Friday, November 30, 2012

A Surreal Festive Season

Bear LOVES the Hitchhiker spinning wheel !

Unbelievable but true: it’s almost December ! the last month of the year and filled with holiday….cheer…well depending if you are into Christmas or new year or birthdays (yeah well to top it off it’s my birthday at the end of the year as well…I still think my parents could have timed it a bit better…lol) and ofcourse Sinterklaas !
Okay, I hear you say, who is Sinterklaas? Having spent my early years up until I was about 6 in the Netherlands I could not escape this event and although I spent most of my life in other countries that did not celebrate it at all, I still love it and remember it with a smile on my face.
I started to explain what it was all about to a friend of mine and soon I found out that the explanation of it all was so totally illogical and politically incorrect that I wonder how on earth it is still celebrated in the Netherlands and in parts of Belgium.
 This is the story: There is this guy, a roman catholic saint, who always helped kids…yes let’s not get into that…lol…he arrived in Holland on the 5th of December on a steamship from Spain??? With a load of his helpers who are black and dressed in very colourful harem type pants wearing equally colourful hats with feathers and carrying around a big book where all the names of all the children are mentioned together with the fact if they have been good or naughty. They also carry around a big bag and some twigs , a so called "roe' , to whip the naughty kids with..the very very naughty kids do not get whipped, they get put in the bag and taken away. I have never really understood where the naughty kids got taken, I might have mentally blocked that from my memory…lol.
When you were good and therefore were looking forward to the visit of Sinterklaas and his black Pete or as they are called in Dutch Sinterklaas en zwarte piet….you would put your shoe outside the door and put in a carrot, not for Sinterklaas or Pete , but for his white stallion , some cookies and milk and wait in your bed til Sinterklaas would deliver your goodies through the chimney pipe after thrashing around on the rooftops with his white stallion and his Pete helpers.

it might not be a possum on the roof this time of year ,
it might be a white stallion with a bearded guy and his helper trying to get in your chimney……
 
Now, honestly, marketing wise, I think the church could have done a bit better. If a business was trying to start an event, I’m sure if they would have come up with a similar story it would have been shot down or died a very fast death. Not with Sinterklaas and pete though, they have been terrorising the Dutch countryside for centuries. The thing is , it’s fun, even adults get into it-I mean not whipping kids or putting them in bags or anything like that, but I obviously mean th exchanging of gifts. Unlike Christmas it’s not just the giving of gifts, it somehow got morphed into something much more FUN: you have to write a little funny poem to the recipient, buy a small gift or fun stuff and wrap it in layers and layers and layers of wrapping with or without sticky paper stuff and hard to open the parcel  things. You might get a parcel the size of a house only to discover that you had to read 10 poems out loud , thrawl through 100 layers of sticky paper and gooey stuff, to finally get to your prized gift: a piece of chocolate in the shape of a letter (chocolade letters). It’s fun, it’s social, it’s a great way to take the mickey out of somebody, have a laugh and a great time. I never got put in a bag (which doesn’t mean I was always a good girl..ahem) never got whipped with the “roe”but I still remember those nights with fondness and a big smile on my face. My dad was the worst poem writer of the century but Oh boy, was it an absolute hoot to read what he came up with. If ever there was a holiday that Monty Python would approve of, I’m sure Sinterklaas would be their favourite one….rofl.

An old print of the Sinterklaas feast in a house where the parents arelooking on to a scene where two of their naughty kids get put in a bag and taken away…oh what fun there was to be had…..really? lol an old print out of the book by Schenkman dated 1885

As always, big business recognise a goldmine when they see one, and “slightly” adapted the feast to a more capitalist holy view and by 1906 you can see that instead of putting kids in bags and whipping them into good behaviour like the “good old 1900s” they are now shopping ….

An old print from a book by Callenfels in 1906:
Sinterklaas and his helper are all of a sudden submitted to the torture of shopping..
talk about Karma…lol

Last week I have been working hard on my new upcoming blends that I can hopefully get all done and dyed up for their launch early December ! it’s all very exciting ! In the meantime I have dyed up some great blends you already know and love:; blue faced leivester bunny tops and the famous black bunny tops which are a blend of blue faced Leicester, angora bunny, black bamboo and casmere !


Blue faced Leicester is a wonderful sheeps wool that has a beautiful lustre and is extremely nice to spin. It is stronger than your superfine merino but it is close to skin wear and has a magical bounce to it ! blending it with aangora bunny and cashmere together with black bamboo is awesome to spin and felt with. The black bamboo will deepen your colours when spinning the tops fine but if you choose you can spin them thick and slubby as well which will then give your yarn and amazing swirly look. Anything goes and it’s all fun !

How To Order from this Shop blog

 until the website www.ixchel.com.au is up and running –which will be sooooon-ish!-yeah yeah start laughing will yaYou can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
Payment : direct bank deposit, card or paypal ! easy !
Thank you so much for your help and supporting our little fibre farm !
(((HUGS)))
Charly
 

Black Bunny tops 

A wonderful blend of blue faced Leicester, angora bunny, cashmere and black bamboo fibres
100grams+ AU$21
 
luvvly jubbly


socially awkward penguin


going bananas


Christmas tree






Blue faced Leicester Bunny Tops

100grams AU$20   


The Blue faced Leicester bunny tops are fluffy and airy and very nice to spin


Highland Fling-


Mad Womans Breakfast

Clumsy Duck in a Paddock


Dates to Remember:
Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!


Last bunny spin ins of the year !!! 2012

Saturday December 15th, 11am-4pm and 
Thursday December 22nd,)   11am – 4pm


Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot !
Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it  !


Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au

RABBIT ON !
and say a little prayer for our beloved chooks may they rest in peace ...

((hugs))

Charly


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Friday, November 23, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving ..for foxes that is

Bear being very social : here he is with Phoebe one of the bunny spin in visitors

I’m a bit distracted today..well distraught actually. After a wonderful 2 bunny spin ins with lots of laughs and spinning and chatting and heaps of lovely people visiting our ixchel fibre farm I made the most gruesome discovery this morning: foxes dug through our defences and took 5 of our chooks! And you know what really makes this even more eerie and awful, apart from the fact that Jazz our bunny dog who admittedly is getting on a bit and isn’t that attentive and on the hunt anymore, is that one of my spinning friends who visited yesterday was telling us that she lost almost all of her chooks because of foxes and asked if we didn’t have any problems? To which I very cocky replied “NO! ofcourse not! We got Jazz our chook and bunny protector!”
yeah right…I shouldn’t have said anything .... They were probably foxes shopping for their Thankgiving dinner….grumble. I reinforced the boundary for now, but because of all the heavy rains we have been having, big maintenance is obviously needed. Also we may need to get ourselves a younger protecting dog since Jazz is obviously more interested in sleeping, eating and lying in the sun to get her tan up. Our oldest chook Caramel, you know the one that we nurtured back to health after being attacked by an eagle, is still with us and two of her sisters as well. We will wait with introducing others to our flock again til after the big fence maintenance and cleaning up of feathers..it’s all very very sad and I hope the foxes choke on a bone.

Well, enough of the sad things in life and on with the fun stuff. On one of the spin ins Emma from Spun out brought me a wonderful Malcolm fielding Osage Orange Tibetan Spindle and it is AMAZING to spin with ! I made a very airy batt with angora and blue faced Leicester and some glitz and it is divine!! Thank you so much Emma: that Fielding spindle is wonderful to work with. I think you may have gotten me addicted to support spindling because now I am eyeing off a Glindle from Bristlecone as well ..lol..not that I need another spindle, but they all are just so pretty !! yes I know, it’s the magpie in me I’m sure ..lol

A Malcolm Fielding Tibetan Spindle with bowl
spinning an angora blue faced Leicester glitzy batt , dyed in the Rose Colourway
(dyed with mushroom pigments)


With all the clubs having to be sent out and still working on the mini skein club (every hand dyed and some handspun and handdyed skeins need to be reskeined into their cute little skeins individually and by hand and then labelled which takes a looooooooooong time, so Im still working on that ) I have only had a chance to do some limited handspun and hand dyed baby camel yarns and some , what I call, Matches made in Heaven”. These ones are two different types of fibre blends but dyed in the same colourway: Great for spinning and plyeing together or just enjoying on their own. Only a very limited supply so be quick snaffling !

How To Order from this Shop blog

 until the website www.ixchel.com.au is up and running –which will be sooooon-ish!-yeah yeah start laughing will yaYou can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
Payment : direct bank deposit, card or paypal ! easy !
Thank you so much for your help and supporting our little fibre farm !
(((HUGS)))
Charly
 

Baby Camel + Angora Bunny Hand spun and hand dyed yarns Yarns 

a fluffy and airy hand spun and hand dyed yarn of the most exquisite blend of baby camel and angora bunny fibres.
50grams skeins AU$25. 110 m/50grams
 
Walnut Rose


Blue Pearls


Dolphin Cove


Unicorn


Rainbow


Party Pete


Matches made in heaven

Blue Faced Leicester Bunny Silk Tops and Cashmere Fling Tops  

The Blue faced Leicester bunny and silk tops are fluffy and airy and very nice to spin and they get even better when you ply them with a wonderful cashmere fling top in the same colourway! Cashmere fling is a blend of Cashmere, tencel, glitz and bamboo, which is heaven to spin and wear ! 
Both are $22 each per 100+grams. You can buy a match made in heaven or you can buy them separate.
Spinning these tops is amazing !

Blue Faced Leicester Bunny + silk Tops Roses and Walnuts-1left-


Cashmere Fling Tops Roses and Walnuts-1left-

Blue Faced Leicester Silk Tops Blue Lagoon-sold-


Cashmere Fling Tops Blue Lagoon -sold-

 

Blue Faced Leicester Bunny + silk tops Blueberry Velvet-2left-

Cashmere Fling Tops Blueberry Velvet-sold-

Blue Faced Leicester Bunny + silk tops Forest Fairytale-2left-

Cashmere Fling tops Forest Fairytale-sold-

Dates to Remember:
Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!


Last bunny spin ins of the year !!! 2012

Saturday December 15th, 11am-4pm and 
Thursday December 22nd,)   11am – 4pm


Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot !
Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it  !


Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au

RABBIT ON !
and say a little prayer for our beloved chooks may they rest in peace ...

((hugs))

Charly


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Friday, November 16, 2012

Getting Stoned and more adventures

Bunny Bowls..

The renovation adventure is almost over. Renovations have made room for cleaning up and dressing up and filling in. Because of the Bunny Spin in tomorrow at the farm I had to clean up the make shift kitchen in the studio area, the total chaos in the fibre production area and also do some producing.. although not quite finished, both Paul and I are very happy with what the kitchen area looks like and Bear is absolutely over the moon that he now has a ballroom to play with rather than the chaos he had to deal with before. It is really funny to see him hopping around sniffing at every little thing that has changed..again…

The pantry cupboards are in place and instead of having our original plan come to fruition , which were stainless steel doors on a bi fold mechanism, we opted for a tapestry “door” in the short run..I still had an old Lady and the Unicorn tapestry hanging around and what do you know? It fitted in the pantry door opening ! yeah! No second hand couch yet, but I put two carvers from our dining set in the relaxing area instead. They were recently re upholstered by the magnificent Whittakers ( www.whitakers.net.au ). Get in touch with Mary there and she will give you the best service and advice ever ! Fabulous quality and great crafts people to deal with! So instead of buying a new plastic chinese import couch, go for one with character and make it your own and at the same time support a local business and craft !

Lots of spinning and dyeing this last week and making heaps of fun art yarns. Looking forward to taking a break from renovations for a while and getting on top of making new blends that I can offer you next month ! In the meantime you will just have to get by with some new nip n tuck yarns and some very special tops and fibres. I have some very very rare mink down and Yak down on offer. Both are harvested animal friendly and are quite hard to come by. The mink only produces 25grams or thereabouts per year! It is the softest down to spin and you can try it yourself now ! Only a very limited supply so be quick snaffling !
Also, Here are some photos of the whole kitchen reno in its last phase. The granite stone benchtop was put in last Monday and it is absolutely stunning! I know now why there is this saying “get stoned” because honestly, I can’t stop looking at the granite with its copper flecks shining like a big universe. It is absolutely awesome. You just have to come visit to enjoy it because the photos just don’t do it justice. The Stone people from TTI were great to deal with as well, so if you ever want something like this go to a local stonemason !
Here are some photos of it all: enjoy!

The make shift kitchen relaxing area with the amazing chairs Whitakers re upholstered.
Thanks Mary! You are a star!


Cool kitchen ! with tapestry pantry “door”,
LED lighting and lots of super funky stuff like
a hand made sink by Paul and Travis and
red gum doors, granite copper fleck bench tops and metallic deck tiles
handmade sink
 
and ofcourse there is “Da Bar!” ..I still have to fully assemble the light fixture on top,
but hopefully I will get that done this evening

cooking area…I have managed to already set the fire alarm three times
while cooking on this new super energetic gas stove..rofl..
don’t have a rangehood yet, have to save up for that one and cook …eh,..more gently…lol


Apart from all the above mentioned excitement I can offer you some very new funky fibres and yarns !
Have fun snaffling !

How To Order from this Shop blog

 until the website www.ixchel.com.au is up and running –which will be sooooon-ish!-yeah yeah start laughing will yaYou can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
Payment : direct bank deposit, card or paypal ! easy !
Thank you so much for your help and supporting our little fibre farm !
(((HUGS)))
Charly
 

Art Yarn Yarns 

Angorino blend hand spun and hand dyed (17micron merino and angora bunny blend) nip and tuck slubby spun! Excellent for a scarf knitted on your hands !Super light and super soft! One skein is enough for a skinny scarf knitted on needle size 25 or a wider one using your arms ! It is fun to knit and fun to wear!
100grams+ AU$31

Forest Elves



Velvet


King Fisher


Carnaval


Black pearls


Tiffany




Art Yarn Bunny MANGA 
a super special handspun and handspun yarn with needlefelted bunnies
from SoulCrafting (thanks Shevi!)
with embroidered faces, 112grams , +/- 65meters, AU$55.
Make fashion statement: Wear a bunny manga heads scarf !


Angora tops  

Pure luxurious soft angora bunny tops. Excellent and easy to spin and form our English angora bunnies. Spin it with a high ratio for strength or core spin it for the fluff factor. You can also spin a single of pure angora and then ply it with the luxury merino/angora blend tops I also have on offer.
Spinning pure angora from these tops is amazing : try it and you will be hooked !
50grams+ AU$20


pure white angora tops 50grams AU$20



Angora Tops hand dyed Binkie


Angora Bunny Tops hand dyed Velvet


Angora Bunny Tops hand dyed Cool Dude 

 

Angora Bunny / merino (50/50) Tops 50grams AU$18

Super Special Down Fibres 

Don’t miss out spinning any of these super special rare down fibres.
Only a limited supply !  
Yak Down, bag of 25grams AU$10



Mink Down 25grams (= a years production of the mink!) AU$18
 


Dates to Remember:
Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!


Next bunny spin in

Saturday November 17th, 11am-4pm and 
Thursday November 22nd,)   11am – 4pm


Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot !
Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it  !


Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au

RABBIT ON !

((hugs))

Charly


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