The Mink Paradigm with a Twinkle Bunny in tow

It is finally ready ! The long awaited MINK! And yes..it is true : I believe the SOFTEST fibre and yarn in the whole wide world! And NO ANIMAL WAS HURT WHILE HARVESTING IT! If you would google MINK almost the first thing you will see is their use for producing fur coats and ofcourse the animal activists groups like PETA that have freed minks from the fur farms. Since I believe in animal friendly fibres and yarns I would never offer you anything that would have only been possible after killing the animal in question. That’s why I offer you peace silk (harvested after the silk moth has already escaped the cocoon) and I do not offer you possum ( whose fur is harvested after killing the new Zealand Possum). The yarn I am offering you is EXCLUSIVE! Handspun and you can knit and wear your MINK with a clear conscience! Here is some basic information about the mink:

The mink moults twice a year and is combed . They are shorn once a year. It is from these combings that the yarn is handspun and then hand dyed by myself. The Mink have been bred in captivity and are not hunted. They are bred for their fibre and this Mink comes from Mongolia. The mink are still bred for their fur in the USA and China by the way but also in the Netherlands, Finland, Russia and the Baltic States.
The mink breed in March and produce three to 13 kits in May. Their lifespan is about 8 years (the same as rabbits ).
The yarn is hand spun with love and care and then hand dyed with natural dyes to enhance the natural beauty of the gorgeous yarn. The natural dyes used are walnut, indigo, eucalypt, cochineal and lichen. All colours go great together because of the dyeing process I used and is amazing to work with ! This is a yarn to be treasured and loved !

Here are some photos of cute mink

mink with kit

the wet mink

So without keeping you on the edge of your seats: get ready to drool and snaffle! There is only a small supply of everything so please contact me by email (ixchel@rabbit.com.au) or on www.ravelry.com where I am Ixchelbunny or even message me on www.flickr.com where I am also known as Ixchelbunny. Drum roll !!!!!!!!!! here is this weeks fibre update !!!!!

Have a great week and chat soon !
((hugs)) Charly


Hand spun animal 8ply and animal friendly !

100% pure Mink Yarn

exclusive to IxCHeL !
Super SOFT ! appr. 110-150meters per 50grams
AU$27 per 50grams of super luxurious exclusive luxury!

the IxCHeL Mink yarn Colour range

NightTime

NightTime -2left-

Boticelli

Boticelli -2left-

Natural Mink

Natural Mink -almost gone!-

rain forest

Rain forest -2left-

Loch Ness

Loch Ness -2left-

Fairy Mink

Fairy Mink -2left-

Tundra -1left-

Phoenix Magic

Phoenix Magic

Orchid

orchid

Tickled Pink Mink

Tickled Pink Mink -2left-

Hand dyed Twinkle Bunny tops
Exclusive IxCHeL blend!
Super fine merino, angora (10%) and Tencel (20%)
100 grams AU$24

Twinkle bunny Creepy Candy Coating Corollary

Vengeance Formulation

Worksong nanocluster

Fuzzy Boots corrollary

friendship algorythm -sold-

psychic vortex

Nerdvana elimination

Tangerine factor

Thanks heaps for your support and have fun!

RABBIT ON!!

Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm:

Saturday 20th of November and Thursday the 25th of November
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 let me know beforehand by email or message that you would like to come and visit so I can prepare the infrastructure and cake ofcourse !

Multitasking obsessions...

In short: time is again in short supply I feel so I KNOW I am almost “back to normal”..when I start multitasking spinning, carding , dyeing, obsessively reading the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon (yes thank you Juleen..again..it’s your fault..lol) and last but not least my obsessive planning to give Paul an unforgettable birthday next Sunday. Of course I cannot possibly divulge the extent of my efforts because birthday boy will be reading this blog in his lunch break today..but I can safely say : it has taken a lot of time to get one of my pressies just right and I loved every minute of it. Be as it may: I have come to one big conclusion: Life needs its obsessions and passions ! And, I am enjoying every minute of it.

I have also tried to get some gardening time in : devilish slugs and other slimy organisms have eaten all my eggplant seedlings, half of my spinach and are now attacking my multicoloured silver beet: time for drastic measures: a beer trap. Fill a can three quarters full with beer , dig it in your veggie patch ground level and Presto: An instant Pub for your slugs and snails. At least they will die inebriated and I hope happy so they’ll come back as a slightly less slimy and destructive life form next time..
It is really amazing what shapes veggies can take on : carrots are an excellent example of this magical shapeshifting they do. I just could not help myself and draw a mouth and two eyes onthis carrot because it looked so embarrassed…lol

the embarrassed carrot (lovingly adopted by Karen..;-) )

I am happy that breathing is becoming less of a hassle and seemingly normal again, which frees up my brain function to make it do other things that are much more enjoyable and productive. Good riddens Pneumonia!

Anyway, I had a bit of a backlog (which is THE understatement of the year I might add) after being incapacitated so unexpectedly, so I had to get the fibre-, sock and batt clubs of both September and October done AND lots of custom orders. All is done and out of the way now and safely on it’s way to everybody. With all the other obsessions and passions I had to tackle this week, it did not leave me with heaps of time to do a HUGE update. There is however….tadaaaa: CASHMERE! Yep it is my super special blue-faced Leicester super wash tops with cashmere! Woohoooo! I know I promised you funky bunny batts as well this week, but I am kind of batt carded out after doing all the clubs and the custom batts.. There will be batts next week though with some other yummy SUPERSOFT OUT OF THIS WORLD fluffy stuff …naaah not telling you what yet…lol

So without keeping you on the edge of your seats: get ready to drool and snaffle! There is only a small supply of everything so please contact me by email (ixchel@rabbit.com.au) or on www.ravelry.com where I am Ixchelbunny or even message me on www.flickr.com where I am also known as Ixchelbunny. Drum roll !!!!!!!!!! here is this weeks fibre update !!!!!

Have a great week and chat soon !
((hugs)) Charly


Blue faced Leicester Superwash with cashmere tops
( 90% BFL, 10% Cashmere) 100grams AU$24

Robotic Manipulation -sold-

Zazzy substitution -sold-

Hot Troll Deviation 2 -3left-

Irish Pub Formulation -1left-

Thanks heaps for your support and have fun!

Forecast for next weeks update: Chance of fluffy clouds of fibre then mostly clearing later in the blog with an overload of excessive highly SOFT yarn. Be prepared to wear protective clothing for this severe fibre update ! Ye all are warned ! ;-)

RABBIT ON!!


Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm:
Thursday the 28th of October (bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, crocheting and a plate to share with everybody. There is cake and coffee and tea and ofcourse a lovely bunny to cuddle and lots of fibres and yarn!) very important ! Please let me know beforehand by email or message that you would like to come and visit so I can prepare the infrastructure and cake ofcourse !

When it rains it pours..

a punk rosella !

the inspiration of a Mohawk hairdo

It is raining again..or should I say : there is a waterfall bashing down on top of the house and all the animals near it. Even the wild birds are soaked while waiting for the birdseed we always put on our veranda. Well, we had a few days of very nice sunny weather so I guess I am not complaining because I got a lot of wool dried and tomatoes planted.

I have to admit that I have been “slightly” distracted. Ever since I got my Kindle Ebook reader with heaps and heaps of super interesting books and a free copy of the Outlander book by Diana Gabaldon, I have been spending every spare second leaping through the story. I am not really one for romantic history novels AT ALL but this one got me glued to my chair. I think trying to get better and relaxing to get rid of all these infections in my body, reading was probably the best thing for me. I finished the book last night at around 11pm, which is considerably better than not being able to put it down even when I was in bed at 2am in the morning. But I got through the 600+ pages of drama and feeling much better at that.

I am still coughing but at least I am not out of breath as much as I used to and the good sign is: I have been spinning, dyeing and carding again , though at a slower pace than usual. I am getting there, but I tell you this pneumonia-bronchitis-chest infection thing was frightening. Anyway, I am still here and as they say in the Netherlands: krakende wagens leven het langst (free transl. Creaking wagons live the longest..lol)

By the way, Paul is calling me Gadget girl now because I have accumulated quite a few gadgets in the last few years : a blackberry, an Ipod, a dsi Nintendo (how could one resist one for sale on Ebay for $65?) and last but not least my Kindle.

So without keeping you on the edge of your seats: get ready to drool and snaffle! There is only a small supply of everything so please contact me by email (ixchel@rabbit.com.au) or on www.ravelry.com where I am Ixchelbunny or even message me on www.flickr.com where I am also known as Ixchelbunny. Drumroll !!!!!!!!!! here is this weeks fibre update !!!!!

Have a great week and chat soon !
((hugs)) Charly


Blue faced Leicester bunny kid mohair tops
100grams AU$21

waterfall @montville-sold-

soft velvet -sold-

Fireglow -sold-

campfire2 -sold-

rainville
Hand dyed Baby Camel Bunny Silk tops
50 grams AU$19

peacock feathers -sold-

rain forest

sunny day -sold-

koala dreaming

mountain rain

hand dyed kid mohair tops
100grams AU$24

trigger hippy2

blindfold2

rome wasn’t built in a day2

I will leave you with two of the most unlikely to knit…..so you see, you never know who gets the knitting bug ;-)

Russell Crowe

Thanks heaps for your support and have fun!

RABBIT ON!!

Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm:

Saturday 16th of October (that’s TOMORROW! the 3rd saturday of the month) and Thursday the 28th of October (=the fourth thursday of the month) (bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, crocheting and a plate to share with everybody. There is cake and coffee and tea and ofcourse a lovely bunny to cuddle and lots of fibres and yarn!)