Wishing upon a star

winter solstice sunrise

I love fairy tales and magic...that's why I probably cook up colourful brews in my cauldron, play with fibres and talk to the fuzzi wuzzi animals at the Ixchel fibre farm. I have been wishing on a star for more time in this busy period but the winter solstice was against me and gave me the shortest day ever...I seem to have lots of energy though because I have to ..lol...this saturday there is the mini wool expo on at the Brunswick town hall in Melbourne and after that , well, it is the Bendigo show on the 17/18th and 19th of July ! I have been busy with the dye pot and the wheel for these two shows and updates in the meantime and although you might think "hey, where is all the stuff?" think again and come down to the shows because I have prepared a HUGE amount of yummy fibres: about 7 big tubs filled with yarns! silk, bfl bunny!, angora, yak!, alpaca and more! and that is not even counting the hand dyed tops! The days have been long (just looking at the clock and seeing that it's 3.25am! is telling my brain that I am absolutely bonkers...lol...so before my head hits the keyboard. here is a little update to get your juices flowing :)

Hand dyed Blue faced Leicester Bunny Tops 100g/AU$20

Fairy godmother

Pinocchio

Wishing upon a star - sold-

Jiminy cricket -sold-

Gepetto -sold-

Hand dyed BFL/bunny yarn, sockweight 2 ply 100g/AU$26
Gorgeously lustrous with an excellent yardage of +/- 350meters/100g. I am very very excited about this yarn and am working on more colourcombinations so I can offer you lots and lots of choices. Fabulous for socks, shawls and soft as cashmere !

Dingo

Galadriel

Juicy fruit

True love

This yarn is out of this world so if you have a project in mind, you can let me know what colours you want and I can dye it for you :)

have a great weekend and hope to see you at the Mini wool expo or On line at http://www.ravelry.com/ !

The Green Revolution with Bling

Can you tell? I am in a Green mood with lots of bling! ...I was planning on doing more batts in lots of funky colours this week but time-as usual- went walkabout. I have been extremely busy getting enough yarns together for the yearly handknitters guild wool expo that is taking place at the Brunswick Town Hall Saturday the 27th of June from 10 til 3: so I have been hand spinning, dyeing and making batts til I went batty...lol I have lots more than I am offering you here on the blog, so if you are able to come and visit me at the Wool Expo next Saturday please come down and have a cuddle :) there are yak yarns, angora yarns, camel yarns and silks and a very special blend sock yarn of blue faced Leicester-bunny-nylon with 345meters per 100grams: perfect for socks ! YUM! and ofcourse I will have a rainbow of colours available in our organic cashmerino laceweight yarn !Since I hand spin and hand dye everything myself there is a limited supply of , well..., everything...lol. So don't be shy, stalk me when you want to give some fluffy goodness a nice home ! have a great week and see you at the Wool expo on the 27th, visit me at the Arts Centre Market every Sunday in Melbourne (southgate, stall nr 34) or have virtual fluff drool sessions on line here on my blog or on www.Ravelry.com/ixchelbunny-fibre-and-yarn . I still have not finished the ixchel website and paul did mention that it is going to be a running joke: I have been saying for over two years now! that the online shop website is coming soon ! lol All I need is a bit more time ...lol...so, if any of you know where I can get my hands on some extra stashes of time, let me know, I will order some...lol. My burnt right hand is healing well by the way, which makes spinning and dyeing a bit easier..:) Thank you all for your wonderful wishes and healing thoughts! Have a great week !

Hand dyed Super Angorinos 17micron 150-160g/AU$22

Cocktail party -sold-

Flip Flop Fly -sold-

Autumn Fever


genie in a bottle -sold-

Pink Power

Rainforest -1 left-

Rose coloured glasses

Strawberry TimTam

Hand spun and Hand dyed Peace silk 8ply (250meters/100grams) AU$15/50grams

Forest gold (200grams available)

Passion Flower(200grams available)

Party (+/-200grams available)

Deep Sea (+/- 200grams available)

Raspberry Flash (+/- 200grams available)

Caribbean (+/-200grams available)

Autumn Fiesta (+/- 200grams available)

Hand dyed Mulberry Silk 2 ply (1250meters/100grams) AU$35/100grams

heather at dusk

Mossy green fields -sold-

Raspberry beret

Funky Bunny Batts and Bunny Bling Batts !!!!!

The Green Revolution series ...

Diva Funky Bunny Batt 71 grams (AU$27)

organic 17micron merino, angora bunny, silk silk silk! bling! glitz, sari silk, soy silk

"Glamour Bun" Funky Bunny Batt, 123grams AU$40 -SOLD-
angora bunny, organic 17micron merino, silk silk silk, angelina, glitz Bling! soy silk

Emerald Bunny Bling Batt (52grams AU$21)

angora bunny, organic 17micron merino, silk silk silk, angelina, glitz Bling! AU$21

"Goldfields" Funky Bunny batt (106grams AU$33)
angora bunny, organic 17micron merino, silk silk silk, angelina, glitz Bling! soy silk

"Moss Money Bunny" Bling batt

angora bunny, organic 17micron merino, silk silk silk, shredded money and Bling! AU$22

Moss Bunny Bling Batt
angora bunny, organic 17micron merino, silk silk silk, shredded money and Bling! AU$18

Hand dyed organic cashmerino yarn, 1ply/laceweight (550meters/50grams/AU$18)

dark Quarry

Rainforest bash

Sage wisdom

Sky flash

Wombat walkabout

A Road with a Gaggle of ....Ducks

Remember the story I told you about Caramel, the chook that crossed the road ? Well, I think there is something with the road...Yesterday around 12, Jazz was outside watching over our chooks and bunnies as usual and I was working inside dyeing some new angorinos and silk. All of a sudden I hear her barking and since it was that time of day I was suspecting it to be her saying "Hello" to our Postie possibly delivering a parcel ? So out I hop wearing my yellow dyeing gloves and apron (believe me a sight to scare anybody off...lol) and run to the front of the driveway to greet the bringer of gifts, so I presumed.....Instead I was welcomed by ...a gaggle of busily squaking big white Ducks who had congragated on the road and were wiggling their tails, waggling as fast as they could in the left hand lane in the direction of Yarra Junction ! And all the time they were talking in "Duck" presumably asking each other; "Are we there yet?".... Where ever "there" would be. All of a sudden I hear a rustling sound coming out of the bush just across the road where the State Forest is and behold: there is a little brownish Duck squaking "Wait for me! Wait for me!" and starts wiggling and waggling towards the gaggle now already going around the bend. All the time I was standing there, in amazement watching this scene with Jazz sitting beside me. It was like the "Tour de Duck" ! Luckily there hardly is any traffic but I waited around to make sure that they were alright and off the road. I did manage to wave one passing car, who must have thought "who is that crazy person wearing yellow gloves and an apron waving at me???' and when I told him that he should be careful because there was a gaggle of ducks on the road, he must have really thought I'd lost my marbles......

I have hand dyed some new angorino tops for you again. So have a look and just contact me if you want to give it a good home.

Hand dyed Angorino Tops (150-160g AU$19)

Wag your tail feather -SOLD-

Tour de Duck-SOLD-

Harlequin Duck

Quaaaaack!

Punk Duck

Duck a l'orange

Have a wonderful week !

COMING UP ON NEXT WEEKS BLOG UPDATE:
* funky bunny batts
* bunny bling batts
* yarn yarn and yarn! and much more exciting fluffy stuff !

The wonderful world of Angora and more baby news

It has been a very exciting week for us AND the bunnies: we had two matings ! We always try and do at least two matings around the same time period because it can help having two bunny mums at the same time. If disaster strikes and one mum doesn't appear to be able to give her littel kits milk, the other mum can be the foster mum OR in another scenario: when only one of the litter survives it can be smuggled in with the other litter and have a good chace of survival. On its own it would not be able to stay warm- since all bunny babies or kits as they are called, are born naked and blind.

We mated our gorgeous silver grey Mojo with our gentle silver fox Gandalf. Since they have a mix of smoke, silver, purple and grey in their heritage we can expect a wonderful mix of those colours, maybe even pink ....lol Our other two lucky angora bunnies were our chocolate doe "Chocolate Topping" and our chocolate buck "Chewbacca" (or Chewy as we call him). Since both are chocolate, we hope to get some "TimTams" among the kits but Chewy has been know to father Gold, Agouti and black as well ! So we are in for a surprise.

I won't really go into the details of the mating here ...too ..eh private....but all I can say is...:"it's over before you can say "Angora Rabbits obviously do not need to read the Kama Sutra to get in the mood" ....lol Angora bunny gestation can be from 28 to 32 days. We hope that the breeding succeeded but I can only tell after two to three weeks and even then a lot can happen. So you will just have to be patient.. I do have some photos for you to look at , so you can see what the whole birthing process of an angora rabbit looks like.

Minnes Magical Moments

These photos were taken when Minne had her second litter and I was lucky enough to be able to capture some of the magic moments!

Minne with a mouth full of straw getting her nest ready, just a few hours before giving birth

Gettin the right straw for the nest : Minne takes the straw and mixes it with the angora wool that she plucks off her belly. Minne gently places all the straw in the nestbox and adds angora wool off her belly. This serves two purposes : it makes the bed for the baby angora rabbits or kits as they are called, very cuddly and warm AND it also makes it easier for the kits to feed !

Minne is making a nice dent in the nest where the kits will lie in safely

Is it alright?

getting into the birthing position

Minne has just given birth. you can see the newborn kits underneath her and her nose is still red from licking and cleaning them

Newborn Angora baby bunnies. Minne has just hopped off the nest and starts cleaning herself. If we find an undeveloped foetus or dead kits we immediately take them out of the nestbox. If it was a really messy birth we gently clean the nest area and add a little bit of extra angora wool to make sure the babies are warm and protected.

I hope you liked these very special photos of a magical moment! You can see more angora bunny photos here: www.flickr.com/photos/ixchelbunny

There are some new hand dyed angorinos on offer I just finished yesterday so they are super fresh ! lol Have a drool and stalk me anytime when you want to give some of them a good home.

Hand dyed Angorino tops (95%merino 20m/5% angora) 150-160g AU$19

Rosehip Remedy -sold-

Seahorse Party -sold-

Heart Throb

Eucalypt Energy

Koala taking a bath

Waratah Rainclouds

Circus Clowns

HANDKNITTERS MINI WOOL EXPO COMING !

I am very happy to announce that I will be part of the Victorian hand knitters guild popular Mini Wool Expo again this year!! It is held on Saturday the 27th of June at the Brunswick Town hall. Doors open at 10am and I will be there with a huge display of all of my yarns and fibres and batts ! There will be some new stuff there as well: so do not miss out and come and visit me on the 27th of June at the Brunswick Town Hall on Sydney Road. You can take the #19 tram, it's close to Jewell station. Doors close at 3pm. Experience tells me that the early bird catches the yarn, and there are definitely going to be some bargains and super special yummy stuff !