Estate Sale

Well, it isn’t early, but it isn’t late. Interesting night; interesting day.

Paul found an estate sale on craigslist a couple days ago that was in Fitchburg (I think—maybe it was Leominster). There were several looms (we’re talking at least three or four of the big ones and some smaller) and related equipment. There was lots (and I do mean lots) of yarn. There was an Ashford spinning wheel. There was a number that you could call for prices and Paul said I ought to do that so I did yesterday. I specifically wanted to know the price for the spinning wheel and yarn. Well, the woman I spoke to said the looms would all be sold together on one ticket (I thought we were talking estate sale, here, not auction) and that would include the spinning wheel. Spinning wheel? With the looms? What? Oh, yeah. She was sure. And the yarn wasn’t priced; only the larger items. Strange. I emailed Paul this information and he called the number and by the time he called, they’d priced some things. The looms would all be going for $700 to $1,400. That’s great. I didn’t want one. I have one and don’t have time yet to use it. Why would I want another? The spinning wheel would be $140. That’s great if it’s a good brand which I wouldn’t know without going. Yarn was just yarn but if a person bought enough, there might be a discount.

We went out to eat at an Armenian restaurant in Worcester. We’d been there before and the food was good and at a price that wouldn’t break the bank. We parked across the street and decided to try the restaurant we were parked in front of but after looking at the prices (we’re talking $15 for stuffed grape leaves vs. $5 at the place we went to) decided to go to the Armenian place which had been our destination in the first place. That was nice. Of course, I think going anywhere with Paul is nice.

We got home, I got my group’s rough draft for our project put together and submitted so other members of the group can look at it and make changes as they choose. Paul went to bed and by the time I got there, he was asleep. I went to sleep after I set my alarm. In order to go to the estate sale, we needed to be there at 7:30 to get a number in order to get in at 9:00. In order to be there at 7:30, we needed to leave at 7:00. In order to leave at 7:00, I needed to get up at 6:00 and take the girls out for their walk and milk the goats so that I would have time to take a shower and be ready to go. I woke up at 5:00. I was not successful at going back to sleep. Grrrrrrrr.

I got up and took the girls out and got the milking done and got my shower and Paul said, “Good morning. What time is it?” It was 6:52. He got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth, and we left. We got to the house of the estate sale at 7:30 and got our number. It was 12. We came home, picking Nick up on the way through Gardner so he could go to watch the boys play soccer. We got home, the boys finished getting ready. Paul ate a bowl of cereal and we left with the boys. We dropped them off and left for the estate sale.

We got there about five minutes early which was good because parking the van was not easy due to restrictions and the size of places to park. We walked up to the door where there was a small crowd milling waiting for the door to open. At about 9:02, the door opened and numbers 1 through 10 were called in. About five minutes later, 11 through 20 were called in. Once the first group was called, we knew we wanted to get up to the door so Paul led the way, excusing me the whole way only to have one woman say, “Excuse me, gentleman, you need a ticket.” Someone else said, “Do you have a ticket? You need a ticket.” Yes, we had a ticket. Just because we got it and then left rather than staying with nothing to do means only that we got our ticket and left rather than staying with nothing to do because we had plenty to do. . .somewhere else. The women who were ahead of us (#11) were very nice. Toward the end, when we were just about ready to go, Paul and I were standing watch to make sure no one took any of our stuff in a little room just off the entrance and one of the women asked if I would watch her stuff while she looked for her friend because the friend had the car (and keys). I said sure. So I watched and then Paul came and told me I should go look at some stuff and he watched and then I came back and I watched. Then she came back with a cast iron plet pan (we have two) and said, “Oh, it was your husband who talked me into this pan!” And we talked about it for a while. Her friend was somewhat envious of a couple things I got and was also very nice.

We went down to the basement first. I’m not sure how Paul knew the looms were down there but he did so that’s where we went. The looms were cool. But, as mentioned earlier, I didn’t need one. The spinning wheel was an Ashford and while we were looking at it, a woman came along and took it literally right from under our noses. Well, next Paul turned to a rack for holding cones for weaving. Paul grabbed it, looking for a price. He wasn’t finding one and a woman came over and tried to take it from him. She thought it went with one of the looms. Then she said it was bundled with one of the benches. Then a woman who was part of the company doing the sale came and the woman who wanted this thing said that they’re sold with looms. I said, “No, they’re not.” Well, we won and it was given the price of $25. I picked up a swift for $30 and a ball winder for $10. I also got two shuttles for $14 each and one for $20. Looking all of these up online, I’ve discovered that most swifts go for between $90 and $100 (the least expensive was $64 from KnitPicks) and ball winders go for $45 to $55 (again KnitPicks had the least expensive for $19.99). The shuttles I looked at online were all $45 and up so I think they were a good deal as well. Ashford spinning wheels, from what I discovered, start at about $550 so at $140, the one we missed would have been a good deal.

Next we went to the room with the yarn. Oh my. I got mostly Shetland wool on cones and in skeins ($10 for the cones) and some mohair for at the most $20 a cone. I’m not sure how many cones and skeins I got but it was a few. Try at least eight cones of Shetland, three mohair, and some alpaca (I think). That’s not counting the skeins. I found the perfect thing for my mom for Christmas but I can’t say anything about it here because she’ll read about it. So, if you want to know, you have to ask.

Other than that, we got a few kitchen things and then we left. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me. Especially for the price.

Seth and Cedric’s game was cancelled for some reason and Joseph’s team lost their game. Such is life, I suppose.

And that is all for now. I am tired of sitting here and I need to get up and do something. I hope you are all having a wonderful day.