What's In A Name? Hot Shot!

MDSW2015 on Hot Shot

In case you couldn't tell, we love words here at the Miss Babs studio.  We love to name things, we love alliterations (using same letters at the beginning of words), we love finding the right name for a color, we love finding pictures in our picture book of animals and sea creatures and trees and more that help us to connect color with yarn names.

I thought I would share the story of the naming of our 80/20 sock base.  That's 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon.  When we first added this base about 9-10 years ago, we couldn't find a word that started with "Y" that seemed right. (Back then we were in the "Y" phase.)  In casting about for something different, I landed on my husband's middle name - Windsor.  I had always like that name - it had a nice sound and it was a way to include him in what I was doing.

Then we started having problems with the mill.  The mill we got the base from simply couldn't make enough, fast enough to satisfy my/your demands.  We found a US based mill to create a very similar yarn just for us.  Given that the first yarn was named after my husband, we thought it would be fun to name this sock base in a way that was still connected with him.  

Back in the mid-70's, I was working as a waitress in a disco called "The Cosmic Ballroom." I met Ron there and we spent many hours dancing and drinking and dancing! I also worked a lot. It seemed like a great name with a fun history.  This all happened in the Asheville, NC, where I was also going to school to become a chef.

And now we come to our new base, which is also an 80/20 blend and really my favorite of these bases.  It has a nice tighter twist to the individual plies that I love!! The overall yarn has a great hand. And again! The dilemma of the name. And then I tried to find something else related back when Ron and I were dating.

The Hot Shot Cafe was a 24-hour diner that was down in the Biltmore district of Asheville.  We would often go there after an evening of dancing and drinking to have breakfast at 3 in the morning (along with lots of other folks!) So Hot Shot it is!!

Masquerade on Hot Shot

 

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5 comments

Great name! I’ve never used your yarn but I keep hearing about how wonderful it is.

Thank you.

Nancy
Palmview TX

Nancy Morales

Working on Meet Me At The Ryman shawl by Jo Strong do Haus Of Yarn in blue alpaca.

Suzanne Nelson

I love hearing about your Asheville history! It’s a shame that the Hot Shot is no longer there. (Even more a shame that there is a deceptively-named upscale clothing store: Fresh Produce).
I’ve been here 21 years and have a hard time imagining living anywhere else…..though if I did, it’d probably be East Tennessee….

Amanda

I have lived in Asheville, NC my entire life. I have fond memories going to the Hot Shot Cafe with my daddy when I was a little girl. Thanks for helping me remember that wonderful little cafe!

Lisa DeBruhl

awesome! I live 20 minutes away from The Biltmore district in Asheville. Cool.

Sandy

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