Week of 28 October, 2007 - 00:00 to 3 November, 2007 - 23:59

"The Western Flyer is a small carry-on bag similar to the Aeronaut in function. It's volume is about 25 liters or a little more than half the Aeronaut's volume.

Rather than convert to a backpack as the Aeronaut does, it has a sling-bag strap, like the Buzz. This strap is designed to be worn cross-body on the right shoulder; it zips away when not in use. A Poron padded handle and two heavy metal "D" rings (for an optional shoulder strap) allow you to carry it the conventional ways too.

The Western Flyer has three exterior pockets (two zip closed) and two equal-sized main compartments (like the Brain Bag). The front compartment can be further divided in two with a zip-out divider, creating two compartments well sized for shoes. The back compartment has webbing loops so you can use annex clips to secure a Brain Cell (horizontal or vertical; we'll let you know soon which sizes fit, not all for sure). Matching packing cubes will follow shortly.

"Sometime around 1987 or 1988, I was living in an old house on Beach Hill in Santa Cruz, California. That year I had a small Halloween party at my house. Guests were trickling in, and at some point I looked out the front window and down the driveway. Keep in mind, this house was about 100 years old and the window glass was quite rippled.

Through the window I thought I saw a giant TOM BIHN backpack coming down the drive. I immediately looked around the the front room in which I was standing, to see which of my packs was being so strangely reflected and distorted in the window glass.

There was no pack like the one I had seen coming down the drive in the room, so I looked out the window again. There, coming down the drive, was a TOM BIHN backpack the size of a human, five or six feet tall.

I thought to myself "I must be sewing too many packs - I'm imagining things". I looked again and the human sized backpack was stepping up to the door and ringing the doorbell.

TOM BIHN Cork Organizer Pouches are now available in two new sizes: Mini (fits the iPhone perfectly) and Medium. These two new sizes join Small, offering three choices of size.

"Hi I am from Singapore.

During browsing a year back I found your interesting website. Emailed your customer support about your product and the respond was immediate.

Believe it or not I have been using the Brain Bag for for 1 year 365 days. There aren't any thread runs and color fading. Not like the knapsacks that I use.

The best part is the capacity it holds. Imagine My Sony laptops with Horizontal Brain cell, A4 hard cover lecture file, 3 to four full scap note pads, pencil case, umbrella, calculators, clothings, towels and many more thing. Nothing change on the bag. The previous bag I had of the same price already worn after a year.

Thank-you Tom you have really done wonderful things in the perfection of the Brain Bag. It is also a very nicely made bag. I salute you." -- S. in Singapore

Over the next few months we will be implementing a new standard for the measuring of the volume of our bags. This will allow you to compare, as it were, apples-to-apples when shopping for a new backpack, messenger bag or travel bag. You can feel confident that our quoted volume measures will reflect this industry standard -- look for it when comparing our bags to the competitors.

(Tom's quite certain that our current, in-house standard is very close to this industry standard: you'll see very little change in the published numbers.)

The standard is called ASTM F2153-01 "Standard Test Method for Measurement of Backpack Capacity,” ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, www.astm.org.

The out-of-stock color combinations of the Swift knitting bag (Cocoa/Olive, Steel/Plum, Steel/Black, Crimson/Black, and Crimson/Steel) were originally going to be sold out until mid-November. But thanks to the hard work of our Seattle factory crew, the Swift is now back in-stock in all colors! For those of you with backorders for the Swift: your order will ship out tomorrow. And any new orders placed before 2:00pm Pacific Time tomorrow will ship out tomorrow, too.

Our October mailing list newsletter was sent out today and featured the following content:

-- Introducing the Swift Knitting Bag
-- New Accessories: Stuff Sacks and Key Straps
-- Bags in Development: Western Flyer, Synapse, Grocery Tote
-- New Pictures of the Medium Cafe Bag
-- Tom's true Halloween story
-- New Volume Measures

If you aren't already member of our email mailing list, we recommend subscribing. We send out a mailing list newsletter about once a month or two and your Privacy is important to us: we won't share your information with anyone else. But don't worry: even if you don't sign up, you'll still get to read Tom's true Halloween story -- tomorrow!

"I just had to write and tell you how much I love the Swift. I ordered it in the Cocoa/Olive and have carried everywhere since it arrived. Made a visit to my local knitting shop where they hadn't yet heard of Tom Bihn or the Swift. The shop owner was delighted to see a knitting bag that wasn't quilted or floral.

Swift's a great bag for my knitting (I'm no expert) and I can throw just about anything else in there to make it a wonderful multi-purpose bag.

As a Bihn bag devotee, I am delighted to add the Swift to my collection. Thanks, as always, for a great design, outstanding workmanship, unparalleled customer service and, yes I have to mention it--the washing label. I show it to everyone."

-- K. from Michigan.

If you're in the Seattle area, be sure to check out the STAND Artist Carpet Show at Gallery IMA. The opening reception is on Thursday, November 1st (6-8 pm) and the show runs until December 2nd. The show is an Artist-designed rug show produced by Dorje Contemporary (Dorje designs stunning and unique carpets, always using the highest quality natural materials) and features the work of 18 different artists whose rugs will be displayed on and off the walls.

"My Buzz works hard on the sailboat – he’s (Buzz that is) now my skipper bag and holds all my credentials along with important navigation equipment like my portable GPS and VHF (marine) radio. The padding inside keeps things nice and safe. Buzz has put in about 300 nautical miles this summer around Vancouver (BC, not Washington) and is my ‘must have’ first mate." -- R.O.