Turning wads of wool into useful things for her family has been a 20-year passion for Fall City resident Hilde Gettinger.

Gettinger will share her talent for spinning and weaving at The Festival of the Arts, during the Festival at Mount Si, August 7 to 9 at Si View Community Center.

For Gettinger, it was a picture in a magazine and a pair of rabbits that started a 20-year passion for spinning and weaving.

She and a friend noticed a warm Joan Collins sweater in a magazine. The friend asked her to knit it, pattern or no.

“I said yeah, no problem,” Gettinger said. “The angora alone was $200.”

She remarked to her husband Paul that, given the cost of the materials, she’d probably never be able to make a sweater for herself.

“His answer was, ‘grow our own,” Gettinger said. Paul later surprised her with a box.

“There were two very cute angora bunnies,” she said, “We named them Fluffy and Snuffy.”

Now, Gettinger had to learn how to get wool from a bunny.

“I wanted to do right by the bunnies, so I went to the library,” she said. “They didn’t have many books on angora rabbits, but the librarian gave me a phone number to an angora breeder.”

That was the beginning of a new friendship and a spinning circle that lasted for 17 years.

When angora rabbits mature, they molt. Weavers can then take their hair and make yarn out of it.

Likewise, Gettinger got a lesson in using llama wool, after a neighbor sheared her llamas.

“I scoured the fleece and cleaned it, and made her first a shawl and then a vest.

To prepare it for use, wool needs to be soaked and washed, then carded to lay the fibers parallel. Then, Gettinger uses a spinning wheel to twist the fibers into yard,

“The more twists you apply, the stronger it gets,” she said. “But if you overtwist it, you don’t get soft wool, you get rope.”

Why does Gettinger spin?

“It’s very soothing,” she said. “When you sit and spin, you can form a letter in your mind, and you can think about things. It’s very relaxing.”

The craft of weaving and spinning has come in handy. Gettinger has been able to make beautiful clothes for her family.

“I surprised my husband,” she said. She washed and dyed fleeces in seven different colors, then presented samples in seven different colors to Paul.

“Maybe a little more green,” Paul would say.

“I ended up making a wool jacket,” Gettinger said. “He didn’t know it was for him.”

At The Festival of the Arts, she’ll be spinning and weaving from noon to 2 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m., using portable looms and spinning wheels.

Other projects she will demonstrate include recycled plastic shopping bags, woven cotton placemats.

“I’m demonstrating so that people can watch, and ask questions,” she said.

For new weavers, she advises, “Practice, practice, practice.

“The library is full of books,” Gettinger said. “All you have to do is get some books and learn about it.”