewetopia's own hand dyed superwash merino sock yarn to knit a casing along the leg edge for some elastic added after the felting of the actual cover made from Cascade 220. We will see. I am feverishly trying to finish some projects first... but simply had to cast on since I ran out of cotton last night working on the Nursing Tank and conveniently had this yarn in the knitting bag...

Sexy Mama Nursing Tank update

Well i sure hope this works! My wardrobe is quite limited now post pregnancy and pre-pre-pregnancy weight! My only concern is that the "openings" or "access points" if you will are too big and will droop down with the weight of the cotton to make skin visible... If this happens I believe sewing up another 10-15 sts and editing that part of the pattern will suffice nicely and will still be enough of an opening for nursing capabilities. Now it's mindless knitting from here to the last few rows of yet to be designed fun-ness!

Stella Video

Just trying this out guys! This is Stella with the Spinners at the shop a couple weeks ago!