Enjoy, this is a good way to get plenty of practice on the lathe.
For the kits go to
www.woodturnerscatalog.com They have several, different lenghts etc. Every kit includes instructions. A couple of cautions, dont drop the wee screws included, you will need Forstner bits and an extention for the 1 1/16 forstner as it goes all the way through.
Do you have a 4 jaw chuck?
There several necessary one time things to get, but the mills do make great presents.
Another thing to get is a relatively close grained wood about 3 in square, or glue up some to make that dimension. You can play around with different types of wood too.