Sarah, my Etsy Shop Mascot

Sarah, my Etsy Shop Mascot
Originally uploaded by lizstaley

I've been wanting to talk a bit about Sarah in my blog for awhile. Some of you know Sarah-- She's my shop mascot/logo, I have her on my banner, my icon, my tags, thank you cards, and paper toppers for my buttons. Actually, I've used her on promotional buttons as well!

Well, why Sarah? What does this red-headed goth looking chick with the glasses and the choker have to do with my shop? I'll tell you! I designed Sarah first for a role-play that my Husband and I started in January/February 2007 that was based off an old anime called "Grandizer" (Grendizer, Goldorak, Goldrake, whatever you wanna call it). Sarah is the daughter of the two main characters, and in addition to being a bookworm, motor-cycle racer, and owning her own tuner shop...

... she was my first reason in a LONG time to get back into crocheting. See, I designed her with these awesome fishnet gloves that went over her middle finger and went under her sleeves. Simple, short, fishnet gloves. Gloves that I *wanted*. Well, after a few weeks of doing concept sketches and studies, I remembered "Hey! I can crochet! I have hooks and yarn around here somewhere!", so I went hunting for them.

After finding worsted weight black yarn and whipping up a test pair, I tried it with 3ply baby yarn. Well, crap, they still weren't as elegant as I was hoping. They needed to be thin! So, a quick trip to Michael's yielded black cotton thread and some smaller hooks. I think I did one "garbage" glove before I found a good way to do them. After that, I couldn't stop. The base pair became an obsession. I started adding beads, trim, different colors, flowers, lace-up backs. And each one has a different name. The base non-lace up gloves are the "Sarah" gloves, which is why I use her as my logo. She started this. :) I'm so grateful to her for that.

Besides, who DOESN'T want a hot, nerdy-yet-goth chick as their mascot?