Knitters, spinners and weavers,

Young Writers Project (YWP) wants to thank all of you for your donations to our nonprofit. Fifty-three of you donated $961.51 through our Chip In widget on the right (New one set up! Try it out!) And we received $452 from folks who sent us checks. THANKS!

For those who don't know, YWP is a small nonprofit in Vermont that engages kids to write, helps them get better at it and then finds audience for their best work. We do this through:

• Our main student-run site, youngwritersproject.org, a civil community of some 4,000 teen writers from VT and NH that shares work and ideas and comments;
• online mentoring by professionals and trained college students;
• events and public performances; and
• the Newspaper Series in which we publish student work each week in 13 newspapers and on public radio.

YWP also created and runs the YWP Schools Project where we build private (or public) Web sites for schools to use as digital classrooms where students share their homework, ideas and comments. YWP provides yearlong training and mentoring to teachers in how to transform their methods to take advantage of the power of digital technology. (And we still encourage paper and pencils!)

The Schools Project is now working with 55+ schools, including one in Shanghai, China, and another in Uganda. We will be connecting kids there with kids here this spring.

We appreciate any help we can to fund what really is a shoestring budget. We work hard and we do it out of a passionate desire to help students improve their writing skills. This, we believe, will help them learn and succeed.

THANKS to all of you who support our project through voluntary donations. The way this site is set up is that it is free for you, and YWP helps maintain the site, but we hope that by giving to you, you will give back to us.

Take care,

Geoffrey Gevalt
YWP Director
My contact info should you have any questions or suggestions:

Geoffrey Gevalt
Young Writers Project
Champlain Mill
20 Winooski Falls Way, Suite #4
Winooski, VT 05404
802-324-9537
ggevalt@youngwritersproject.org

Thank you to all who have contributed to past and current Chip In's. I know these kids really appreciate your generousity!

Janet

Winter has finally arrived in Connecticut. Very pretty light and fluffy snow. So everyone drive carefully! Good day for the kids to use those sleds and skis.....'
Have a great weekend

Hi everyone

Rest assured I am NOT trying to give anyone a hard time regarding the contact information. If you put up an ad to sell or an ad looking for something and you can't be contacted you will never sell your item or find what you are looking for. It's like saying "Call Me" and then failing to put your phone number. When you create your ad your MUST TYPE IN THE CONTACT INFORMATION - IT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY GET THERE.

Thanks for your understanding

Janet

Okay everyone, this is the final notice., In the Free ad guidelines it states in BOLD LETTERING that you MUST put your contact information in ALL ads,. This week I have received two in a row with NO contact info at all and another one last week. Since this is a FREE site I do not have time to look up your information for people who want to buy your product nor do I have time to constantly email people to go correct their ads.

Wishing everyone a very happy and safe new year. Be careful if you are on the roads tonight. Looking forward to a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year for all.

Janet, Gigi, Ariel and Polly.

For those of you who celebrate, Happy Solstice, and Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.. May the light shine into your lives, as it returns to us in the new Spring that is coming. May the light enter those hearts that are at their darkest point, those who are grieving, starving, or emotionally starving, families in need, children who are hungry.

Please consider giving to your favorite charity, whether it is Doctors without Borders, Young Writers' Project, or your town's version of the Food Shelter, La Leche League International (www.lalecheleague.org).

Whatever speaks to you.

Thanks to everyone that has helped the Young Writers Project throughout the year. I just chipped in another $10 to try to get these folks up to at least a thousand!
Only $38 and change left to go. Please help to get us to that goal and more I hope before the holidays are over.

Thanks
Janet

I have already send one blog message telling everyone that you MUST INCLUDE CONTACT INFORMATION in ALL of your ads. I'm still getting ads with NO CONTACT INFO. As of today they will simply be deleted.

Thanks
Janetr

Good morning,

Despite me making sure in the Create and ad information
that contact information MUST be put in the ads I'm still getting ads with NO CONTACT INFORMATION and I'm having to email you to put that information in your ad. Starting today, if there is no contact information your ad will be deleted.

Thank you
Janet

Okay folks. I'm getting a bit cranky these days as I'm getting a bit of rudeness from a few members. Now the issue of ADS, posting and removing. I was asked tonight WHY I don't give instructions for deleting them. PLEASE, open up the CREATE AN AD. PLEASE read ALL of it. It clearly tells you how to delete your ad and has from the beginning. It is nothing that has been added recently. We are all very busy and it is that season again, So I am asking if we can all PLEASE be pleasant to each other in dealing with issues on this list.

Suddenly folks have been sending me their ads and asking me to do the work of putting them up. Well if I was home all day and didn't have anything else to do that would be just fine. HOWEVER, I work outside the home 6 days a week, I run other lists, I'm a Registrar of Voters, I have a 96 year old mom and also occasionally like to have a bit of time to knit or spin. The directions for placing an ad are right on this page "CREATE AN AD" and are very easy to follow. I don't mind helping folks but honestly I can't do your work for you for free ads.

Thanks to all of you who have been so generous and donated to the Young Writers Project. It is a wonderful charity and helps so many young people. Every dollar is so appreciated. Thank you again!
Janet

Hi everyone,

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. Despite the state of our country we still have much to be thankful for. Stay safe and enjoy.

Janet

11/19, well it's 2 days before my 54th birthday. Working on Christmas knitting. Why am I so SLOW?

I am also spinning some Cormo, in the hopes of dyeing it this week.

I am working on ordering some Swedish Fine wool, and I'd like to get it made into pin drafted roving or top, though top is not easy to do , requiring a lot of it to work with...Extra fiber from my own work is being sold now in my Etsy shop, in Heritage Fiber Samplers.