I sold yarn!

I'm really excited to announce that I sold my first two skeins of yarn on etsy! Now come the dreams of world domination and the fantasy that I can do this full time and quite my well paying, but irritating at times job. So, I used all of the money to buy more yarn and dyes to use.

Thanks Holly!

I got my last Sock-ret pal package on Wednesday night!

it was filled with lots of great stuff. The socks fit great and I love the yarn and the chocolate as well!

My pal was Holly

Thanks Holly!

Does it count?

Does it count as buying yarn if I didn't pay for it? I bought some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino this week, but it was only three balls, on sale and I used my gift certificate from Christmas. So, I'm saying it doesn't count.

We bought a new Mac with our tax money. Tim seems to hate it, I love it. I just have a hard time with a few things, like hyperlinks, I can't find the button and I'm too lazy to code it manually. Maybe it is the mac? (Can you tell I'm the webmaster at work?) I'm even thinking hard about getting a microphone and starting my own podcast. I;m taking a class on Audacity at the library at work. For work purposes of course.

I've been doing quite a lot of natural dyeing of sock yarn. They are coming out really well, so I'm going to post them on the Etsy site at www.AncthdsFarm.etsy.com. (or look in the sidebar, for my mini etsy shop- Thanks Lavender sheep http://lavendersheep.blogspot.com/ for pointing out this was possible) I was afraid that the colors would run, but they are pretty firmly fixed. I can't wait to cast on a pair for myself.



I've decided to use names from old sitcom tv shows- we'll see how it goes

we got into Rhinebeck!

I can't believe it, I had always heard that it years and years to get into Rhinebeck as vendors, but somehow we were asked to come after we applied.

It may have something to do with being an outside vendor, but I'm really excited- now I just have a ton of dyeing to do. We have this tent and it looks so cool set up
We bought it from tentsmiths a few years ago and everyone comments on how great a tent it is-

I can't believe the Connecticut show is in six weeks. I have so much work to do-

51 days!

i can't believe I've been 51 days without buying yarn! I've been working really gard at using stash yarns this Spring and it is going pretty weel. To begin with I had a six foot cabinet stuffed full of yarns, plus it was beginning to overload onto the floor in front of the cabinet as well.

The funny thing is I really only had enough in my stash for two sweaters, the rest is all sock yarn, homespun and odd balls I picked up for smaller projects. So, it is dwindling slowly.

Another thing is I took a hard look at all of the ayrns I was keeping as special things, the yarn I bought in Uruguay, what I bought in San Francisco and decided it was time to begin using it. Why do I hold onto these balls of yarn with no projects in mind. So, the Uruguayan yarn became a scarf for Tater, the SF yarn will become a gift.

Lastly, I took a look at all of those odd balls and leftovers and made some hard decisions. I bagged up three large grocery bags and am planning to send it all to a women's halfway house in PA. I certainly can't use it all, or never will and maybe these women can get something out of it. I have the info if anyone is interested.

Update!!!

Well I think maybe the snarky post worked- I did get a thank you

And I would like to say thankyou to my Sock-ret pal who sent me an unexpected extra - a llama calendar. My kids took it off somewhere, or I would photograph it for the blog. I really need to get thier rooms cleaned out.

More updates, we had a long talk this past weekend regarding the fiber mill and have decided to open it for the public again. Tim ordered soap and that is in- so the webpage is up, we are in business again. I think selling the roving on Etsy helped his decision along. Also, we did make changes, we will no longer take merino, ramboillet, targee, southdown or anything really fine that is impossible to clean. if it comes in clean we can do it but otherwise it just took so much time and resources, it wasn't worth it financially. I will be taking on a bit more, doing the emails and helping more at night and on weekends. I should be able to know, my job is calmed down since I started just after we opened the mill 4 years ago.

I will supplement with naturally dyed yarns and sell those at the sheep and wool fairs. We have applied to get into Rhinebeck and I have my fingers crossed. We expect to be at Connecticut and Massachusetts (we hope for Mass anyway!). For anyone interested, here is our webpage
Ancient Threads Farm & Fiber Mill.


I really enjoy the wool business and the customers, it is just hard not to have the regular income that normal employment brings.