Holiday sunsets and Scientific Proof

   

When it is ten years since you have had a holiday, you are bound to be out of practice for the event AND the packing and getting ready…safe to say, I was running around like a headless chook by the time it was Thursday night and thinking about all the things to do to get everything ready for us and be able to hand over all the animal husbandry duties etc to our fabulous farm sitters, without whom we could have NEVER gone away in the first place. Thank you Maggie and Ivan!!!

Jazz the bunny dog was very very happy and so were the bunnies !

I was optimistic and thought I could put a blog up late that night but I was so hyper (read stressed out of my brain to get everything sorted) I had to admit defeat and that this would be the first time NOT to write and publish a weekly blog post. The world did not stop turning…obviously…lol

Everything, the hand over, the drive, everything went extremely smooth. We had been looking forward to our little holiday for so long and now it was finally there ! Paul had booked an apartment and oh boy did it look awesome! Especially the bathroom with its HUGE spa bath. I was tempted to jump right in !

Metung in Gippsland is an amazingly nice place and we walked around and sniffed the sea air, went for swims, enjoyed looking at all the driftwood and the wildlife and just relaxing, doing nothing! It was literally a breath of fresh air and so needed!

Ten years without even a day away together  from farm and fibre duties is definitely a bit too long. Here are some photos of Metung on the Gippsland lakes and yes, if I do win the lottery: I’d go buy a boat that fits a spinning wheel at least and fluffy insoluation and park it at Metung …I live in hope.

   

   

   

   

  

   

 

We came back refreshed and a bit sunburnt (although I nicknamed Paul “Hellboy” lol) and relaxed.

The relaxed thing was needed in hindsight because the night we got back a bushfire started only 10 kms away from us and the day after my computer decided to go on strike. Well strike is not exactly the word I would use actually…it died..apparently during a java update (whatever that is and no ! I did not drop coffee on it..lol) the update thingie decided to wipe my whole hard drive as a bonus. So I am now the owner of an ancient laptop with a harddrive that is apparently brand new aka EMPTY because all the files had been wiped clean..oh joy!

As if by magic two things happened:

one: I realised I had taken a big back up about two weeks earlier , except for some photos and very recent things..all in all not too bad. However, I was without a computer.

And Two: A good friend came to the rescue and gave me a recycled desktop so I wouldn’t be without one for too long until I was able to get my head around buying a new one and what kind….

My little laptop was eight years old and in IT terms especially for laptops that is apparently extremely ancient. I went to an IT place and asked them if it could be repaired and they just looked at me funny saying they were really surprised how long it lasted in the first place and that it would cost more to fix it than a new one… relatively speaking….its the conundrum where they tell you to buy a new watch is cheaper than to buy the battery…Everything seems to be so outdated so fast! Where do all the old computers , laptops, phones and gadgets go I wonder ?

Anyway, I am almost up and running for the time being and getting back into it. Not like two days away is that long a period away, but still….I have to say, I can imagine myself as a pirate on a boat, enjoying the wind in my hair and sipping a wine, leisurely spinning away in the sunset. It is not gonna happen anytime soon, but..what would life be without dreaming eh?

School holidays have also come to an end so I have heard from a large amount of parents, who told me that with a sigh of relief, coupled with a kind of manic zombie like look…again, I don’t know what I am missing, but the fun thing about it all , as a spectator from the sidelines I might add is, that everyone of those mums and dads, posted photos of their kids in their new school uniforms and waving goodbye to them at the school gates , obviously as proud as and with a tear in their eyes ..life is funny in that way: you are tired of it when you have it, but you miss it as soon as it’s gone or…you don’t have it anymore.. ..in whatever shape or form.

I didn’t have a lot of time to miss anything ..i worried about Jazz and the bunnies (I shouldn’t have because I think Jazz had a brilliant time and wanted to go on a drive with my amazing sister and brother in law the moment they left; and the bunnies were extremely happy with the large portions of food and oaten hay they received and the cuddles).

What did happen in those two days were tons of new ideas and inspiration, new blend formulations and colours (ofcourse !) and now all I need is just a wee bit more time. Oh, before I forget, you know what? The first day we were on our holiday, Paul and I looked at one another and said, almost simultaneously, “ it seems we have been here for a week!” which scientifically proves the fact that the less you do, the slower the time passes ! I’m on to something there, but I doubt if I can afford it……lol

On this weeks update Cashmere Fling tops , for a total smoochy super soft luxurious feel : a blend of cashmere-tencel-glitz and bamboo. It makes for a slinky, silky, soft fibre blend that spins like butter and knits and wears like a dream! C’mon! I know you’d love tot have a fling..or two …

Please 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 entry. Have fun !!!

 

 

Cashmere fling Tops

A super soft luxurious blend of

Cashmere, tencel. Glitz and bamboo

100grams (+/- 3.5Oz)  AU$22

 

 

Droids

Nazgul

 

Galaxy

Steel

 

Hot Chilli

Catatonia

 

Velvet Underground

Wombat

Doppler effect

Walk on the wild side

Springtime

Roses and Walnuts

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



The Book thief and other stories

   

While the United States is battling a cold freezing vortex (taking away all the cool air from the other parts of the world no doubt..lol), we on the other side of the planet, in normally super cool Gilderoy Victoria, are melting in a 41+ C (106F) degree heat wave for a week…today so they say is going to be the last of this heatwave..at 8 am it was already a mellow 35C..the weather forecast temperature is creeping up all the time though for the coming week . Scary! The bunnies are doing great in their rammed earth environment, but the earth is warming up and when it keeps up like this , especially without any cooler relief during the night, I think we might be in trouble.…Apart from that it is proving to be extremely difficult to sort and spin my angora custom orders without it sticking all over me, making me look like an escaped yeti..noooooo! no picture…lol

I had to evacuate all the computer stuff from my studio to the cool tiled kitchen because the computer just could not cope with the heat and shut off every 5 minutes. The spinning I can do I do in the living room by the fan, listening to the audiobook “the bookthief”  by the Australian author Markus Zusak , which has been on the best seller list for a loooong time now and has been recently made into a movie with one of my favourite actors, Geoffrey Rush.Who by the way, plays the part of Hans Hubermann, extraordinarily and breathtakingly well.

The audio book takes you on an adventure and view of second world war Germany for 13 hours, the movie had to do it in just over two. I just finished reading the book and saw the movie straight after with Paul and because everything was still so fresh in my mind, I was surprised how much vital information, characters and plots were left out or had been changed.
I suppose wrapping that intense story that is so visual in the book , up in just two hours is a feat and something has to give, but it just makes one point clear: reading or listening to any book before seeing the movie is probably the best way.
 
Read the book please! It is compelling, has an amazing narrator, Death,  who is in a way so funny  ( he says he is haunted by humans) and caring and so insightful and ofcourse the backdrop of second word war Germany in all of its facets is just breath taking…like watching a trainwreck happening..so much unnecessary pain and suffering.

The reason why I think the book/story was so compelling and touched me so deeply is because it is so personal..I grew up with stories like that all the time and somehow I wonder, if the kids growing up today, will have that same magical story telling as part of their lives or just share the televised versions of mass media..anyway I digress…
Let me start from the beginning ….

My grandmother was German, from a very small village near Potsdam in Northern Germany. Just after the first world war, as a young woman, she went to the Netherlands in search for a job as a nanny and housemaid. Lots of German girls did, since the Netherlands stayed pretty much out of the first world war and were better off…
She met a handsome native American there, from a land far far away with black eyes and black hair and dark skin. He was about to return from his army service in Europe to go back home , but instead, met my grandmother: a blonde, blue eyed German girl and they married. He never went back home.

Two children were born and by that stage the economy of the  1920s/1930s was disastrous , no jobs, no money, so …after struggling to survive, my grandmother persuaded him that it were best to pack up and go to her families little farm in Germany. At least there was food there.

So off they went in the mid 1930s…talk about bad timing!…..a blonde German woman with a husband and two kids in tow, who looked extremely out of place with their darker skintones and black hair. Not a good time to look and be different. Well, as a matter of fact I still think the human race has a hard time coping with those who look different but that’s another story

The stories my mother told me about what she had to go through, the name calling, the physical hurtful pain and the strange mentioning of the fact that “because she looked and was so different, she was not allowed to wear the Hitler Jugend outfit or be part of it and she felt so bad about it, being set aside like ”…It was so terrible to hear your mother say that, but she was a child barely 10 years at that time, much the age of Liesel, the girl playing the Book thief. ….

I heard about her favourite nephew , taken away to the Russian front, who never came back , frozen to the ground and hurt.
I heard about the fear of the black coats the SS, coming to take people away and the deceit of neighbours, the fear of being taken away was looming every minute of every day.
I heard about the bombs falling and just after, my mother went to see if there was anything worth taking to survive in the bombed parts of town. She found a shoe store had been hit and picked up all the shoes she could carry in a big bag, only to find out when she got back home , that all the shoes were left shoes, no right shoes at all…and she as scolded by her mum . I can just hear my grandmother tell her off : “Why did you fill the bag with shoes and not food!??!? you Zaumensch!”….

To grow up in that time so filled with fear and anger and anguish is soul destroying. And yes, they were taken away ….eventually, and yes… Death came... to take my Grandfather away, much like in the book, when he took Liesels brother Werner: on a train, the pneumonia proving to be too much....My grandfather was buried in the snow, in an unmarked grave in a small town and I have no idea where.

If the Book thief’s story is so close to my stories, it must be so close to thousands of others…and like Markus Zusak so beautifully puts it, the only thing that seperates us from a lump of clay is a word….a story…
Let’s fill our lives with stories and share them, please share them. Stories can be the souls of people long gone, but who live on and who will continue to make a difference. Words can start a war or end one. Words can touch your heart, make you change your perspective. Words  make the world just that little bit bigger.


On this weeks update some Gaga! Tops , tot celebrate different and vibrancy: A base of Blue faced Leicester wool with angora, glitz and cashmere. Super soft handle, very nice shine and a fabulous yarn to spin and wear ! Ver soon I will be able to offer you a GaGa! Blend with a base of super super fine merino as well, but you will just have to wait a tiny bit longer..lol..In the meantime: Have fun with GaGa!

Please 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 entry. Have fun !!!
 

   

 

GaGa! Bunny Tops

A super vibrant blend of
Blue faced leicester, Angora Bunny, a bit of bling! (glitz) and Cashmere
100grams (+/- 1.9Oz)  AU$24
 

 

Dream

Mine !

 

It’s a secret!

Cappucino Twist

 

Neutral Range : from left to right : Moss, Ice ocean, Heather, Rose

Show me your teeth

 

Barbosssa

Shine

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

Hollywoods Happy Boom Syndrome

  

Can you believe it? It’s ONLY the 10th of January and I don’t know about you but there was so much stuffed into the first week of the year that it somehow seems longer than that…

Mind you, I am very happy it is ONLY the tenth, because there is so much to do still before we go on our two day holiday, while my fabulous sister in law is going to stay here and take care of the bunnies and jazz. Two whole days away ! I wont know what to do with myself !
Before that happens though I have to take care of clubs, lots and lots of custom yarns and dyes and last but not least….clean up my wardrobe…or not ..and paint “NARNIA”on the doors ….it’s not that I own a huge amount of clothes, but I am just not organised.
I am not one those people that hang everything up neatly or fold it up and organise their clothes in alphabetical or colour coordinated fashion..Im more of a …dump and seek and you shall find kind a girl, the result of which can be either a good surprise : “Oh look! I TOTALLY forgot I had that!”or “Oh myy, I thought I threw that pants with all those irreparable holes out long ago”….

I also have to admit I am very bad at throwing things away….not that I am a hoarder or anything, Im very good at throwing things away in spurts..the rest of the time, until the Narnia wardrobe explodes that is, I just add to it and hope that I will magically find it again…I should better my ways and I will, this weekend….(fingers crossed)..I have to ..because the doors of my Narnia Wardrobe won't close anymore…lol

I don’t own a huge amount of clothes, like I said nor do I have very expensive stuff..I only have 4 hellbunny dresses ( I wear to do’s and shows and going out once in a blue moon..lol) , and let me see, about 3 pairs of pants (one is on the repair pile since that Hole incident last week…lol) , a couple of leggings and a short kilt, the majority of my clothing posessions are fun tshirts and work clothes for the farm work, some of which are falling apart at the seams. I think I may have a bit of a blokey view on clothes..I do own and wear, I am not ashamed to admit it, workpants and shirts with holes and stains ..because let’s face it….logging around haybales, dirty bunny houses and digging in the dirt to nurture the veggie plots does not involve me wearing my hellbunny dress and a petticoat.. I will get that notion you had of me straight out of your head. lol
 If you were to come and visit me unannounced, you will find me looking more like Calamity Jane without make up and in work clothes. The price you pay for coming to visit unannounced, let’s get that cleared up right at the start!, is, apart from you getting a heart attack and running away screaming as soon as you see me..lol, you can help me clean ! So, now we got that out of the way..lol…what’s happening here?

Well, it is busy, super busy and I am happy about it ofcourse but I do seem to be in need of minions..lol..It is always an even more busy period when the clubs need to be prepped, dyed and the truckload of parcels labelled and posted. All the rest keeps coming as well, but I have nobody to blame but myself, because I keep on coming up with new blends and new ideas…There is one particular blend in the making this month that will knock your socks off, but more about that at a later time….hahaha..yes, I am eeeevil.

Also, lately I have been struggling a bit, again, not ashamed to come out and admit it..you know me…and because I know that it is not talked about at all (rather shoved under the carpet is more like it) I have to share and let you know: warning..it’s the baby thing again..because, well....the babies just seem to keep on coming .....!

 It’s the same old same old story: you want what you can’t seem to get..the problems that poses for me, is that it is not a tv or gadget, it is flesh and blood and something you just cannot seem to pick up at Woolworths….

Why do I bring this up? Well, I tell you, All our friends have kids, except for one couple and well..us. We had a fabulous visit from a great friend and her kids and we loved it! It does make you think what you are missing. Also, I was at another friends house just yesterday and the photos and stories of grandchildren and even great grand children were hovering around the table almost all the time..and you know, I get it, it is precious to have a baby, have a grandchild and I do not wish ever to have people think when they invite me over (That is... if they still want me now..lol) to think to themselves please be careful and never mention babies..you know , kind of like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers saying to the staff when German tourists visit : “Whatever you do, DO NOT mention the war !” lol

It’s okay, really, I don’t break out in a cold sweat or get sad or angry or feel a terrible loss and start crying my eyes out anymore…I can deal with it..more or less…What gets my hackles up however is the following: A friend of ours, with kids, told me “About time” is a great movie about time travel and life and stuff…it is! he was right ! I loved it ! It is a great fun intelligently made movie with a great premise that the male members of the family can travel back through time….(starring Bill Nighy !) Anyway, the thing is…the babies just kept on coming! ....even the couple discussing”Oh lets have ANOTHER one”..in no time number two, three and four were on their way and happy families all around….

Last night I thought while spinning, Paul and I , could watch a fun comedy called “what happened to the Morgans”with the chick from Sex in the City and the English guy from Notting hill who always seems to play himself..lol..anyway, apart from the fact that it was an absolute disaster and horrible toe clenching to watch the actors bumble along, there was a mention of infertility and timed sex coinciding with ovulations (those of you having been through that or still are…good luck ! and oh boy what a stressfull time to have “fun”..lol..but anyway I digress) and that is why he had an affair bla bla bla..separation..bla bla bla….and , because it is a hollywood movie in the end , they all get together again, you see them walking out of the subway with an adopted baby ! and I think..oh well…at least that is good..showing adoption as a possibility and then a closing shot to put the icing on the cake : she holding the adopted baby up and a close up on her pregnant belly ..end credits roll…

I get up with eyes big as saucers..grab the dvd, borrowed from the library, out of the dvd player..and again, I am not afraid to admit this, wrote the word SHIT on it and put it back in its cover…whereupon I saw that there was a critic note on the front saying “An excellent date movie”..and I couldn’t contain myself and added a word to make it the truth “an excellent HORRIBLE date movie”…….

Is it me? Really , if it is ,tell me so, but the propaganda in movies and tv series just gets me unravelled: everybody has babies without problems, has them when they ask for them, as if they are saying to their partners “Oh, honey, can you get a carton of milk and bread from the supermarket, oh and get us a baby while you are there will you?”…..

I get mad, angry and frustrated , not by real life babies anymore or stories of them or being around babies or kids, but by the sheer “the world takes it all for granted that babies and pregnancy are easy and logical and just happen”..
For a huge amount of people out there, it just does not work that way at all..it is not easy and for a lot, Paul and me for example, it will never happen..we will never have a baby to hold or see grow up and never get grandkids or even great grand kids…and it is not only us, there are a LOT of couples out there with a family wish they will never see granted....and it is a shame that for something  that heartbreaking and important, to be really never mentioned or talked about or made a movie about ..it may just be that the world only wants happy fairytale endings, but as with everything, life is not a fairytale , it does not follow a script nor does it always have the same elements in it, apart from the fact that each of us is born and will sooner or later kick the bucket.

 I think it would just be more bearable if that one very important thing called “being childless” would be discussed more openly without tabu and all those struggling with infertility or being childless would have just as much support as all the people living in the hollywood happy ending lives…it would make childless life just that tiny bit easier. To be able to see and know that you are not the only one…

It’s like that with everything: if you know that you are not alone dealing with a certain pain, being childless or dealing with illness or loss or being depressed or fear, anything…the most important things in your life will be that you KNOW that there are others out there who maybe even have it tougher than you, to KNOW that there are people out there with empathy who can see what you are going through , and to have a network out there that can give you the support and friends you need to cope feeling “not normal”… Besides, in real life, there is no "normal" believe me ...the powers that be just want you to believe that, because it is much easier to deal with hordes of normal, than with a multitude of quirky individuals.

Anyway, it is just very hard to KNOW that kind of stuff, when the power of media and movies and advertisements are so unrelentingly unleashed into the ether and into each and everyones brain….

It’s a good thing I am extremely stubborn, have a Narnia Wardrobe and have the blessing of being able to create things and ideas. To all of you out there who are struggling with being childless or having to go through al those yucky tests and fertility treatments and loss…please, please, you are not alone..you never will be , as long as you realise there are others out there fighting for life just like you. Big hugs to all !!

On this weeks update some NEW no 5 Luxury tops, because you are worth it ! Five amazing luxury fibres you will not be able to let go it is just out of this world this blend!! The Luxury tops are made with Yak, Bison, Tencel, angora bunny and cashmere! If you have never tried it, you are missing out on THE experience of a life time!

Please 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 entry. Have fun !!!

  

 

No5 Luxury Tops

A super luxury blend of
Yak, Bison, Tencel, Angora Bunny and Cashmere ,  suri   silk !
50grams (+/- 1.9Oz)  AU$22
 

 

Heroes

Ziggy Stardust

 

Modern Love

Moonage daydream

 

Let’s dance

Natural

 

Under Pressure

Andromeda

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