New fibres and yarns to celebrate the new year

Happy weekend everybody and welcome to the first shop update of the new year!

And, what an exciting update it is with something for everybody!
I filled my holiday break with lots gand lots of experimenting, blending and spinning. Spinning yarn is my happy place. So, to give my back a much needed break during the holidays, I spent it spinning, carding, blending and not a lot of dyeing. I kept the dyeing reserved for last week to do a restock of lots of blends and of course the January clubs! 

Here, I will show you the teaser label and a look at what an inspiring artist who has done so much important work not only in art, but also ecology and entomology! 

 

 I am dyeing the January clubs at the moment. Once everything is ready to ship I will post another teaser on my social media so please make sure you are following me😉

This week’s update is filled with something for everybody, whether you are a spinner or a knitter or a felter or love wood turned crafty things! 

There are new luxurious Guanaco blend tops, Soft and puffy Rambouillet tops, shiny and curly Wensleydale tops, guanaco handspun yarns, new Wallaby batts, new Nøstepinne to make centre pulled balls with (check out the Camphor Laurel ones: they are magical!) and last but not least: new hand spun angora bunny cashmere and silk in a fabulous new colourway “Snow Gum”. There are these beautiful, majestic eucalypts in the high country in Australia called “snow guns” with the most amazing multi coloured bark, which I wanted to mimic: the Snow White of the angora bunny, combined with the ochres, blues and moss greens, even some pinks of the snow gum tree bark. I’m super happy with how the yarns turned out and I hope you will love them as well!

You can find all these in the “what’s new” collection on the IxCHeL shop here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new

2025 is going to be filled with new blends, new colourways and exciting new projects. If only there were 50 hours a day I always say 🤣 and remember, although there are so many things happening in the world that are disturbing, painful and can add so much stress to one’s life, please remember to do something for yourself and/or for others: spending time to learn a new craft, or just sit and relax with something you love to do like spinning or knitting or weaving, can make all the difference in the world. See it as replenishing your battery.

I also post on social media so to see more, please follow me on Instagram, Threads or Bluesky🦋 and Facebook where I am Ixchelbunny. I can’t wait to see what you are all creating with your fibres and yarns, so please don’t forget to tag me so I can see!

Wishing you a fun and relaxing, crafty weekend ! 

Big hugs,

Charly

Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year to all of you !✨

Thank you for making last year amazing ✨ Whether you bought our hand dyed fibres or yarns or hand spun or spindles, or, supported us by showing your enthusiasm for all the crafty fluff and stuff: you all have made our world brighter 🌞Even when I was struggling with physical stuff and also mental doubt -as all creatives do I guess- you have showed me kindness, love for all things fluffy and colourful fluff and yarns I created. You’ve made my job the best in the world and I am super grateful to all of you. 

Let’s make 2025 a year of more Crafty Adventures, more Fun and explore new things to learn on the way. 

I am planning to give you new fibres and blends and yarns on shop updates again every week of this year, Paul has new spindles and exciting new inlay stones on his agenda as well and of course there are the fibre, yarn and batt clubs every month as well. To hand dye yarn  and fibre spin, blend, card and think of something exhilarating to offer all of you on a weekly basis is no small task! Kinda like running a marathon every week, but so much fun getting to the finish line and then starting it all again with a sparkle in my eyes, to see how I can do better next time.

I have been asked what shows I will be doing this year and if I would be at the Bendigo Show. Well, I think after “running weekly marathons” for 21 years now, parts of my body are shouting in my ear that doing a triathlon is out of the question🤣 In 2025 you can find me at the Handknitters guild show again in Coburg, which will be held in May/June. The exact dates and times will of course be shared here and on social media! No other shows are planned at this time, but anything can happen I suppose, but I will definitely not be doing big 5day wool shows/events anymore. I am very sorry to disappoint you, but it takes a huge amount of work and strain on my already failing body, on top of what I’m already doing on a weekly basis and I’m happy to know my limitations I guess…

I have so many plans, so many desires to do more painting and designing, weaving, spinning and knitting too. As usual there are only 24 hours in a day while my brain seems to think there are at least double that amount of hours. I guess that’s the blessing of being an optimistic neurodivergent: time is amazingly relative🤣 like the Freudian slip I made typing “shop updates will be at 8pm ADHD” instead of “8pm AEDT” : forget about time zones and daylight savings rules, just let ambiguous chaos and possibilities rule 😜

There will be shop updates, restocks etc happening every week as usual during our “holiday period” but the first big new exciting hand dyed blend shop update with a rare breed! will be happening on Friday January 17th at 8pm AEDT. There will be heaps of new colourways too and some pretty awesome yarns as well ! It’s all happening ✨ 

You can find it all on www.ixchel.com.au and if you cannot find what you’re looking for: contact me via email or my socials and I will always be happy to help and enable!

Keep creating, keep making AND please share and tag me ( @ixchelbunny or #ixchelyarnsandfibres ) so I can see it and a lot of others too! 

 Let’s Laugh and Celebrate all things creative and fun and fluffy together this year! 🐰✨🐰

Big hugs,
Charly

Happy holidays and a big thank you to all !

 

A Gargantuan THANK YOU to all who have supported the IxCHeL 12 days of Christmas event this year! 

Thank you🌟Thank you🌟

I can proudly tell you that you made it possible for us to donate $1081 to Healesville Sanctuary/Zoos Victoria fighting extinction  ♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️🎄♥️

I cannot thank you enough for being so absolutely amazing !

Thank you for making a difference!

The IxCHeL shop will stay open and there are (and will be) lots of goodies that will be added to the shop on a regular basis, some items like dyes will be restocked too.

The first big shop update with a new blend and new colourways will be happening Friday January 17th at 8pm AEDT.

You are always welcome to send me an email if you have a custom dye request or need something special: always happy to enable 💕

There are vouchers available too (for those moments when you forgot to buy that special someone a present and all the shops are closed…oops): vouchers are directly emailed to you so no need to wait for the postie!) plus the sign ups for the art journey clubs are still open til end of the year (or until they fill up!. You can find everything you need here: IxCHeL.com.au

I will be doing lots of spinning and thinking up new blends and colourways over the holiday season, to make 2025 extra fluffy and super exciting! 

Wishing everybody very happy holidays and a fabulous new year filled with lots of fun crafting !🎄

Big hugs

Charly 

♥️🐰♥️

Party time with fluffy fibres !

 

(frozen fern colourway on a background of the Christmas tree nebula or NGC 2264 (about 720 parsecs or 2,300 light-years from Earth) 

Happy weekend everybody!

It has been another super busy week here : the December clubs dyed and drying and ready to be shipped on Monday, to beat the Holiday season postal rush !, lots of custom order dyeing and organising blends and batts for the updates still to come this year, not to mention the upcoming huge 12 days of Christmas fundraiser starting this Sunday December 1st at 12pm AEDT! (Follow me on Instagram, Threads or Bluesky🦋 and Facebook where I am ixchelbunny) and check in on the IxCHeL shop every day during those days to see what fabulous specials you can snaffle to put under your Christmas tree 🎄 
To say I’m super busy trying to organise everything is an understatement😂 

For this Friday update I have a very special blend called Machu Picchu with super soft 19micron merino and alpaca and lustrous mulberry silk PLUS a restock of Tundra Qiviut blend tops in luscious colourways, like “Stargazing”, “Autumn Leaves” and many more !

🎄 Holiday information 🎄

The shop will stay open during the holiday season, but there will be no new weekly update until Friday , January 17th, 2025! (This will give me some much needed time to prep new fibres, dyebaths and also recharge my batteries…much needed!). 
The last weekly update of 2024 will be on Friday 13th of December to give you all the results from the fabulous upcoming 12 days of Christmas event fundraiser and new exciting news !

The sign ups for the 1st quarter of the Art Journey clubs are open ! Don’t wait too long though: membership sign ups will close end of December or when maximum quotas are reached! You can find all the clubs in the shop here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/clubs

Only two days left to take advantage of the 20th anniversary special -20% sale to celebrate the  20th anniversary of IxCHeL yarns & fibres with us! You can find the Gaia DK yarn here : https://ixchel.com.au/products/gaia

Wishing you a fun and relaxing weekend ! 

Big hugs,

Charly

It’s time to start talking about Christmas Bunnies !

 

It’s mid November so it’s officially okay to talk about……..Christmas 🎄

I know,I know…too early, but I’m sure I’m not the only one preparing for the festive season and if you are a knitter, crocheted, spinner or weaver, well, those festive gifts take time to create! Sometimes a month isn’t even long enough so I’m actually a bit late to the game 🤣 but there ya go: I’ve been already making these cute Christmas bunny batts for you and preparing soooooo many things for the upcoming “12 days of Christmas” fundraiser event that I do every year. I may be known as a chaos bunny, but one has to prepare not to fall into the black hole of panic, especially this time of year…lol

So, what’s been going on here? Well, after dyeing, batting and carding and skeining all the November clubs and shipping them out this week, I immediately started prepping the December club, because all the club parcels have to go out of the door before Australia Post Christmas deadlines, while at the same time prepping and dyeing 3 mountains of fluff for the upcoming shop updates ! Never a dull moment here!

Paul aka lair of the bearded dragon has also been super busy making new lotus phang support spindles with maginificent inlays of malachite and lapis lazuli.

New hand dyed tops of super squishy Corriedale tops are new to the shop this Friday too, so please have a look at the new colourways on offer.

you can find all the new fluff and spindles on www.ixchel.com.au in the what’s new section of the shop.

I am already preparing all the December art journey clubs and they will be ready to ship late November so they will beat the Christmas shipping rush, especially for our overseas art journey club members! Here is a sneak preview of the December club label:

Don’t wait too long to sign up for the next quarter! All the details of all the Art journey batt, fibre and sock yarn clubs are on the IxCHeL shop here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/clubs

Wishing you a very fun, super creative and relaxing weekend !

Big hugs,

Charly

Super cute small sheep to cuddle and spin

 

The weather is very wild here atm with strong winds that have taken trees down and power out. So,I am writing this in between periods of dodgy internet reception and power outages. We still have no power now, but the internet goes on and off so I better make “hay while the internet is on”..lol

This weeks update is a special blend of Ouessant sheep with bfl and cashmere. The colours of the Ouessant sheep are a variety of browns so the blend is very interesting to dye. Dye in or rather over dyeing on a base of coloured fibres is absolutely wonderful: it creates a depth of colour and tonal values that you simply do not get on a bright white. 

I love dyeing tops that have different coloured fleeces in them: it is magical ! spinning this blend will give you a gorgeous heathered and saturated, magical colour play yarn, that is soft and suitable to close to skin wear with a gorgeous drape.

Located 12 miles off the French coast in the Sea of Iroise, the island of Ouessant (or Ushant in English) is the original homeland of Ouessant Sheep. 

 Ouessant sheep are the most primitive of the native French breeds. For centuries, they were raised in isolation on the island where they played an integral part of the self-sufficient closed economy, providing both wool and meat. By the end of the 18th century there were over 6,000 sheep on the island of Ouessant. But economic improvements along with a move toward modernization at the beginning of the 19th century radically changed the future prospects of this small primitive breed. ortunately, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of wealthy families imported small numbers of traditional Ouessant sheep to the French mainland to graze the lands around their estates. 

Ultimately, this seemingly insignificant event insured the survival of the breed. Today, Ouessant sheep are sought after both as companion animals and as “environmentally-friendly lawn mowers”. 

They have also gained a certain amount of popularity in several different European countries : Most notably Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. 

A member of the Northern European Short-Tailed breeds, Ouessant sheep are distant cousins of the Shetland and Icelandic breeds. The two most distinctive features of Ouessant sheep are their size and their color. 

Considered by many to be the smallest breed of sheep in the world, adult ewes measure less than 18″ (46cm) at the shoulders and rams are under 20″ (50cm). 

Additionally, Ouessant sheep come in a number of different colors : Including black, white, brown, and grey. It is true that the small size of Ouessant sheep contributes to the breed’s characteristic charm and appeal. However, their diminutive size also means that the breed is not commercially viable in the modern world of agricultural production. In fact, one of the primary objectives for breeding Ouessant sheep today is the preservation and conservation of the rare genetic resources that are found in the breed. 

Despite their small size, these charming little sheep produce a particularly beautiful and versatile wool. Ouessant sheep have a distinctive double-coated fleece with an average fiber diameter of 25 microns and, on average, fleeces weigh approximately 750 grams (1.5 lbs.). It is important to keep in mind that Ouessant sheep are an unimproved breed, which means that from one sheep to another there is less standardization and more variability in wool type and quality than one would normally find in modern improved breeds. 

For the handspinner, this variation presents a unique opportunity : From one small flock of Ouessant sheep it is possible to produce wool that can be used for a wide variety of projects, ranging from lace shawls to hats, cardigans, and even rugs. 

 I have taken great care to only select the finest of the Ouessant fibre and blending that with the shiny Blue faced Leicester and cashmere  to create a beautiful heathered effect when dyed.

you can find all the new Ouessant bfl cashmere tops here on the IxCHeL shop: www.ixchel.com.au/products/ouessant-bfl-cashmere

Have a wonderful weekend and happy spinning !

RABBIT ON !

((hugs))

Charly 

Outlander tops are back!

 

This update is a very special one : , this one is another (and maybe one of my favourite) rare sheep ! My Outlander Scottish Soay Sheep blend ! I have done this blend first in 2014/2015 (how time flies !!!)  and is amazing to work with and super soft, so I am very very happy  to be able to offer you this blend again after lots of organising, blending and dyeing.   I cannot state enough that it is so important to keep rare breeds alive. It is however, harder and harder to get rare breed fibres organised for me to blend and dye them. It has taken a bit longer than normal this time, but it is so worth it and I hope you will enjoy spinning them as much as I have blending and dyeing them up for you.

The rare sheep breed in the spot light is the very special soay sheep of the Scottish Islands of St Kilda and Hirta ! It is a very, very rare ancient breed, with roots going back all the way to the bronze age ! 

The Isle of Soay, a name derived from the Norse word for Sheep Island, is near the North West corner of Hirta. A very dangerous, narrow channel and sea stacks separate the two. Soay is extremely difficult to access due to its steep rocky cliffs, boulder fields and lack of anchorage.

It can only be approached when seas are very calm and quickly changing weather can make getting off the island nearly impossible, it is the least accessible of all the islands in the archipelago. It is believed that sheep have probably inhabited Soay since the Bronze Age and are the descendants of the very first domesticated sheep which populated northern Europe. They are the most primitive surviving livestock breed in the UK. 
The sheep on Soay Island were not owned by the St. Kildans of Hirta, but instead by the islands various lairds (landlords). Their feudal tenants were allowed to annually collect fleece from these sheep and were occasionally permitted to take an animal, for a fee, to kill for special occasions. While Soay is somewhat larger (244 acres) than its neighbour Boreray (189 acres) Soay supports fewer animals per acre because its high central plateau is a marshy bog with little vegetation suitable to grazing sheep. 

the Island of sheep

St. Kilda is a group of islands which are the most westerly part of Scotland; they are 41 miles from Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides and 110 miles from the Scottish mainland. 

This archipelago consists of four small islands and some large rocky outcrops which are all that remains of a long extinct volcano. The islands are remote and spectacular with the highest cliffs in the UK and are the home to large colonies of seabirds. 

There is evidence that the main island Hirta has been inhabited for thousands of years but the habitation might not have been continuous. There is also evidence of human activity on the other three islands of Dun, Soay and the more remote Boreray. 

The island of Soay has been the home of the most primitive form of domestic sheep in the UK for thousands of years which have remained as a relic of early domestication due to isolation and inaccessibility. The islanders, known as the St. Kildans were the tenants of various owners of St. Kilda, they had limited resources other than the vast seabird colonies. They caught thousands of these birds and used their feathers and extracted their oil as a currency to pay their rent and to buy meagre provisions. 

The most remote island of the archipelago is Boreray which was used by the St. Kildans to harvest sea birds and their eggs and also keep a reserve flock of their unique domestic sheep, now known as Boreray Sheep. 

As more communications with the mainland improved the life of the islanders changed, they were subject to diseases brought by contact with outsiders which caused heavy mortality. There was movement to the mainland and immigration to other parts of the world until in 1930 the population became so low with so few able bodied men they could no longer sustain themselves and they chose to leave. In 1957, the entire archipelago was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland and has been in their ownership and protection ever since.

Tourists flocking around a spinner showing them spinning soay (1900s)

 close up

spinning magic

 now the same street is deserted... except for the grazing soay sheep that have been there for centuries

The animals on Soay have never been managed and lived feral on the island for thousands of years, no one is certain how long or how they got there.

There are dark and blond sheep with some ewes being horned and many others polled (no horns) or scurred (small or misshaped horns). Over recent centuries some animals have been taken from Soay to estates on the mainland of the UK. Over a period of time starting in 1932, after St. Kilda had been evacuated and sold, 107 animals were captured and transferred to the vacant pastures of Hirta. 

This was a significant number taken from the small population on Soay Island. Today flocks survive in both locations. 

Visitors to St Kilda will immediately notice three striking features of the sheep.
First, Soay sheep are tiny. In August, mature females average around 24kg in weight while mature males are around 38kg, making them about one third the size of most modern domestic sheep and shrinking !

Second, they are highly variable in appearance. While many Soays have the ‘classic’ Soay coat colour, which we call ‘dark wild’ (with ‘wild’ being short for ‘wildtype’ the coat pattern that features a light belly and rump patch), we recognise three other varieties (‘dark self’, ‘light wild(type)’ and ‘light self’ (where ‘self’ refers to ‘self-coloured’ – a coat pattern with the same colour all over including belly and rump patch). 

Studies have shown that the dark/light colouration is due to a gene called tyrosinase-related protein 1, or TYRP1 which is on sheep chromosome 2 and genetically dark is dominant to light, while the wild/self colouration is due to the locus Agouti on sheep chromosome 13 and wild is dominant to self. 
 There are however, very cute Soay sheep with white patches as well. (note: in angora rabbits for example there is the agouti on chromosome 13 as well, making the off spring able to have all different colours. Agouti is a gorgeous thing to have in the gene pool !).

The University of Edinburg is doing a lot of research on these soay sheep because it offers them a very good insight in the ecology and the evolution of the species. A count of the whole of Hirta’s Soay sheep population has been conducted most years since 1952 by the same method. 

It was these counts that revealed that Soay sheep on St Kilda have rather unusual population dynamics. The Soay population rises to maxima and then crashes, at irregular intervals. It is this population dynamic behaviour that makes Soay sheep so interesting for ecologists. The sheep exhibit a phenomenon known as overcompensatory density dependence, in which their population never reaches equilibrium. 

The population growth is so great as to exceed the carrying capacity of the island, which eventually causes a dramatic population crash, and then the cycle repeats. For example, in 1989, the population fell by two thirds within 12 weeks !! 

In brief, it became clear that the population dynamics of Soay sheep happen because virtually all mature females conceive each year, regardless of density, and as a result, the population can increase in one breeding season to a size which greatly exceeds the winter carrying capacity, when it may crash. Crashes are more likely to occur when there is bad winter weather, and when the population contains a large proportion of vulnerable sheep such as lambs and males. The population then increases again, over several years, before another crash. 

As ecological research proceeded, it became clear that the Soay sheep population also offers remarkable opportunities for understanding the progress of natural selection and evolution in real time. Population crashes are a period of intense selection, could they have anything to do with the maintenance of genetic variation, for example in coat colour and horn type? Does the low life expectancy of most individuals select for early reproductive effort? Likewise, the population dynamics research inspires numerous questions about the relationship between the sheep and their biotic environment, including the plants on which they feed and the parasites.

The Soay sheep have short tails and naturally shed their wool, which can be hand plucked (called rooing) in the spring and early summer. About one kilogram of wool can be obtained from each animal per year. 

This breed has extremely fine fleece and it is difficult to distinguish an outer coat. This is a clear indication that the Soay are indeed the product of a domesticated breed in prehistoric times. 
The breed also lacks the flocking instinct of many breeds. Attempts to work them using sheep dogs result in a scattering of the group: no use entering them at the Bendigo sheep and wool show dog trials: it would be extremely frustrating for the sheep and dogs. They obviously are the rebels among sheep !

 Soay sheep fleece

These sheep are extremely special and it inspired me to do a rare sheep breed adventure blend named OUTLANDER, hence its name , because I am a fan of the books and the series…and because the Soay sheep , although hairier, are pretty darn cute. I have some naked Outlander tops as well and then there are all the different colourways, fresh out of the dyepots this week available as well

have fun exploring the Outlander tops this week!

happy spinning and crafting !

You can find all the new Outlander tops here on the IxCHeL online shop: https://ixchel.com.au/products/outlander

big hugs

Charly