Gaga , Dodo, Magic Mushrooms and cutting up precious carpets.

Time for Bling!

I will start with a metaphor: a story about weaving and fibre.

“Let’s start by imagining a fine Persian carpet and a hunting knife. The carpet is 12 feet by 18,say. That gives us 216 square feet of continuous woven material. Is the knife razor sharp? If not, we hone it. We set about cutting the carpet into 36 equal pieces, each one a rectangle, two feet by three. Never mind the hardwood floor. The severing fibres release small tweaky noises, like the muted yelps of outraged Persian weavers. Never mind the weavers. When we’re finished cutting, we measure the individual pieces, total them up and find that lo and behold, there’s still nearly 216 square feet of recognizable carpetlike stuff. But what does it amount to? Have we got 36 nice Persian rugs? No. All we’re left with is three dozen ragged fragments, each one worthless and commencing to come apart.” (excerpt from “the song of the Dodo by David Quammen about island biogeography in an age of extinctions, Pimlico press, 1996)

Now what am I trying to say? Last week I celebrated the anniversary of being under a very sharp knife. I celebrate because the cancer was cut out (hopefully to stay away for the rest of the time I have left on this planet), but , at the same time , I commemorate the pieces of my carpet that have been cut up and discarded, leaving frayed ends.

I “celebrated” a year of recovering from uterine cancer and a year of remembering and feeling what it was like still having , well you know, all the important female insides and most importantly hormones ! yes HORMONES! If you have them : you probably curse them. Believe me, once you ain’t got ‘em anymore: it is bye bye PMS , but “hello!”, something else and I am not talking about hot flashes. Hormones are the lifeline of a huge amount of processes in everybodys body: male or female. The strange thing is that only now is mankind even starting to venture into this magical realm of important, misunderstood or misinterpreted chemical interdependencies in our bodies. And when you are “lucky”enough to be considered eligible to undergo HRT (hormone replacement therapy) the only thing one is offered are synthetic patches or , worse, pills that so called mimic the way the hormones used to work in our bodies. There are so many myths connected to HRT and now BHRT (bio identical hormone replacement therapy) that the person who is in desperate need of help is more often than not left to their own devices. The only advice I can give anyone is: research, be critical and be empowered.

Now whether you as a woman have problems with fertility, miscarriages, fibroids, female cancers like breast , ovarian or uterine cancer, there is definitely a book that is worth reading to get perspective and a critical one at that. It is called “S e x, Lies and Menopause”by anthropologist Ms T.S Wiley. It will revolutionise the way you think and the importance that hormones play in keeping you alive and functioning and thinking straight with strong bones and a strong heart.

It has been a rollercoaster year for me: hopeful for baby, steps into fertility treatment, cancer diagnosis, total hysterectomy, the fight and struggle to survive and get better, pneumonia, bronchitis, a funny cricketball gland flu and the war against hormone depletion. It is an ongoing battle.. but, I Rabbit On ! and I do it with pride no matter what. The IxCHeL foundation that I talked about will happen and is going to. I am an impatient person and wanted and needed it to happen sooner than later, but, if anything, this past year has taught me one big lesson: you cannot speed things up forcefully and there is a need to recover. In the grand scheme of things , a year is not a long time. I still have to get used to saying that..J, but I am learning.

Looking back 12 months it has been exhausting and filled with amazing people, you! A lifeline of friendship and love and support. Thank you ! For listening! Thank you for understanding! And most of all, Thank you for being there when I most needed you.


Spinning and fibre and painting both fibres and canvasses have been a blessing and this week I have finished painting some amazing Wensleydale tops (SHINY!) and some Angora rabbit/Navajo churro tops with BLING! (one can never have enough bling! I say !) and I have been spinning on my Majacraft Rose: Magic mushroom Art Yarn I call it. Because of the beautiful fabric I used and the bling and buttons and smoochy soft angora bunny and super fine merino.

So without keeping you on the edge of your seats: get ready to drool and snaffle! There is only a small supply of …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 !
((hugs)) Charly

Bunny Bling! /Navajo Churro Tops
A blend combining the super softness of angora rabbits with some bling and the traditional sheep breed of the rare Navajo Churro
94% Navajo Churro 5% Angora rabbit + Angelina AU$22/100grams

Love game -sold-

Just Dance -sold-

beat box -sold-

Dancing in the dark -sold-

Nice Monster -sold-

hand spun IxCHeL Art Yarns
hand dyed and hand spun 18micron merino, angora, tencel, gold thread, yak, alpaca, mohair, magic mushroom fabric and lotsof buttons! +/- 180-198 meters per skein !

Magic mushrooms 1 138grams AU$45 -sold-

Magic mushrooms 2 109grams AU$38-sold-

Hand dyed 50% merino, 50% silk yarn
4 ply , 400 meters/100grams/ AU$28

Natural Silk/merino yarn

Hot Spring -sold-

Polar Express -sold-

kookaburra smile -2left-

Fling ! -2left-

Wensleydale Sheep

Raw Wensleydale magic

Aren’t they Cute?!

The Wensleydale is a very large longwool sheep, described as "probably the heaviest of all UK breeds". It is a visually striking sheep with considerable presence! Wensleydale wool is the finest and most valuable lustre longwool in the world. Fleeces are of 20 - 30 cms staple length and 30 - 35 micron thickness, with yearling fleeces weighing from 6 to 9 kgs. Fleeces are entirely kemp free as a result of the unique characteristics of the wool-producing follicles. This special quality is genetically transmitted to cross-bred lambs, characterising the Wensleydale ram as perhaps the leading wool improver sire in the world. Wensleydale wool is used for its special effects and handle in hand knitting yarn, knitwear and cloth and sometimes in upholstery fabrics. Because of its similarity, it is regularly used to blend with mohair. It is heaven to spin, takes the dye beautifully and has an amazing lustre and handle. Definitely one of my favourite sheep ! breeds.

Hand dyed Wensleydale tops
Amazing shine and crimp! Long stapled fibre that will make your heart (and spinning wheel Sing ! !
100grams/AU$20

Forest Gump -sold-

Star struck -sold-

Paparazzi -1left-

Pokerface -1left-

Money Honey -adopted by Sharon to be handspun and transformed into YARRRN!-

Grand design -sold-

Summer Bliss -sold-

Thanks heaps for your support and have fun!

RABBIT ON!!


Dates to Remember:

Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm:

Saturday 18th of December and Thursday the 23rd of December
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 !