Scary Good Stuff

 

Congratulations to all of you who survived Halloween in one piece. Here it is more like a mindset really, because , well, there is a pumpkin sign out and all kinds of eerie and spooky things out in the yard and in the house (yes, including me..hahaha) but there are no trick or treaters around for miles and miles…that’s what happens really when you are in the middle of nowhere. Don’t worry, I trick n treated myself and watched a scary movie, eating gummy eyeballs and spinning angora yarn. I decided one day of Halloween is not gonna cut it for me so Im leaving the decorations up..they look way too cute.

Remember the "Samsung Customer Service Disaster" story from last week? Well, here’s the follow up…warning…it’s funny..scary funny….:

So, I had been told on the phone they would not pay me a cent because I did not want to sign their document right? Well, lo and behold, that weekend Paul walked into my studio white as a sheet and mumbling “you have no idea what I just found in our bank account!” ..SCARY!!! so I looked and there it was! They paid the refund for our fridge/freezer back ! No compensation for the spoilt food there yet, but I was totally blown away. So, somehow they must have said to themselves..lets just pay the B*** and did not even take the few minutes to write me an email to tell me this little titbit of information let alone apologise? No.. On Monday we received a cheque for $200 for the spoilt food, again , no letter ….oh well….the unit is here waiting to be picked up..it may still be here in a few weeks...months time …I haven't heard a thing yet....I will keep you updated..

By the way, I jinxed Westinghouse! I apologise profusely dear Westinghouse and to all the employees of Westinghouse in Orange, NSW. The day after I announced on my blog that my next fridge was going to be a Westinghouse, because it was made in Australia amongst other things…the owners stated that the Westinghouse Orange production plant was going to shut down in two years…..scary but true…so, there goes the only fridge production plant left in Australia! Sad sad sad….I hope somewhere along the line in the very nearby future some politicians and big companies will see the light and acknowledge the importance of having some kind of production left in Australia instead of succumbing to the international motto of big business and politics these days that states that Greed is Good…..All the more reason to support small businesses that try and live life sustainably and tread light on the earth. Every small step helps and makes the journey successful in the end. We just have to stick with it and stay stubbornly positive and creative.

So , apart from the fact that last week for the first time in months , I did not have to spend heaps of energy and time chasing up Samsung, it left me with time to spin up a storm! The custom orders were piling up and looking like Mount Everest, so I made a dent in it by spinning up over 4 kilos!!!!  of custom art yarns and now I am tackling about the same amount of fluffy spun pure Angora bunny yarns: big fluffy spun up art yarn types and a truckload of bunny mink and 4 ply angora is happening now. In short , lots and lots of spinning.

 

 

 

 

 I clipped almost all of our angora bunnies last week as well, except for the gold caramel coloured ones, they will get their haircut next week! Ready to be spun into some gorgeous fluffy yarn !

I love spinning and dyeing. It is amazingly soothing and relaxing and in the case of some custom orders, it takes you out of your comfort zone completely. It is taxing and can be a bit scary, but it is so worth it. Doing custom orders can be a bit scary. You never really are a 100% sure if the customer exactly knows what they want or if they do, use the same language to explain what they really want. So, I ask a lot of questions just to make sure we are on the same wave length, because let’s face it, my “lavender”may not be your sense of a lavender colour or better still “just dye me up some greens” is not quite enough …you have no idea how many greens there are! Hundreds and hundreds , so I ask for photos, explanations and best of all so called Pantone references, the standardised library of colours. So if you ask me “I want my yarn to be pantone colour nr 228 HC” , I have a reference point of exactly what you mean and will try to match it as best as I possibly can. Want to try it out? Here’s the link: http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/colorfinder.aspx

And that is just the dyeing! What to do when your customer asks you for a hand spun yarn? How do you know that you are speaking the same language;;DK to 8 ply, Aran to 4 ply, lace, fingering, cobweb…art yarn..slubby..singles….so, what’s the best thing to do? Ask questions: what do you want to use it for, what is the look you are after, how much yardage/meterage do you need?, colour repeats long or short?, how many WPI (winds per inch) do they need and so on..the list is endless, but at least when you are through with asking all the questions you are one step closer to knowing what your customer expects and when they open the parcel a smile appears on their face, instead of disappointment of expectations not met. Spinning takes a loooong loooong time so you want to get it right and you want to see that smile.

So, apart from the surprises of custom dyeing AND the custom spinning which can take you out of a certain “comfort zone” I love custom dyeing and spinning because it forces you to do something that maybe you haven’t thought of doing. Just imagine, you are sitting at your spinning wheel with your fibery stuff all ready to spin..you start the wheel, draft the fibres and there….your movements are naturally going back to what your body and mind “feels”as …”normal”..it’s the type of spinning that you are accustomed to doing most of the time, whether it is lace or 4 ply or 8 ply or slubby..everybody has their “spin on things”…Trying to do something new, will not only get you out of that “I always spin the same yarn”mode but it will teach you so much more about your wheel , your fibres and drafting. It’s like going on a new adventure and starting to spin all over again. I like that. I like to explore new ways of doing things and changing it about with my “normal”spinning mode…Try it! It is fun! You can do it with the fibres you have lying around and that you love to spin or, better still, try and explore fibres you have not tried before and the new ways of spinning that they will teach you. Take the Vampire tops for example: it combines the super soft angorino you know, easy drafting, soft, super lush, with the plant fibre flax, or linen. Linen is a strong fibre that softens the more you wear it. The way that I blended it together with the angorino and the black bamboo, is the fact that you will have a chance to spin it fine but also, you can spin it textured and slubby….there are so many ways to tackle the vampire tops and all of them are fun to do!

Now for this weeks update special fibre blends:
Vampire Tops, Three new colourways of my Fairytale blend to entice you and last but not least; my NEW CAMELBUNNY SILK blend !!!! Camelbunny silk is amazing to spin on your support spindle..well...very nice and easy to spin on your drop spindle or wheel as well ofcourse. The silky shines is magical and the baby camel combined thoroughly with angora bunny is an absolute dream to work with.

Have fun with this weeks update and don't hesitate to contact me at any time if you have any questions okay? Always happy to enable. All my contact details are to be found at the end of this weeks blog.  Have fun !!! 

Vampire Tops

100+grams     AU$24

a scary fun blend of superfine merino, angora, cashmere and fangs…eh …FLAX..I mean flax! lol

super soft and special to spin and wear !

Vampire Blood hunt

Fairytale Tops

100+grams     AU$23

a magic blend of hand dyed superfine merino, angora, and a bit of bamboo

super soft and very nice to spin and wear !

Dracula -5 left-

The Frog Prince

Cinderella

 

Camelbunny Silk Tops

50+grams     AU$19

 

This blend is so silky and so soft, you will be addicted to cuddling this blend in no time!

50 grams will make you a gorgeous shawlette when you spin it fine, great for to wear for those special occasions or just because you can !

Fallen Leaf Shawlette (by Siobhan Colley)
hand spun made with only 50grams of camelbunny silk top

There is only a limited supply of this super special blend so snaffle fast !

Absinthe Sea

Arctic Ice Cap-sold-

Bride of Frankenstein

Forest Trolls

Frankenstein in drag

Parrot Pirate Parade
 

Save Baby Reindeer

 

Witches Brewski

 

Zombie Army

IxCHeL GIFT VOUCHERS !

Want to give somebody something special and still let them pick out their fav colour or fibre blend? Well, search no more: I offer an IxCHeL gift voucher package that is so hard to resist you even want to buy one for yourself ..lol Here’s the deal:

AU$25 Personalised giftvoucher Pack

Comes with a personalised gift voucher and free post for the receivers first order in Australia !

 

AU$50 Personalised giftvoucher Pack

 

Comes with a personalised giftvoucher, free post for the receivers first order in Australia ! and a cute badge a bunny photo and last but not least some amazing fluffy stuff in a gift pack

 

AU$100 Personalised giftvoucher Pack

 

Comes with a personalised Christmas giftvoucher, free post for the receivers first order in Australia !, a badge, and last but not least some amazing fluffy stuff and yarn in a gift pack! Just let me know what giftvoucher pack you would like to gift to a friend or hey, you can even gift it to yourself ! And I will send you all the details.  

Badges!

Happy funny Badges to attach to just about anything: your craft bags, clothes, the perfect little gifts ! 

1 badge AU$2

Buy 10 for AU$18

20 badges for AU$35

30 badges for AU$49

every badge has a nr so when ordering just mention the nr of the badge and how many you would like..easy!

newest additions : badge nrs 84-90

Badges 1-20

Badges 21-40

Badges 41-59

Badges 60-83

How To Order:

1. You can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or ixchelbunny at yahoo dot com dot au
2. 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? Any custom orders for yarn or dyeing fibre? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
 

Thank you so much for your help and support !

 

 RABBIT ON !

((hugs))

Charly