I Need Your Help!

As many of you know, I love yarn and all things yarny.  Also, I love the idea of owning my own business.  Really I have loved the idea of being a business owner for longer than I've been passionate about yarn and crochet.  It wasn't until fairly recently however that I put two and two together and realized: duh!  I need to own a YARN SHOP!  As soon as that happened ideas began flooding my brain.  I even bought a little journal to keep notes while I was out and about and something really great popped into my head.  To be honest I have no idea when these ideas/dreams will come true, if ever.  But, my passion remains and the ideas keep coming so I've decided to continue refining them.
One of the things I've been mulling over is a name for my precious (future) yarn shop.  The name is so important.  It's the first impression someone gets when they find you in the phone book or on a random google search or driving by.  Is it just a store that carries yarn or is it a yarn shop with ambiance and character?  Does the name alone spark the creative side in you and spur you to go exploring for something amazing?  I sure want it to!

I've gotten some great suggestions from friends and family but I thought I would make a little plea on my blog for some help as well.  I need a name that will work from billboard to website/blog.  Here are some thoughts:

1. made.
2. A Yarny Disposition
3. Yards of Yarn
4. Steph's Stitches & Such

#1 was suggested by my dear friend and I've gotten great verbal feedback on it.  The only problem with it is that there isn't a URL available or a blog.
#2 is a recent revelation.  The wikipedia definition for the word disposition is: "a habit, a preparation, a state of readiness, or a tendency to act in a specified way."  How perfect is that?!  The only problem with this is that it's kinda long. What do you think?
#3 was my original yarn shop name.  I like the alliteration and it seemed cute.
#4 I'm not sure if have a personal name in the business name is good business.  I like it for my blog though. :)

So, what do you think?!  Please leave me a comment so that I can get a good night sleep!

Steph's Stitches

In February of 2010 I signed on to Ravelry.com, a "knit and crochet community".  I love looking up patterns and viewing knit and crochet projects but it wasn't until recently that I actually updated my own profile and posted some of my crochet projects.  I thought I would share them here for those of you who are not a part of Ravelry.com.  I don't have pictures for everything that I have completed yet but I'm on my way.

The Eyeball.  This little guy was crocheted after I made a darling little elephant hacky-sack at Thanksgiving a few years ago.  The elephant didn't do so well as a hacky-sack (probably due to the ears and trunk!) but he was sure cute.  I filled him with plain popcorn kernels.  Anyway, my father-in-law thought the elephant was really cool and asked if I could make a Von Dutch eyeball with wings.  How he went from little blue elephant hacky-sack to eyeball with wings I'm not sure but never-the-less, I went to work!  I think this eyeball was the first crochet project that I've just eyeballed...uh, I mean, the first project I've made without a pattern.  He turned out so cute even though I never finished the wings.  I never stuffed him and gave him to my father-in-law either but the kids and I have had such fun just swinging him around by his ligaments that I left hanging out the back.  I even tied him to my glasses and scared my husband into thinking I was going to wear him (eyeball) as a Halloween costume in public.  He's given us some good times.  Thanks, little eyeball.

Next on the list of crochet projects is the diamond shawl.  This lovely lady was crocheted for my cousin, Dani (modeling it beautifully for me here).  I used a pattern by Kristin Omdahl in her book "Crochet So Fine".  I only made it half as long as the pattern called for but bought yarn to make the whole thing so I have another one that is about 25% complete in my project bag for myself.  The yarn is 100% alpaca lace weight (super fine).  With all the open lace you might not think it would be warm but it's so surprising how much heat this little beauty will generate! 

I especially love the shawl draped around Dani's neck like a scarf. It's so "grandma meets eclectic beauty".

The photo here is advertising our dog Pup's Christmas sweater.  My friend Tracy's dog, Blue is modeling it.  Pup is a lot more hyper so I never got a great picture of him in it.  I made one for my mom's dog Baloo as well.  I winged the pattern on these so they turned out a little different.  It's amazing how fast something whips up when you use big yarn and a fat hook though...I made these in an evening!

Valentine Hat.  I found this awesome stitch on Ravelry that looks like sideways knitting.  Tracy brought a hat that she had crocheted when she came to visit (above) and told me how fun it was to make.  I had never made a hat before so I had to try it.  It was more challenging than I had thought: I pulled the darn thing out at least 4 times getting the increases right.  Come to find out, the person that I learned the stitch from had a pattern for a hat on the same site!!  Arg.  I added the heart design by adding red yarn in some of the stitches and I added a little star stitch boarder.  Molly looks darling in it.

Last but not least is this little baby sweater that I very recently crocheted for our relatives in Spain on my husbands side.  I found this vintage pattern on Ravelry.com and knew I had to try it.  I had some yarn passed down to me from my mom from the 80's (I think).  Its labeled as baby yarn and it looks so soft and cuddly...LIARS!  Let me just say that el nuevo bebe better be wearing a turtle-neck onesie before donning this darling cardie!  It turned out super cute though and I bet it will be very warm.

Molly and Mar Mar's Long Beach Trip

I'm posting about this mostly because I have darling pictures (both taken on iPhone!) from this trip.

Last week my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law swept Molly away to go on a little girls trip down to Long Beach to visit my sister-in-law, Samantha.  They left early Thursday morning (6:45am) and were planning on coming back Friday night.  Unfortunately Molly came down with a 24 hour flu bug (go figure, huh!) that lasted just about the exact length of their trip.  Needless to say, they left Friday morning after getting Molly a dose of children's Motrin.  Thankfully my little Molly girl is a tough one and Marlene (mother-in-law) said she was a real trooper.  They were still able to take walks on the beach...

and buy presants for Willy (he stayed home and was king of the day).

Molly picked out these "rock star" glasses for Willy because she got "rock star heart glasses" from MarMar.  After I snapped this photo she told me very matter-of-fact that she wasn't smiling because she was being a rock star.  Heart: melt.

Little project bag

I have quite a bit to post about but I want to start with this:

I made this little project bag in about 45 minutes total while playing with the kids!  What started as a rectangle scrap of knit fabric and a piece of ribbon turned into the perfect little project bag for my yarny creations!  Empty and balled up it fits in the palms of my hands but as pictured it holds one skein of yarn (one of the long Red Heart ones!) and a half created little valentine project.  The trick to the bag's grow-ability is that it's gathered on the sides and on the top.  So the only seams are to finish the raw edges while making the chanel for the ribbon.  After I took this picture I opened the bag up a little to see what else it could do.  The handles shortened and the sides draped open a little more giving it a totally different look, like a little handbag.
If I had taken pictures during the process I would post them here with a description of how to make it (since it is so simple!), but I didn't know it would turn out so cute.  Just e-mail me or comment if you would like instructions.

Hello Blog

Me: "Hello Blog."
Blog: "It's about time!  I thought you had just about given up on me!"
Me: "Patience Blog.  I've been a little busy you know."
Blog: "Yeah, yeah.  There you go with the excuses again."
Me: "I know.  But they are true.  Yeah, doesn't help much.  Ok...I'm sorry it's been so long.  There, you happy now?"
Blog: "Not till I get some good content.  I'm talking pictures, descriptions, stories, news and all that good stuff.  I am called Steph's Stitches and Such, am I not?  So where are all the stitches?  Did you just think that was a cool name or do you actually make stuff?"
Me: "Mmmm, both actually.  Alright, I'll tell you what: give me a little more time to get organized and I'll give you so much content you won't know what to do with yourself.  Deal?  No mad Bloggie Blog?"
Blog: "Hmph.  Okay, deal.  See you back here....SOON."

Me: "Psssst, Reader, don't tell Blog but I've put a couple pictures up on my Ravelry account.  Go check them out @ http://www.ravelry.com/people/stephsario.  It's a nerd.....uh I mean knit and crochet community online.  Like facebook for crafty people."