Yates Farm Yarn Sale

Every year, Hilda and Bill Yates open up their farm house to the public for one weekend in October for an all out yarn sale. Located on Vermont route 44 less than a mile from the Ascutney mountain ski area, they are very easy to find.

The Yates operates a farm of a commercial flock of sheep year round. Every year, they send their fleece to Bartlett's to be processed, and receive back hundreds of bags of yarn in many different weights and colors. All of it is 100% wool.

This year, the sport weight skeins are 439 yards, worsted weight are 220 yards, bulky weight 85 yards, and all are about $4 each. You can also find bags of both regular and pencil roving, and cones of sport weight that have over 1700 yards. There are over 20 colors to choose from, all of the same dye lot.

On Saturday morning, Hilda puts a wonderful spread of coffee, cider, and goodies out on the island in the kitchen. There you will find fruit salad, quiche, muffins, coffee cake, and many other things to snack on. People discuss patterns and what they've made from the wool they purchased the previous year. You can sign up to be on the mailing list, where you will get a postcard in the mail a week or two before the next sale.

All in all, it is a wonderful time. I look forward to going every year, and usually get enough yarn to last through until next year. You can find the Yates Farm Yarn sale if you take exit 9 off of I-91 in Vermont, follow the signs to Windsor, and turn onto route 44 at the Cumberland Farms. After several miles you will see the junction of route 44A, but don't turn on it, just use that as a landmark, as it's only a mile or so past that on the right that you will find the Yates Farm yarn sale.

The Purple Project

My oldest adores the color purple. Therefore it should be no surprise that when I stock up at a yarn sale, I always make sure I have plenty of purple. My stash is now getting pretty low due to the Purple Project.

You see, my daughter asked me to make her the cape featured on the cover of the Interweave Crochet Winter 2010 edition. No problem! I thought, which, from a purely technical standpoint, it wasn't. The question is, will I finish it in time?

Now that the weather has turned from the nice warm days of summer to the raw windy days of fall, she wants the cape to wear. I remember when her sister was about 2 and I was working on a rainbow afghan. Every couple of minutes, every afternoon as she was running around the living room playing, she would come over to me and ask "done yet?" I'd say no, and she would continue playing. Just as I completed the final stitch, she came over again with her "done yet?", I said "yes". With a huge smile on her face, she bear hugged the afghan, said "mine!!" and ran away with it!

Once again, I'm hearing "are you done yet?" from the more articulate older sister. It's funny how history repeats itself!

Blogging and Submissions

When I first started this blog, I thought it would simply be a matter of time organization to continue blogging and working submissions.  I discovered I was wrong.

Getting a submission together can be all encompassing.  There are many details to focus on, and I find that some aspect or other of the current project is always running through my mind.  It may take only 20 minutes to write a blog, but how many stitches of a swatch can be completed in that time?  Once a submission is done and sent in, I feel free to write again. 

I found an interesting thread on Ravelry about this very topic.  It seems that many designers want to share their submission with the world via their blog once the project is completed.  I can identify, as it's a way to decompress and finalize the fact that the submission is done.  Yet most publishers want these submission hidden until they have had the chance to review and choose to publish or not.  Therefore, some designers choose to reveal "hints" in their blogs - type of yarn used, stitch techniques, etc. - without actually revealing what the project was. 

For my own sanity, it's easier for me to submit and forget.  I know it will be a long time before I hear back from the publisher.  Therefore, once the submission is mailed out I start looking for my next project, pushing the previous one from my mind.  It's not easy, after spending as much time on it as I have, but it is necessary to keep looking forward.  Once the submission is in, it is no longer in my control, so I let it go. 

While the ideas are bouncing around in my head for the next submission, I blog.