Come See Us at Sedalia!!

Spindles and More will be at the Sedalia Fiber Festival 2008!

Come see us and get an up close and personal look at our spindles. Test them for yourself before you make a purchase. Remember, I give free spindle lessons, whether you make a purchase or not.
Mark your calendars for May 24th from 10am to 4pm.
Here's the link: http://www.sedaliafiberfestival.com

This is my first juried show and I'm absolutely trying to NOT be nervous. I'm inventorying my spindles and making sure that nothing got bumped or bruised on the trip back from the Cestari Farms Wool Fair.

I've still got to get the indexing done on the spindles before I go and I've just found out that my ACL on my right knee is acting up. This could end up having some serious consequences as it may limit my mobility "in the real world" as well as with my spinning, which is how I keep sane on stressful days.

I confess to being semi-concerned about the ACL, but also somewhat excited at the prospect of the show.

Thought for the day: If you want to receive a smile, give one first.

Here's the Mini of my Etsy shop

Pictures taken...

I've got all the pictures of my new spindles taken and labeled, I just don't have everything listed on the site yet. The spindles are so gorgeous and shiny with the three coats of polyurethane on them, they look like candy. If it wasn't for the fact that I already have too many spindles, I'd want to keep these too. I know I can't keep them and they weren't made for me to keep anyway. I made them to share the beauty of the skill of spinning with other people.

One of the differences in making my spindles is that I want each to be different. I don't want any of my spindles to meet another and say "What the heck? You look like me!" Even the concept spindles like the Teach Me spindles, while all having the numbers on them, each has a different color scheme. I love the rich colors of the paints and the polyurethane brings out such a depth. I've seen all kinds of other spindles and some are very lovely, but my spindles are different from the mass produced spindles that copy the same pattern of spindles over and over. They are made one at a time and each has an inspiration. Feel free to ask the story behind a spindle that interests you if I forget to give its story online.

I'll try to update again when the rest of the spindles are listed.

Back From the Show

I spent this past weekend at the Cestari Farms Wool Fair in Churchville, VA. At this point in time, it is the only wool show I vend my spindles, yarns and crocheted fiber art at. I haven't branched out, partly because I don't have a lot of time to travel to other shows and partly because I lack the confidence to go and just do it. I get anxious as I pack my items, the tables, the chairs, all the inventory, the table covers, the racks, the spinning wheel, the canopy. And those things that I need to make my booth accessible by spinners and non-spinners. Will it all fit in the truck?? My anxiety level mounts, I recheck everything, I will be too far from home to travel back for anything forgotten. I get fidgety, I jitter, I flutter (not a pretty sight) and then everything is packed and I'm off. This year, I gave my Hubby the wool fair off and took a good friend instead...

And we had a BLAST!!! We set everything up (the only forgotten items were a table cloth and a sweatshirt for me). We rearranged, discussed strategy (Kelly would crochet on her projects and take pictures, I would spin and give lessons and teach people about spinning and maybe card some wool). This may sound unfair, but I really brought Kelly along for moral support and to spend some time chatting with her away from home.

We met an awesome couple, Laura and Pete, I hope they don't mind me mentioning them (if they do, they should contact me immediately). They had a booth next to us and saved our bacon when the wind picked up afternoon Saturday and tried to relocate our canopy in the field that the horse teams were plowing. Laura wrote a book entitled "The Kokopelli Journals" here's the link:
http://www.thekokopellijournals.com

This is one thing that I am learning about folks who travel the shows and wool festivals: They are a creative, caring, compassionate group of people who are very willing to help a anyone who needs it so that all can enjoy the time together. I want to be more like that and maybe I need the practice of traveling to more shows in order to learn that fine art.

I'll try to post some of the pictures Kelly took (ones without me in them) of the spindles and yarn and all that stuff from this weekend. Her website is at:
http://www.kdeeonephotos.com

It is late tonight and after a full day of work and some unpacking, as well as a chat with my sister, who is still in Bolivia (the link to the Home where she is working: http://www.talitacumi.org ) it is time I shuffle off to bed and prepare for another day. Look for updates to both the Etsy site and the dot com site as I list the new spindles for the public (those attendees at the wool fair this weekend had the advantage of getting first dibs on the new ones and snapped up a few of my favorites already).

Getting excited!!

This weekend is coming up fast and I'm trying to get the last coats of poly onto the spindles and the last rub downs too. I've got to set up my list of all the things I need to pack in prep for the wool fair this weekend. I can hardly wait.
I may have said this earlier, but I'm not listing any of the new spindles onto the Etsy site or the website until after this weekend which means that my online customers will miss out on getting first dibs on the new spindles, which I have got to say, are looking so awesome that I want to keep them. The colors are great and the polyurethane shines on them like a candy coating.
Anyway, must run and continue getting ready. I'll try to post some pics of the spindles and my demoing this weekend, once I get back.

It has been a while...

And I've been gearing up for a Wool Fair at the end of this month. Cestari Farms in Churchville, VA is having their annual Wool Fair and I will be vending there again this year. I have been concentrating on making more drop spindles and will be introducing a larger sized drop spindle than I've had in the past. This means 2 sizes of spindles and with the larger size are all the issues that come with more weight and different balancing and all that. I spent all day yesterday polyurethaning the 30-some odd spindles I am preparing to sell. At this point all the shafts need another coat of poly and another sanding, all the hooks have to be prepared and bent into the proper configuration and then the starter holes made and the hooks placed and set. Then I need to test spin all of them (which really IS the BEST part). I have to admit that some have become favorites. I know I can't keep them as I already have more spindles than I can spin on in a month. I will retain 1 from the 2008 collection so far and I created it specifically for personal use.
I will be offering a few natural wood spindles that have been treated with WoodBeams, a beeswax wood treatment. These have not been as popular as I thought they might be, I guess the right people haven't come along yet.
I will have some of my handspun yarn for sale, though most is still on my etsy site. I will also have a couple hats for sale as well, but want to concentrate on the spindles for now.


I hope some of my readers will put Cestari Farms on their calendars for April 26-27. Let me know you saw my blog when you stop by my tent.

Check out my shop

Woohoo, I'm planning a move for my shop soon. I'm actually going to be a dot com business.
I will be at http://www.SpindlesandMore.com
The site isn't actually set up yet, but it will be soon. Right now it heads you back toward my Etsy shop.

Setting up a website is not as easy as it sounds but I'm looking forward to the challenge of setting up a workable site and letting my Hubby do the tech work. :-)

This afternoon and evening I spent some serious time spinning (about 6 hours). I've got four more skeins ready to be photographed and listed on the shop site. And I've got three more skeins that have been ready to be listed for a while, but I haven't had the time to list them. I think I'll list this group next weekend, hopefully I'll have time then.

Recently, I've been tracking the time spent in purchasing/handling/prepping/spinning/dyeing the yarn and have realized it takes more time than I originally thought it would. My prices now reflect the time it takes to make it and I encourage other people who sell their own hand spun to list it at a realistic price.

Making hand spun is not a process you start and then walk away from and let it run on its own. You literally have to have your hands on it at all times (even for a lot of the dyeing). I may try to get a series of photos showing the process. It really is fascinating.

It is late now and I need to get to bed to be up to teach tomorrow.