Gracie Custom Shop-Fancy Stix

After several long nights brainstorming about our business and the passion and total devotion I have come to realize is part of the fiber of "the knitter". Your passion in is matched only by a few. With me it's guitars and everything about guitars. The origin of Gracie and Company's needles is guitar type finishes. So I really get it! I realized that we were missing the mark in one area; the needle collector. Over the past year I have had the delightful experience of coming accross some very special needles, ones that offer a grain that is superior to most and in combination with our top secret coloring process they really get me charged up. The down side to this is that these very special needles are few and far apart. So what was I supposed to do, just keep saving them in hopes that one day I would be able to put a complete set together. No not me..you've got the wrong guy if it requires sitting and waiting! So to the laboratory I went with a mission--recreate nature's finest birch offerrings. I failed and failed and frankly almost gave it up after making so much firewood Then this month it came to me in a totally random way as most of my good thoughts usually do. I produced the proto-type needles showed them around to get the reaction. They look to have a curly maple finish as you may be able to see and they are stunning. I call this color combination "TigerTails". So born is the Gracie Custom Shop---where special is made specialer, a place where fancy stix are developed and produced away from our normal operation and where time to produce is never an issue. The above set of 17-35 needles are still priced friendly-$ 30.00 which is less than clover bamboo at Joannes. Fancy stix make beautiful clix.

B.B. King named his guitar Lucille, does anyone name their needles.

Scott
Yarn Manipulator Enabler and Fashion Grip
Gracie & Company

this blog system is misguided and flippant!

All these fancy buttons on this blog system...I like to consider myself stereophonic and cable-ready which is to mean that I can hook up a VCR without instructions. But would you look at all of this stuff I need to do to make my blog look like yours! Lets review shall we:

1. Posting-a term normally heard in our home about our daughters obsession with riding horses now is to mean writing my notoriously random comments about such things as this!

2. Settings-Clearly this is a VCR term to describe how to program recording of a channel. I will admit I sometime come home to white noise. While I am on the subject, I know I should have Tivo by know but I don't ok! I just renovated the shop to accomodate 3 more employees and my list is long....but Tivo is on it I can assure you.

3. Template-used to make fancy numbers and letters using a green piece of plastic that you can buy where you can also buy blunt point bamboo needles for a lot of money!

4. Edit me-Edit yourself you lazy no good for nothing litting blue line...I mean really what a sense of entitlement. That attitude is just not going to fly on my blog let me tell you bub!

5. Edit Html-I am not going any where near hot metal.

6. Compose- G 4 measures, C 2 measures, G 2 measures D 1 measure C 1 measure G 1 measure D 1 measure--------There you go blog the 12 bar blues in the key of G

So this is more or less the end of my second post I guess I am no longer a blog virgin. I will continue to aimlessly and carelessly Post (I wanted to say write) about the misguided life of a needle guy. Today we are building inventory of our purple (vineyard), Color-smart (pictured in previous post) and Carribean blue. We have started 40,000 needles and will be done sometime. Our priority is always orders first and inventory second. I have so many ideas about the next great needle I can hardly control myself....fancy sticks make beautiful clicks.

Oh thanks for the socks, sweaters and knitted sneakers....keep them coming

My Regards to all,

Scott Cady
Fashion Grip
Gracie and Company

What to do at a cocktail party?

Well I have indeed found myself in quite a predicament! Over the past year I have had to answer the burning question on everyone's mind, what do you do? They ask so often I guess because I am usually casually dressed with lots of pretty color drops on my shoes, hands, shirts and pants. Kids I coach ask me "what happened to your hands?" on those August nights after a day when the show must go on even when I am short on surgical gloves and it looks like I performed surgery.

So what's the burning question you ask....Well who am I and what do I do? In years past this would not be a problem as I had a clearly defined job description and business card to prove that I did perform the duties specified in my job description. Now I know that I am a business owner, an entrepreneur blah..blah..blah. I am also in advertising, sales and manufacturing. That said I have always been an artist in various forms and the foundation for this company is to bring art to where it had never been before. So when I am at a cocktail party and people are asking me what I do...I could be a wise guy and say I do what others refuse to do! Or I could sit and babble for a while, that's always a confident way to introduce yourself. Having had lots of experience in public speaking you might be able to see why I am a bit neurotic about this subject...So I am asking for your help. Please help?

I want to hear as many good, bad and funny titles for me to present at a cocktail party? I have come up with a few. They are as follows:

1. Structural yarn support engineer
2. The needle guy
3. Fiber arts tool designer
4. "I make fancy sticks"
5. "Oh so your a lawyer, I make sharp pointy things!

Can you feel my pain?

After some coaxing I agreed to start to post a blog. I know that there are many war stories in knitting and spinning. Now I can give you a look inside the crazy mind of "The needle guy"...At least for now that's what I am going with. Send me your ideas and if I really like it I will reciprocate with some fancy sticks!

Scott Cady

Gracie and Company

The needle guy