Friday, May 27, 2011

The Race is on!





This is a super hectic time of year filled with spinning, dyeing, batt making in over drive! All in honour of the handknitters guild mini wool show this Saturday at the Brunswick Town hall, the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show and the Mapleton Queensland Fibre artists Camp.




I like deadlines and I tried to be organised and start early, but as always, there is always MORE to do. At one point I just have to stop and say to myself :"This is enough" and have some sleep and something to eat..lol So this afternoon after packing everything , printing out patterns, labels and spinning some more last minute art yarns, you will find me on the couch, feet up..with some recently bought knitting books I haven’t had a chance of even opening one. I bought the wrapped in lace by Margaret Stove and a gathering of lace by Meg Swansen. When I had the wrapped in lace book on loan from the library I saw at least two patterns in that last book I am eager tot knit (with the rainbow lace yarn on offer here today !) : one is the magickal Earth shawl with celtic symbols and unicorns (I love unicorns..) and the other is a Super Spiral Shawl . YUM! But best get this update on the road for you to look at.




Have fun!!! And hope to see you on Saturday at the mini wool show !




I will have heaps of goodies, new yarns, new fibres and tops, patterns, buttons and more ! I am planning a special bargain tub of yarns that I have hand spun and dyed but I am not entirely happy with - or are orphans...- so I will offer them at super special prices. I am sure they will be loved by a fibre fan.
I won’t keep you waiting for longer: here is the fibre and YAAAAAAAARRRN!!! Enjoy! Email me , message me on Rav or on FB to put your order in for some!! There’s only a limited supply so pPlease message or email me before 5pm (Melbourne time) obefore I pack it for the mini wool show tomorrow ! Thanks!

Super Special Looooooooong repeat 100% wool yarn
special loooooooooooooooooooong repeat dyed yarn in a 100% wool that knits up like a dream! See the citron I made for example ! Feltable as well and looks amazing !



Lace long repeat yarn 100% wool



Huge skeins of +/- 250grams at an amazing price of $52.



Yardage per 100grams +/- 700meters !



This yarn is a strong single, excellent for weaving, knitting lace or felting.
Rainbow Lace




4ply Rainbow long repeat yarn in two colourways
Huge skeins of +/- 150grams at an amazing price of $26.



Yardage per 100grams +/- 400meters !










citron shawl made with 1 skein of Rainbow loooooong repeat yarn







Rainbow





Purple rainbow






GaGa ! Bunny Blend Tops
Bluefaced Leicester – Bunny – Glitz (70/10/20)



The IxCHeL blend that you will go totally GAGA over :D 70% blue faced leicester, 20% Glitz and 10% angora bunny.



Awesome to spin and felt.



100g hand dyed braids AU$24





Capuccino




Autumn Party





Calypso





Red Ochre Magic





Water into Wine





Rebel






Sweet thing






berry Chocolate Cake
-hmmmm cake all sold out :(-





Private Universe





Hand dyed & Hand spun Super Slub Yarn "Nip'n'Tuck"- Yarn



Angorino blend = angora bunny and 17micron merino (5/95)
Hand spun and hand dyed super slubby nip'n'tuck yarn. one skein is enought to make a fab scarf knitted on ndls 20mm or your hands!
skeins weigh over 100grams each and are AU$29







Dusk




Forest





Ice Queen




Rainbow





Pacific




Berry Forest



Indigo Child



Rembrandt Revisisted



Sweet with a Twist



Zombies & Mermaids




A Nip’n’Tuck Pile up !




Email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au if you want to adopt any of these Yaaaarns! or fibres : message me on Ravelry or facebook where I am Ixchelbunny !

Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-5pm)

Saturday, June 18th (please please email me beforehand to secure a seat)

Bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, crocheting and a plate to share with everybody. There is cake and coffee and tea and a lovely bunny to cuddle and lots of fibres and yarn!) very important ! : Please, please let me now beforehand by email or message that you would like to come and visit so I can prepare the infrastructure and cake ofcourse !
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny, message me on facebook there or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au


Saturday 28th of May
Brunswick Town Hall
Handknitters Guild of Victoria Wool show
An absolute MUST for every fibre fan !


The BENDI PARTY is ON!
15-16-17th of July !
Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show (with a big dash of Rabbit from yours truly)
see website ; www.sheepshow.com
Woolcraft entries close june 10th. Contact Dot Vallence at the Woolcraft committee for more info or come to one of the Bunny Spin ins to g et your copy oif the woolcraft schedule book.

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show is NOT to miss in this year of the rabbit !
Lots of special goodies on offer, prizes to be won and a super competition of “Bunny dress up”again this year! Make a a statement ! This year there’s a “Rock-a-Billy Bunny-dress up competition”and win a super duper Bunny Spin or Yarn bunny Prize! C’mon be a rockin”Fibre Bunny! You know you want to J
All the preperations are already on their way to make this years Bendi show an amazingly FUN FIBRE EVENT !!!!!


Bunny invasion in Queensland planned again just after Bendigo ! @ Mapleton Camp of the Queensland Spinners & Weavers
Mapleton Camp July 22-24
!
Contact the QSW&FA if you want to be part of this awesome weekend of fun !! I will be doing workshops on Art yarn (my nip ‘n’tuck special and Jewellery Sculpture Art yarn)


RABBIT ON !
((hugs))
Charly

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fibre Magic










Max, our pretty Angora Girl enjoying the magical forest views





If you were to ask me what my favourite movies were I would have a hard time choosing just one. There are so many that are mind blowing, life changing and okay , just fun! There is one, well actually three and soon to be four! (I heard they were doing a Hobbit one) : The Lord of the Rings. I have read the books many times, captivated by the story, the myths and the enormous scope of it. The movies were just magic. And as a fibre fanatic and a weaver I ofcourse could not keep my eyes off the costumes. WoW! I wanted to know more about the cloaks and it turns out they were woven from the fleece of a sheep from the Stansborough farm in New Zealand; Gotland sheep. Now this breed of sheep is super lustrous although it os a stinger wool. It is mid grey with magical light grey strands and it is awesome to spin. Now that is saying something from somebody who is, let’s face it, not that much into black and greys..you know me: the more colour the better. Grey Stansborough Gotland fleece is a whole class apart though. It is no use of me raving about it, you will just have to try. It dyes up a treat as well, making the depth of colour even deeper because the base is grey. If you want to start weaving the cloaks , it is woven in a so called shadow weave pattern and is quite easy to do on a four shaft loom. Here is a close up of the pattern:









Fellowship of the ring weave pattern close up










Jeanette and her lambs













a Gotland Ram




The other goodies I have got planned for you is Shetland.



Shetland sheep are famous for its softness, loftiness and ease of spinning and ofcourse for the shetlamd lace shawls. It is a yarn that has that certain spring to it and lightness that lends itself so well for lace !










For the knitters and yarn fans I have something super special: a ply yarn that has 135meters per 50grams and is spun from a blend of Tibetan Yak and Baby Camel (70/30). Soft, warm and I am very pleased with the colour range. I could not resist and dye a heap of classy zen again, because it yarn base colour lends itself so well to it. Also my new colour Cassis or Cerise is there again. I am so happy with this new colour (a blend of mexican cochineal and indigo: magic !)




Because of the handknitters guild mini wool show I have dyed up lots of yarns and here is a selection of some blue faced Leicester and nylon blended 4 ply, The black pearl colour is trule deep deep black and would lend itself very well for a pair of pirate socks (see last blog post).
This weeks update is not that huge as last weeks, but it is still a mini MONSTER update… I won’t keep you waiting for longer: here is the fibre and YAAAAAAAARRRN!!! Enjoy!
Email me , message me on Rav or on FB to put your order in for some!!

Hand dyed Stansborough Gotland Tops
Amazing handle and staple length! You will love spinning these magical tops! Get into the Lord of the rings magic.
100g AU$18










Natural Gotland -sold-










Helmsdeep -2left-










Fellowship of the Ring -1left-










Fangorn forest -sold-










Elendir -sold-





Bluefaced Leicester – Bunny – Nylon Sock yarn



(75/5/20)
4ply spun hand dyed +/- 420m/100g



AU$26













Mermaids










Barbiedoll










Super Black Pearl -sold-











Rainbow -sold-




Hand dyed Tibetan Yak-Baby Camel Yarn



(70/30)



+/-135meters per 50grams
AU$19 – +/-50 gram skein










Galadriel










Classy Zen










Rembrandt










Plum










Cassis










Indigo










Heather










Autumn forest -sold-










red ochre -sold-










natural






Baby Shetland/bunny tops (95/5)
AU$20 per 100grams
Amazing to spin. Lofty and soft .










Zombies & Mermaids










Natural










Cassis -1left-










East of Eden -1left-










Arwen -SOLD-










Elrond -1left-










Brandybuck -1left-










Moria -1left-







Email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au if you want to adopt any of these Yaaaarns! or fibres : message me on Ravelry or facebook where I am Ixchelbunny !

Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-5pm)

FULL HOUSE!! Saturday, May 21st
(please please call beforehand or you will have to sit outside and spin, in that case bring woollies to wear…and your own chair coz I wont have enough :D)

Thursday May 26th

Bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, crocheting and a plate to share with everybody. There is cake and coffee and tea and a lovely bunny to cuddle and lots of fibres and yarn!) very important ! : Please, please let me now beforehand by email or message that you would like to come and visit so I can prepare the infrastructure and cake ofcourse !
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny, message me on facebook there or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au


Monday 23rd of May
Gembrook Craft group Spin in !!! It’s a bi-annual event so come and visit this year!
Gembrook Community Hall, 9-3pm
Due to circumstances I cannot be at this fabulous spin in , but please show the Gembrook Guild your support by visiting their special day !


Saturday 28th of May
Brunswick Town Hall
Handknitters Guild of Victoria Wool show
An absolute MUST for every fibre fan ! Launch of my super LONG colour repeat 4 ply AND lace weight yarn !!!!!


The BENDI PARTY is ON!
15-16-17th of July !
Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show (with a big dash of Rabbit from yours truly)
see website ; www.sheepshow.com
Woolcraft entries close june 10th. Contact Dot Vallence at the Woolcraft committee for more info or come to one of the Bunny Spin ins to g et your copy oif the woolcraft schedule book.

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show is NOT to miss in this year of the rabbit !
Lots of special goodies on offer, prizes to be won and a super competition of “Bunny dress up”again this year! Make a a statement ! This year there’s a “Rock-a-Billy Bunny-dress up competition”and win a super duper Bunny Spin or Yarn bunny Prize! C’mon be a rockin”Fibre Bunny! You know you want to J
All the preperations are already on their way to make this years Bendi show an amazingly FUN FIBRE EVENT !!!!!

Mapleton Camp July 22-24
Bunny invasion in Queensland planned again just after Bendigo ! @ Mapleton Camp of the Queensland Spinners & Weavers

Contact the QSW&FA if you want to be part of this awesome weekend of fun !! I will be doing workshops on Art yarn (my nip ‘n’tuck special and Jewellery Sculpture Art yarn)


RABBIT ON !






((hugs))
Charly