MY BIGGEST SALE EVER!

It’s TEAM ESSTs 2nd Annual Yart Sale on Etsy and I’m joining in by offering some of my most popular yarns, fibers and gifts at low prices. June 10 – 14, 2009

Visit my Etsy shop and you will find an entire section labeled “Yart Sale“.    In addition to these great deals, I will refund all of your shipping charges* when you add any non-sale item to your order.  That’s like putting the entire shop on sale!!

The Yart Sale is sponsored by Etsy’s Supply Team known as Team ESST.  You can be assured of quality products and professional service whenever you shop from a Team ESST member.

Hundreds of Etsy Sellers are participating in this year’s Yart Sale.  Just search “Yart” to find all the deals.  If you have an Etsy shop, you can join in the fun too.  Just tag your items and promote in the official Team ESST Yart Sale Thread.  A new thread is opend every day of the event.

*Full refund of shipping charges for US addresses and half off shipping charges for International customers.

2nd Annual Yart Sale on Etsy!

Sellers, it has been almost a year since the first unofficial “Yart Sale” on Etsy. Yart sale? What exactly is a “Yart Sale,” you may ask? The term Yart is an artistic spin on the traditional yard sale:

Art + Yard Sale = Yart!

There are many art museums, artists, and groups that have yart sales annually to raise cash. Although not an official Etsy event, the Etsy Yart sale is a great way to bond with your fellow Etsy sellers. What began last year as a casual conversation on the Etsy Supply Street Team (ESST) thread about destashing and raising funds, blossomed into a discussion on our private boards about creating an Etsy-wide yart sale. This year’s sale will be the “2nd Annual Yart Sale on Etsy sponsored by Team ESST.” It will take place June 10 through June 14, 2009. Everyone with a shop on Etsy is invited to participate!

This article will address frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Yart Sale. During the Yart Sale, feel free to refer people to this Storque article, link it on your blog, or tweet it on Twitter. As the date draws near, please refer to the Team ESST blog for updates, and as well as the Promotional section of the Etsy Forums for the Official Yart Sale sponsored by Team ESST thread that will be posted with the Team ESST Avatar. If you have further questions, please convo EtsySupplyStreetTeam.etsy.com.

FAQs
When will the Yart Sale be?
Our Second Annual Yart Sale will be from Wednesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 14, 2009. Participate in one, two, or all five days of the sale.

Which shops on Etsy can participate?
All shops on Etsy are invited to participate. Choose to participate with your handmade, supply or vintage shop. If you have more than one shop, you can participate with each.

How does a seller participate in the Yart Sale?
To join the sale, simply post the following Yart Sale announcement in the Shop Announcement section of your Etsy shop:

“I am participating in the Yart Sale on Etsy sponsored by Team ESST.”

You should also include a short description of how you will be participating in the sale.

Here are a few extra suggestions for how to effectively utilize the Yart Sale as a promotional tool:

• Maintain a Yart Sale Section where merchandise is already marked down.

• Tag and/or title items in your shop “Yart,” so customers can search your Etsy and your shop to find your “Yart” items.

• Special discount pricing for length of the sale. (You would need to credit back their account for the set amount on PayPal. Example: 10% off.)

• Free shipping. Remember to clarify terms. Example: Only on orders over $25.00, etc. State your terms clearly. (If you offer free shipping, you would need to again credit back their account for the shipping on PayPal.)

• If you feel the price points in your shop do not allow you to have a sale, perhaps you can offer a free promotional gift or a slight discount toward future orders.

These are merely suggestions, and I am sure you can come up with many others. Remember, your Shop Announcement is an important piece in being involved in this sale, as it is where you describe the terms of your Yart sale and the dates that your shop will participate.

For the rest of this article, and Yart Sale Avitars and Graphics, go to this storque article.  Yart Sale Promotions.

2009 – The International Year of Natural Fibers

Yarn 2 Spin strives to provide quality fibers to textile artisans.   Spinners, Weavers, Knitters, Felters and Crocheters can all find unique fibers to feed their creativity.  95% of the fibers we sell are natural fibers.  We strive to obtain products that are grown and processed with environmentally responsible methods.  Visit the online store to see what we have:   Yarn 2 Spin Store

We are very excited that the UN has declared 2009 as The Year of The Natural Fiber.  This video will show the production and uses of natural fibers around the world and how the industry is changing to meet the demands of today’s market.

May Shopping Extravaganza

I’m interupting the Yarn Making series for an incredible opportunity!

Hundreds of Handmade and Vintage online stores are having a Shopping Extravaganza! There are too many sales and special offers to list here. For a list of shops and notices of sales and specials visit: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6142977

If you have an Etsy Shop and want to join in the fun… feel free to post your own sale.

Why shop the retail chains and get a ho hum product when Etsy is overflowing with talented artisans with unique and quality items for you home, family and life.

The Making of Yarn! Part II

Sorry it has been a few days….  Life does get busy… especially with all my bunnies hoping around.

Part II

After the sheep is shorn and the fleece is skirted, it is generally washed.  Some spinners to spin “in the grease”, but that is a specialty that we won’t get to for now. 

Washing a fleece correctly is important to remove the lanolin and vegetable matter and … uh hummm, other ’stuff’ that may be stuck in the wool.   After all, wool is a natural product.  The trick is to clean the fiber without felting or damaging the wool. 

You want to try it on your own?  Here is one way… There are several.

Tub Washing

1.  Fill a large tub, basin or bucket with very hot water.  Add 1 cup of detergent.  I use dish detergent.

2. Submerge your fleece in the water.  Do NOT agitate!  Just let it soak for about 45 minutes.

3.  Lift the fleece out of the water and set aside.

4.  Repeat steps 1 and 2. 

5.  Sort the fibers that are clean enough to dry and those that need to go through steps 1 and 2 again.

6.  Before drying…  Fill  your tub one more time with Hot water and about 1 cup of white vinegar and let soak for 30 minutes.

7.  Now remove your fiber, gently squeezing out extra water and lay flat to dry.  I dry mine on the trampoline… but a towel or sheet works fine too.

You can do the above in your washing machine… but be careful not to let it it agitate.  I have found that the lanolin is really not very good for my machine… so now I use a tub.

It is fun to wash your own fleece, but if you want to get to the next step faster, you may want to send it out to be done.  Here are some links to some of the mills I know of.

www.woolmill.com

www.zwool.com

www.stonehedgefibermill.com

http://fibermill.yurtboutique.com/

Shopping Extravaganza

Team ESST First Weekend Shopping Extravaganza

All Etsy shops are invited to participate in the EXTRAVAGANZA! We welcome everyone who has a shop-
handmade, supply and vintage sellers to join us! Announce that you are participating in your shop announcement and you’re ready to get started! (I am participating in the FIRST WEEKEND SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA APRIL 2ND-APRIL 5TH!)

This is the official thread to promote!
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6102925&page=1
Be creative and enjoy a fun FIRST WEEKEND SHOPPING EXTRAVAGANZA!

Those of you who blog or twitter can post and/or tweet about it and promote to people that are off Etsy to visit us.

For more information please check out our team blog: http://www.teamesst.blogspot.com.

Upcoming New Series – The Making of a Yarn!

A knitting friend of mine told me that she never thought about where her yarn comes from until she started coming to my shop and watching the spinners.  So let’s take some time to get back to basics and look at yarn from the beginning.

For the sake of simplicity, we will begin with the world’s most popular type of yarn… wool.  By the end of the series we will talk about other fibers and forms of making yarn too…. but first things first.

Baaaa!

 

Yes, it starts with the sheep… or llama, or goat , or rabbit, or camel, or bison, or some type of wool producing creature.  (Veggie fibers are coming up later). 

There are many different breeds and kinds of sheep fibers that can be spun into yarn.  Two of the major considerations when determining the use of a wool fiber is the coarseness (measured in microns) and the staple length.   A very soft fiber has a micron of 22 or less.  We’ll look at staple length more later.

Sheep must be shorn to harvest the wool fiber.  It doesn’t hurt them, and if it wasn’t done they could have serious health problems.  That is why sheep have always been cared for by a shepherd.  Domestic breeds of sheep are not likely to survive long without the care of people.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Shady Side Farm on Shearing Day!  It was very interesting.  Read about the process of shearing the sheep on their blog.   http://shadysidefarm.blogspot.com/2009/03/shearing-day-photo-report.html

The next in this series will cover the washing and preparing of the shorn fibers. 

Don’t miss anything in this series… Subscribe the the RSS feed now!

By Popular Demand!!! Pics of my buns!

Well, what did you think I meant??

11 days old and Eyes Open

The babies are now 11 days old and their eyes are open, just a tad. I cleaned their moms cage today and took them out for a while to see how they are developing. It is just amazing to me that they are already getting a personality.

The little black one is very energetic. He is definitely the fastest. The bigger fawn one has long slender ears and head. He is very strong and vigorous. The little fawn one has weak floppy ears and a round head. The smallest and most delicate of the three.

Exploring the Nest.

What's Up Doc?

The Dust Bunnies Are Growing

Six Days old and the bunnies are growing. We lost the little runt, so now there are 3 little French Angora babies.

3 growing Dust Bunnies

It looks as though we will have 2 Fawn colored and 1 Black. The remaining 3 kits are healthy and vigorous.