Yard Sales FTW!

This weekend, I’m not feeling physically up to yard sale shopping, but last weekend, I got up at 8am and went yard sale shopping with my mom. I love hunting for treasures at yard sales! It’s actually easier now than it used to be when I last yard sale shopped much…before the first accident in 2006. Now, more and more sales are posted on Craigslist and the geniuses at YardSaleTreasureMap.com have made it super easy to utilize that information! It shows on a map display all the yard sales in your area. You can search items you want, like tools, craft supplies, or toys. You can also click on a pin in the map and see what that yard sale put in their ad. If you like the sale, you can click “add to itinerary.” Once you’ve selected the sales you want to visit, you can send the info the the corresponding android cell phone app to have the map work with your GPS to get you to all your sales! It’s so much better than driving around like a banshee chasing down little, impossible-to-read signs on the side of the road!

On my trip last weekend, mom bought some goodies for the house she and my stepdad are building for me to live in out east, my little farm. We found a beautiful brand new ceiling fan and matching overhead light for the living room, some pendant lights for the office/studio, and even a beautiful faucet for only $10 to put on the studio sink! I’m really looking forward to having the space to launch into Maple Wool Farm full force!

My finds came from a yard sale I’d bookmarked because it said they had a spinning wheel. The spinning wheel was late 1800s/early 1900s ish and as in HORRIBLE condition. It was missing more parts than it still had and the actual wheel part was in multiple pieces. It needed some serious restoration from a woodworker who would know how to do it without the use of modern fasteners to preserve the antique value and look in the wheel. When I asked about it, the guy said it was $100 firm and that it could only go to someone who would love it, not someone who would ruin it by spinning on it! After a bit of discussion, he realized I really knew my shit about spinning wheels and it was clear to me that he picks them up where he can and resells them in town. He asked me what I thought it was worth. My honest answer? $15 because while it is an antique, it’s missing so many parts it doesn’t even really look like a spinning wheel anymore. It’s not been kept up and is in need of massive restoration. Antique kindling isn’t worth more than modern kindling essentially. He got all huffy and told me that just dusting it off would ruin the value because OMG IT’S AN ANTIQUE. Wierdo. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t worth even trying to restore. I wanted it to be  because I’d love a traditional antique wheel (and a fancy pants floor loom for weaving woolen blankets), but it’s not like I’ve even got a place to put, much less use, those just yet.

His wife on the other hand actually wanted to sell craft supplies and had Sterilite drawers full of random craft bits. I found knitting needles. She said they were a dollar a pair and if I found any assorted stuff to just put it in a pile and she’s price it by the lot. Most of the needles were horrible bendy plastic ones that break very easily. Tucked in amongst them in the drawers were a few quality needles.

My yard sale finds

I pulled out a set of size 5 12″ nok Clover straight needles (identical to my favorite Bernat Aero needles), a set of 5 size four 16cm long double points of the same nok Clover brand, a set of 6 double points that upon returning home to measure turned out to be four size 2 and two size 1 16cm double points in nok CLover, and a set of four size 3 25cm long double points to bring me to four dollars for four sets of a needle brand I love and can’t buy new in the US! Seriously, Bernat Aero and it’s doppelgangers are the best needles out there for anything you except socks. I prefer square dpns for socks but that’s something else entirely.

The real prize at this sale was the extras I got for a dollar! My assortment pile included a stray nok Clover size 3 12″ straight needles, 34cm long, 4.5mm diameter Tunisian crochet hook in bamboo with the other end functioning as a sharpened knitting needle (talk about dual purpose!), a 6″ Westcott steel ruler with cork back, two stitch holders (like clamps in the garage, you can never have too many), a cable needle, a bent tip tapestry needle, and two steel crochet hooks, 1.50 and 1.80mm. I’m really excited about the little extras. I’ve never used a bent tip tapestry needle and am eager to try it out. I didn’t have either of those sizes in steel crochet hooks, and you just can’t have too many rulers or stitch holders. I know it seems a bit odd to buy a single size 3 straight needle, but these needles are so hard to find that I pick up even singles at yard sales and thrift shops. I’ve actually made several complete usable sets that way!

Time to get back to work here, walk the dogs, make a late breakfast, and the like, but be sure to give YardSaleTreasureMap.com a try next weekend to see what kinds of treasures you can find.