We recently had an opportunity to participate in a spinning class. No, it wasn't at the gym although I really could have used it. :-) This class was about the history of spinning fibers into yarn... and then learning how to do it.

The class was held at a place called Yarnivore in San Antonio, on NW Military Drive. Be sure to check out their classes and events if you check out their site. They have lots of them.

Wendy showed us many tools for spinning yarn. The one shown here is a Native American Indian spindle. The fiber is in her left hand and the yard that has been spun is on the spindle in her right hand.
This homemade spindle is called a drop spindle because the spindle continues to spin when you drop it. These are the ones we put together and used to do our own spinning.

On her left side is a bag of raw wool. It has a yellowish color and has an animal smell, obviously. This was from a very clean sheep. The bag on her right is wool that has been soaked in hot water and soap. You can still feel the lanolin in it. That's what she's spinning there.This spinning tool was developed later by the Indians (from India). Wendy had a very interesting story about this. When the British controlled India, they remained for so long because they were not able to grow their own cotton due to the climate. India was perfect. So, they would buy the cotton from the Indians for barely anything, send it to England, spin and weave it into cloth and sell it back to the Indians for a huge amount.
The ruler of India wanted Indians to be independent, so he had these neat little spinning wheels made and wanted every household in India to have one. They began making their own and were able to become independent. In 1931, they're official flag had a spinning wheel on it.

This young lady is showing us how to use the spinning wheel, the tool we're all most familiar with. Guess what we learned? There is nothing sharp on a spinning wheel. The story of Sleeping Beauty was told way before the modern spinning wheel. The spindle that she was poked with was more like the Native American Indian spindle with a sharp point at the end.

As easy as Wendy made it look, we realized that she has had a ton of practice! Spinning takes practice to build the skill! It wasn't easy to figure this out. But we did end up with a beautiful hand spun yarn.
This was a very educational and fun experience! It was a four hour class, which was well worth the money, but a little out of our budget as it would be for most homeschool families. If you plan to attend one of these classes, be sure that you understand the $15 per participant means that it's $15 per child and another $15 for mom, plus you will either have to purchase your own supplies for the spindle or pay Wendy for the supplies, which I believe is very inexpensive. We didn't have to pay for the fibers, but that may have been a break for us. I think she usually does charge extra for them.

I have finally found some handiwork that Taylor really loves! This is a latch hook kit. She started on this a couple of weeks ago and is nearly half way through. I'm thrilled!

Our school room looks quite messy right now... just when I got it all neat and organized. Yes, we've started another project. That drawer of material is just a sample of the other four lying on the floor! We were greatly blessed by a box full of material from another homeschool mom whose family is moving.

We've been working hard on homemade gifts for Christmas.

We love these beautiful Christmas Potpourri jars... and they made lovely gifts for our family during our Thanksgiving get-together for the Christmas season. Since the cost of spices and canning jars was quite a bit most costly than I expected, we used smaller jars and divided the recipe in half. I believe it'll still have the same effect. Also, if you shop at the Commisary, you'll find the spices and jars about half the price at Walmart.


Sweet Christmas Potpourri
3 Tbsp. whole cloves 1 handful of pine needles
2 bay leaves 3 pieces dried orange or
3 cinnamon sticks lemon rind
2 cups water

Mix all ingredients and place in a jar.

Attach this to the jar:
Sweet Smells of Christmas
Put Sweet Christmas Potpourri Mix in a saucepan. Add water.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer all day if you wish.
Add water as needed. When finished, refrigerate and reuse.

Here's another Christmas project. My grandmother made us some wonderful knitted dishclothes last year. I was afraid to use them because they were handmade, but when I finally did, I fell in love with them. So, this is what we're making for several Christmas gifts. The cloths on the right are dishcloths, made with Peaches n' Cream worsted weight yarn. These are very sturdy. The cloths on the left are made from a "silk soft bamboo blend" yarn. They are very soft and look lovely when crocheted.

These are quick and easy projects even for the amateur crochet crafter. :-) These are all single crocheted, some with a double crochet border. I chained 32 for each to start.

I completed my first baby blanket. I enjoyed making this! It has a lovely pattern. As you can see, I'm still quite the amateur. The points are not all even. Hopefully the mom who receives this blanket will overlook my errors. :-) Being handmade will maybe make up for that.

And of course, homemade Christmas cards. You can view these on my other blog:
http://stricklystamping.blogspot.com/

Once a month, we like to go to Seguin for one of the free pioneer-themed handicrafts. This time we went with my friend Deanna and her kids.

The month of October was all about bread and butter. Ranger Liz mixed up some biscuits and baked them in a dutch oven.

While the biscuits were baking, we made butter. Butter is so easy to make. First you pour heavy whipping cream into a jar... or if you're like us, get some wonderful fresh cream from the dairy for this project. Let the cream set out until it's about room temperature. Put the lid on tight and shake.

On the first Saturday of every month from 9-12, Home Depot hosts a kids workshop for free. The kids get a free apron and project to put together while we're there. They provide drinks and snacks and every kiddo gets a pin each month when they complete their project. This is a lot of fun!

For more information and project schedule, check out this link:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Kids_Workshops&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

You may need to copy and paste it since it is so long or do a google search on home depot kids. Let me know if you go!

We had a friend visit from Ohio... Hi Kymm!!! We had a lot of fun while she was here although I had to work quite a bit. Kymm taught us how to do some quilting! Now we have some great projects planned. Taylor's friend Brittany was able to complete a wall hanging during our class. Brittany did an impressive job with her work.. of course, she had an excellent teacher!
Taylor is making a bed spread. We haven't gotten very far with it since I've been so bogged down with work, but we're ready to get back to it. We have a lot of plans. We'll be quilting a few things for Christmas!
This material matches the animal prints Taylor has in her room. I can't wait to finish it and throw it on her bed. I think it'll really dress up the room!

In the historic town of Seguin, there is a preserved house called the Sebastopol House. This is cared for and owned by the Texas State Park system. There is a wonderful park ranger there named Ranger Liz that sets up some free classes every month, each focusing on a different handicraft. This one was a lot of fun. It's called Spool Knitting. We completed two of these cords and plan to coil and sew it together to make cup holders. What a neat idea for Christmas!

For more information on spool knitting, check out this site:

http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/tips/spool-knit.htm

To learn more about these free classes at the Sebastopol House, you can find the phone number at the website to call and inquire. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/sebastopol/