I’m getting ready to take “Learn to Spin” kits and niddy-noddy-nostpinnes to the Wool Gathering on Saturday.

Anyone want to try spinning? Everything you need is here– a handmade drop spindle, an illustrated book of instructions, and 2 oz. of wool roving. These kits could be good to include in your Back-tack bags, for those of you participating! I’ve seen lots of hinting blog entries out there, like this one by Amy at angry chicken. If anyone wants me to set a kit aside before I sell it this weekend, leave me a comment and say if you’d like light (birch), medium (cherry), or dark (walnut) wood. (Oh–prices. Kits are $22 with $5 shipping and handling)

If you’re my buddy, I’ll leave some hints soon:)

Anyone want to learn how to spin? I’ve got some drop spindle kits and niddy-noddy-nostepinnes up on eBay.

These sre simple, pretty spinning tools that I made myself. Just click on the “stuff for sale” link up on the left to see what’s there.

Thanks! And feel free to e-mail me; jessica at seedpodbooksandart dot com.

but I haven’t blogged about it. I’m excited about the gifts I gave, so I want to put pictures up here.

Barry’s mom got the first bear I ever made all repaired and ready to sit on a shelf.

For my mom I knit some handspun angora yarn from my rabbit Sally.

Can you see how soft she is? Angora yarn is so fun the way is fluffs out and gets a fuzzy halo. I put a little bag of lentils in her body and she sits perfectly.

What do you think of her hooded sweater– with earholes? The yarn is handspun wool that I dyed when it was roving (with pink lemonade and blue raspberry lemonade) then spun it. It turned out to be a nice perwinkle color, so Brenna decided that was what the bunny had to be named.

Happy mother’s day moms! I hope you like your little critters

It started as this. Then it was this. My super soft angora yarn has been sitting in my yarn bowl for months just waiting to be transformed into something other than a skein, and April’s bunny pattern was the perfect thing!

Despite my crazy day I got quite a bit done. We started swimming lessons at the YMCA. Jonah screamed, so despite my best efforts to swim laps while my kids were in class, I ended up standing by Jonah, trying to convince him that holding on to the wall with me two feet away or 20 was the same thing. Brenna the fish had a blast.

Then we had the food delivery at church and one of the sisters didn’t get most of the groceries she needed. So, I spent the afternoon on the phone trying to track down canned goods and beans while Logan screamed and eventually fell asleep in the high chair.

Now it’s time for me to do yoga and go to bed.

Now, here are some cutie-cute-cuties. My friend April has been busy devloping the pattern for these rabbits and their clothes. She spun yarn, dyed it and knit away. I’m so excited that she found something so fun to do that she is so good at!

Here’s a detail of my favorite. I wish I could remember her name. She’s knit out of handspun angora/lambswool and feels heavenly soft and snuggly. She’s got a hooded sweater and her ears fit through the hood, I just love it!

If anyone wants the book she made of the pattern just e-mail me (jessica at seedpodbooksandart dot com). It’s well worth the $8!

Remember the felt I made with my kids? Here it is in book form.

This book makes me smile. Why, you ask? Because the cutest ladies in the entire universe bought it. I guess the Smuckers sisters are a bit of a legend in mid-Ohio. They are little Mennonite ladies that are older than dirt (late 80s, early 90s) and cuter than anything else I can imagine. They wandered around the show with their cute bonnets and rain coats, their skinny little ankles showing under their hand made dresses. Their backs were a little hunched, their eyes twinkled. They stopped at my booth and oohed and ahhed over my books. “We make books, you know,” one of them said to me. They loved the button on this one, inspected the paper, told me how they write poems, and keep journals and how you just can’t get by in life without a sister. I’ll never forget them, but I wish I had taken a picture of them!

Today was the Mid-Ohio Fiber Gathering in DeGraff, Ohio. April and I were packed up and on the road around 7:30. It started out cold and rainy, then became cold and snowy… and we stayed cold the whole day long. Ohio cold is different than Idaho or Utah or New Mexico cold. This cold soaks into your skin and settles in your bones and stays there. It is damp and clammy and bitter.

But enough with the cold (even though I am bitter with this trick Mother Nature has subjected us to after a couple of weeks of short wearing- playing outside weather). We had fun. I had my usual “Learn to Spin” drop spindle kits and Niddy-Noddy-Nostepinnes. Even more exciting for me were my felt books.

Barry just updated my WordPress and now I can’t figure out how to post images. I’m pretty bummed out about that because I want someone out there to see my cute new books and April’s awesome knit bunnies. But, alas, Barry is bowling with the Elder’s Quorom tonight. Maybe Monday. Bummer.

It’s all in the works.

The fiber gathering is this Saturday in DeGraff, Ohio. I even talked my friend April into sharing a booth with me. She developed a pattern and has been knitting stuffed bunnies like crazy. I can’t wait to get pictures of each of them to put up here because they are so cute I can hardly stand it!

Here’s some yarn I spun yesterday so that I can put my “Learn to Spin” kits together. Jonah helped me dye it. It’s black cherry, grape, and orange.

Remember my new toys a week or two ago? Well, I used my very first handspun yarn that Brenna and I Kool-Aid dyed and hooked and little rug with it.

The purple is grape and the pink is a rainbow of cherry (I think), orange, and lemon.

Cute, huh?

Well, the auctions ended. 5 of the 6 things I had up for sale sold. I say that’s pretty good. I will be listing more in a day or so.

My friend Terrah sent me this article. It’s about a new spinning shop in Logan. Oh, Logan. Beautiful place. I love that town. When I grow up I want to live there forever. Anyway, I think I will stop by this new shop and try to peddle my wares. I mean, don’t you think the fact I graduated from Utah State University right there in town could be a selling point? I don’t know. I think it would be cool.

On another note, I have had a crazy week so far. I have been fully initiated into Relief Society President-hood. And though I could write all about it and make it sound pretty funny, that would be totally inappropriate. What I feel like I can say is this: Heavenly Father is in control. I have been guided and strengthened and able to do more in a day than I ever thought I could. He loves each of us perfectly and infinitely–and in this position it is my blessing to feel that and try to share it as I care for others. What a blessing!

I sold spindles and niddy-noddies at the Handspun-Handwoven show in Yellow Springs put on by the Miami Valley Weaver’s Guild. I had fun. Barry kept the kids all day and Logan even took a bottle.

What’s a niddy-noddy you say? This is a niddy-noddy:

It’s a tool a spinner uses to measure yarn (on this niddy-noddy one full wrap equals 1 yard of yarn) and turn it into a nice neat skein.

You could also use one of my niddy-noddies as a nostepinne–a Norwegian tool for winding a center-pull ball:

I just had a little card table booth. My spindles looked so pretty in their stand with their wool and books and packaging:

On Monday I’ll start putting what I have left up for sale on eBay.

Stay tuned…