Friday, January 27, 2017

Alternative Reality Facts


Hello! Yes, I am still here! Last week I was unable to blog and tempt you with some new hand dyed tops and a new blend at that.

I Would have loved to say " I was not blogging or enabling because I was on the best holiday ever! PERIOD!" but alas, my sense of truth and ethics do not allow to spout falsehoods or "alternative facts" like that. Please forgive my honesty: I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed. In FACT: I stayed in bed for over a week, managing to crack a rib coughing so hard with my freshly acquired severe case of bronchitis! Now THAT is skill! I am now on my second round of anti biotics and today for the first time in a loooong time , I have managed to stay up and actually start doing some work!

I feel extremely bad having had to keep you waiting for another week AND most of all: I feel very bad with not being able to get the clubs out in time. THe January clubs were supposed to be posted this week, but with me being sick as hell, I only today dyed the yarn club and tomorrow the fibre and batt club will get their colour coats on. Plan is to get all the clubs out first week of february: a week later than usual. Again, my sincerest apologies !!

I spent a lot of time in bed like I said and when I was semi "up" I was a witness to what was happening in the political landscape, especially what is going on in the USA but also here in Australia.

I always was political and not one to shut her mouth on matters of political or ethical significance , but never in my adult life, have I been so appalled, mesmerized and terrified of what is going on. Not only by what is being said by "our leaders" but also what is being said by people who we would call friends (even if it is only the facebook kind). I have never shied away from discussion, to defend the rights of others.
 I guess you could call me a leftie, a socialist, a humanitarian, a believer in the fact that climate change does exist and that there is a desperate need for equality. Never in my whole adult life have I seen more political conflict in the USA or Australia than in the last two weeks. Meaning, conflict between reality/factual events/proof and the way people are treating each other.

The first time I got alerted that there were some people living in an alternate reality was when the American Primaries started: was nobody interested in policies? The democrats "lost" (still something I cannot factually comprehend because normally you win when you get the most votes? but hey! this time the populist who won , actually won the electoral vote and not the popular vote? How can you be a populist winner when you lose the popular vote is beyond me, but this was just the start of the enormous surrealistic time frame we currently live in).

Also,  We apparently live in a day and age where pussycat hats are vulgar and not actually a cat hat but a vagina? I urge you to look it up in a medical encyclopedia or if you must Wikipedia; they look totally different! I am sure knitters and crocheters are masters of creating a vagina hat if that was their aim. We are technical masters of knitting and crocheting creativity! I have , however, never been called so many "names" just for pointing out the obvious: it's a cat hat not a vagina hat.
Some woman say it is ugly, vulgar and I am out of control. It is not Christian? Last time I checked being Christian or Compassionate, did not mean that you call your fellow human beings names because they are wearing cat hats.

 I started thinking is this proof of brainwashing? And, the further I looked into it, the more terrified it got: visual and factual proof of a crowd that was smaller, was said to be the biggest EVER! Period!, in 2016 we were blessed with the discovery of gravitational waves but in 2017 we are seeing the birth of the alternative FACT! yes!

All this time my Surrealist Arty friends like Magritte and Dali were right !!! Ceci n'est pas une pipe!!!!! (imagine a picture of a pipe with the title underneath saying "this is not a pipe!) It is all making sense now! we are living in a surreal alternative reality!!!  Kafka could be right ! The brilliant surrealist writer who wrote "the Metamorphosis"....I am now convinced that all those who are putting their sisters down calling them  vulgar snowflakes will wake up tomorrow morning , look in the mirror, and see they have changed into cock roaches. That is "the Metamorphosis" in action: reality becoming surreal and visa versa.

A reality where , in Australia, the real estate in Sydney is the second highest in the world (just after Hong Kong) probably because
 1. you can see the Sydney Opera House from everywhere in Sydney (not my invention: Barnaby Joyces, a surreal politician, who looks freakishly like a tomato=side effect of staying too long in an alternate reality obviously)
2. Because all of Hong Kong is probably buying real estate in Sydney...(and Melbourne as a nest egg...) = probably fact...lol
3 we all could afford real estate if we would just stop eating avocados (again, this is what a politician told us, I am not making this up!)

In America  people are riled up because they had no idea the affordable care act was the same as Obama care, all they knew was what they had been told by FOX news that health care is not good so it's out ! gone! there are gag orders , meaning you cannot tell anybody as a health care professional that an abortion is an alternative to you losing your life together with your childs if you have certain health problems. In fact, and this is not new, there are so many hospitals in the USA that have been bought by the church, it is practically impossible to end a pregnancy even if your health depends on it.
Also, the president is actually saying torture is a good thing?. that there were a huge amount of celebrities performing at the inauguration and something is not a lie but an alternative fact.  Yes, 1984 by George Orwell will probably hit the best sellers list again this week, closely followed by Animal Farm. Reality is scary and surreal.

What I found extremely unnerving I guess was the fact that not even knitting or crocheting was safe with the pussycat hat ! I mean, really ????

All my life I did not keep quiet and I am not about to start now. Too many people in Germany once said "Wir haben es nicht gewusst" (meaning"  I had no idea")
Well listen to these FACTS:  my grandfather died in fascist Germany, in a camp, with my mum and grandmother almost not making it out either, my dad almost died in their camps because he was part of the Resistance: a guy on facebook even told me , right after I defended the FACT that it was as cat hat not a vagina hat, that the concentration camps had bakeries and the prisoners could buy weak beer.. they had it alright in those camps. WHAT???? A cat hat discussion leads to a nutcase telling ME the Nazi camps were actually holiday parks??  Is this really happening? Are these the people that matter now and have the guts to tell us what is fact? NO! NO! NO!
I am LIVID that millions of people died and are still dying because of the amount of idiots in the world who are not able to tell reality from manufactured lies. Although I was born way after the horrors of world war 2, my family suffered, my family was almost wiped out, so many gone because of one populist leader and his greedy followers seeking to be popular too. Not on my watch! I will keep vocal and I will keep telling the truth and the facts as they are, with science, with proof, with compassion and human decency. I will stand up for you whatever your skin colour is or belief system, whoever you are, whomever you love, whatever gender you are. I will personally hand dye anything you want in the most lurid pink you can imagine. You say you want to march? to Resist? to fight for Truth and Compassion? YOu got it ! I will be there right by your side!

If you are still here: Thank you for sticking with me. I am sorry if this all sounds a bit too dystopian, too harsh. I am really a very glass half full kind of person! Really ! I am an optimist! LOL If anything : the most important thing is to never forget. I started to think I was going nuts: one week I heard one thing and the next the same person said he did not say that at all. There was proof though. I found the sound bite and I could hear two totally different things were being said, contradicting one another over the course of one week. Now if it was a friend in an unimportant conversation doing that to you, you'd shrug and go.well dear, you better go see somebody or ..your inner voice would say "Back away slowly"..... Stay true to yourself, keep talking and keep sharing.

So, after all that : Here is the new blend I had been working on : Gothic Bunny! A fantastic new blend of superfine merino, cashmere, angora bunny, and black silk ! This makes for a wonderful super luxurious fibre combo to play with and wear.


Anyway, here I am still alive (barely ..lol) , it is Friday again and update day and this week, GOTHIC BUNNY :




Have a fun weekend and snaffle ! All the “ how to order details” are shown at the bottom of this blog. You can always contact me on facebook or ravelry and even if you do not see something here , ask me: I am always happy to enable !



Gothic Bunny Tops

Super fine 16micron merino, Cashmere, Angora Bunny, Black Mulberry Silk!




100+gram tops AU$24






Blaze SOLD




Flying Monkeys 1 left




Good Witch SOLD




Gothic Pink SOLD




Indigo SOLD




Keep Swimming SOLD




Natural sold



Not in Kansas anymore SOLD



Pastel Goth SOLD


Uluru Sunset SOLD




Velvet SOLD



Wizard  sold



Zombies n Mermaids SOLD






Dates to put in your Calendar !!


March

Wednesday March 15th, 10am - 3pm
McClelland Spinners and weavers Group
McClelland Gallery, McClelland Drive , Langwarrin, (Melways Ref 103E3), 


May

Saturday May 6th   10am-3pm

Healesville Spinners and Weavers Guild Chat, Spin and Shop


Please join me with the Healesville Spinners and Weavers on Saturday for their annual celebration.
I will be doing a talk about the IxCHeLbunny farm, fibres and yarns and lots more !!! There will be fibres to cuddle (and buy) and also spindles of all shapes and sizes.

The event is open to all but everybody is asked to bring a plate of food to share with the others to make it even more fun. The Hall opens at 11am with a group meeting and my talk will start around 12. After the talk there will be ample opportunity to browse, shop and mingle.

V.C. Mullett Hall (Badger Creek Hall), 358 Badger Creek Road, Badger Creek.
The hall is located next to the Badger Creek C.F.A. Station and opposite the Badger Creek Primary School. There is off road parking.

Sunday May 21st 10am-3pm

Victorian Hand Knitters Guild Show Coburg Town Hall

THE extra ordinary super fluffy yarny event in Melbourne !!!
I will be there with lots of hand dyed tops for spinning and felting and happy rainbow yarn and sock yarn, some extra special art yarns and much much more!!!!
As well as some amazing Lair of the Bearded Dragon spindles and bowls that are pure magic to spin with !

July

Friday July 14th- Sunday 16th, 9am-5pm


Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show
THE event of the year !!!! Not to be missed!! I will be there in the Flower (Power Bunny) Shed again with heaps of new goodies, hand dyed and hand spun, IxCHeL new blends and rare sheep breed adventures and much much more ! Including a world first of something AMAZING AND FUN!!!!! Shhh not telling ! but it is AWESOME !!!!


OCTOBER

date and venue info to follow soon.


Black n Coloured Sheep FIELD DAY  in Pakenham!



Landscape dyes 

 100g tubs   AU$11 
250 g tubs AU$26


Want to dye your own with easy to use acid dyes? I have been selling these Landscape dyes at my workshops and shows for a long time :  They are extremely easy to use and come in great shades.
Just contact me with the name of the colour you are after and I will get right back to you.


Have a creative week!
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 here:


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 
3. Message me on www.ravelry.com  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
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Friday, January 13, 2017

Plans and ...wet air


I had some really great plans for tonights update : a brand new blend and brand new colour ways ! Gothic bunny blend I call it. It is the most amazing soft , luxurious blend I have managed to make  and, in all my optimistic splendour, I was optimistic enough to start dyeing it early this week  andyep, it has been so humid here it simply is not dry enough to make it to this weeks update. It has a high proportion of silk in it and I blame the weather. Just humour me and agree..I normally would have dyed it on the weekend but I got so many custom orders to do that I was feeling optimistic and said to myself:" it is going to be great drying weather , I can dye later".  Hint: if you are living in a rainy humid valley like we do, NEVER EVER say that you can postpone dyeing and drying. I have lost all hope since today it has been bucketing down. But, hey! it wouldn;t be fun if there were never "surprises" so I always have a back up plan. I was planning on doing a special Icelandic update NEXT friday but the cute sheepies are now being pulled forward to come to my aid this friday :-)

 Adaptable as you have to be , living in a heavy wooded area  in the middle of nowhere and doing what  I do as a living, I decided to turn my hand on some manual blending of Icelandic multi-coloured fibres and ……breathe.

Here is an amazing video of Heida with her 500 icelandic sheep: She is amazing and reminds me of Lagertha in more ways  than one. Down to earth and also very gentle with her flock of exceptional sheep :




What I can offer you today is a beautiful “sorting hat” of natural coloured Icelandic tops that are amazing to handle and spin in all its natural glory !

A while ago I offered you a beautiful silver grey Autumn shearing and this week I am very proud to offer you a silver and black lightly blended autumn shearing and a mid grey Icelandic top that looks and feels awesome ! You can ofcourse overdye this top and believe me there is nothing better than dyeing a top with all different natural tonal variations of silver and grey and black. It makes the end product look amazing and magical !

There are not many wild or domesticated local animals in Iceland, but the wildlife and farm animals Iceland do have are very special. Did you know there are more Icelandic sheep in Iceland than people?! Some farmers own nearly a thousand sheep of their own. The extensive farm land around Iceland's coast is full of them, and every summer they roam the highlands and mountains freely. They're tough, sturdy little animals, and grow lots of fluffy wool that the Icelanders use to make all their woollen goods. Icelandic sheep are a breed that has remained virtually unchanged for over 1,000 years, maybe the oldest and most genetically pure sheep breed in the world. Modern Icelandic sheep descend from sheep ferried by Vikings to Iceland during the 8th and 9th Centuries. Attempts to “improve” the breed by outcrossing generally resulted in increased vulnerability to disease, and so raisers on this island nation decided to keep their selective breeding attempts confined within the breed.

The Icelandic sheep is an ancient North European breed, slightly smaller than modern varieties, whose double-layered coat is uniquely suited to cold and wet conditions.

A few weeks after the lambing in May, sheep are sent to run free and graze in mountain pastures until autumn, feeding on the rich and nourishing vegetation. Many farmers formerly allowed their sheep to graze in outlying pastures over the summer months, but as a result of the recent reduction in flocks, animals are increasingly kept on home pastures. Farmers gather their flocks in the autumn. Usually, the round-up is carried out on horseback with assistance of sheepdogs. The process can take up to a week. During this time, participants stay overnight in mountain huts located throughout the highlands. Each sheep farmer has his own earmark in order to identify his livestock. After the gathering, the sheep are all sorted into designated pens, according to earmarks. Many people, farmers or not, come to watch or take part in this event on the last day, which is usually followed by a big celebration the same night. This is a tradition cherished by Icelanders.

Icelandic sheep are a beautiful and eye-catching breed of sheep with incredible colour variations and seventeen possible combinations of colours and patterns. Known around the world for their fibre, the Icelandic sheep provides a soft, lustrous dual coated fleece. Icelandic sheep come in a range of natural colours and patterns which provide lovely wool that is very versatile and easy to spin, making this wool a handspinners dream.  There is heaps of information and even videos I put on my autumn shearing of the icelandic sheep on my blog  a while ago in case you want to have a look at the whole story and some more cute photos.(here's the linkie to the Icelandic Leadersheep blog I did. There is another adventure planned later in the year for these amazing sheep for which you can sign up)


Anyway, here I am, it is Friday again and update day and this week, filled again with Nordic Splendour (I’m obviously still in a Viking mood!..lol) . Here are some of the Icelandic Beauties responsible for this weeks fibery update :









Have a fun weekend and snaffle ! All the “ how to order details” are shown at the bottom of this blog. You can always contact me on facebook or ravelry and even if you do not see something here , ask me: I am always happy to enable !



Icelandic Black and Silver Tops

Icelandic Mid grey tops  and WHITE also available!



Beautifully slightly blended black and silver grey Icelandic Autumn Shearing tops
100+gram tops AU$23





The natural silver and black Icelandic autumn shearing tops.
 When I took this photo I all of a sudden realised it looked
like the “sorting hat” of the Harry Potter movies….
or maybe my imagination is to blame and
 I am “seeing things” lol





mid grey Icelandic tops




Dates to put in your Calendar !!


May

Saturday May 6th   10am-3pm

Healesville Spinners and Weavers Guild Chat, Spin and Shop


Please join me with the Healesville Spinners and Weavers on Saturday for their annual celebration.
I will be doing a talk about the IxCHeLbunny farm, fibres and yarns and lots more !!! There will be fibres to cuddle (and buy) and also spindles of all shapes and sizes.

The event is open to all but everybody is asked to bring a plate of food to share with the others to make it even more fun. The Hall opens at 11am with a group meeting and my talk will start around 12. After the talk there will be ample opportunity to browse, shop and mingle.

V.C. Mullett Hall (Badger Creek Hall), 358 Badger Creek Road, Badger Creek.
The hall is located next to the Badger Creek C.F.A. Station and opposite the Badger Creek Primary School. There is off road parking.


Sunday May 21st 10am-3pm

Victorian Hand Knitters Guild Show Coburg Town Hall

THE extra ordinary super fluffy yarny event in Melbourne !!!
I will be there with lots of hand dyed tops for spinning and felting and happy rainbow yarn and sock yarn, some extra special art yarns and much much more!!!!
As well as some amazing Lair of the Bearded Dragon spindles and bowls that are pure magic to spin with !

July

Friday July 14th- Sunday 16th, 9am-5pm


Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show
THE event of the year !!!! Not to be missed!! I will be there in the Flower (Power Bunny) Shed again with heaps of new goodies, hand dyed and hand spun, IxCHeL new blends and rare sheep breed adventures and much much more ! Including a world first of something AMAZING AND FUN!!!!! Shhh not telling ! but it is AWESOME !!!!


OCTOBER

date and venue info to follow soon.


Black n Coloured Sheep FIELD DAY  in Pakenham!



Landscape dyes 

 100g tubs   AU$11 
250 g tubs AU$26


Want to dye your own with easy to use acid dyes? I have been selling these Landscape dyes at my workshops and shows for a long time :  They are extremely easy to use and come in great shades.
Just contact me with the name of the colour you are after and I will get right back to you.


Have a creative week!
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 here:


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 
3. Message me on www.ravelry.com  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
qrcode

Friday, January 6, 2017

A new Year with new Adventures


Happy new year !!!! it is 2017 and if some sources can be believed : it is the year of new beginnings, hope and adventure. I sincerely hope so and I am all for new beginnings and hope and adventure. So I thought that was the great way to start the new year: with an adventure! A viking one, with heaps of exciting nordic rare sheep breeds and lots of colourways !

I do hope you all had or still haev a brilliant end of year and start of the new year celebration. I was , as always totally ill prepared and spent the "seaoson" working and having a flu: multi taskingto the end..LOL

I probably will be pencilling in some kind of "relaxation" sometime but for now I am really too excited: so many ideas and new adventures happening!!!! yes, it is awesome and ...a bit overwhelming, BIT totally fun! I love trying to push boundaries, find new and exciting things to play with and I think 2017 is going to be full on in that respect: the things I have lined up are truly amazing including a unique vampire deer blend top that will surely knock your socks off and so many more new blends and yarn adventures it is crazy! I am taking my vitamins to keep up! LOL

Did I say it is going to be amazing? I am working on a website: yeah right! do not fall down laughing your head off.. no,, i is true ... I am not sure how much it will add to the lure of the ixchelbunny blog because i will still be blogging and posting the new exciting stuff on this "gateway" but hey, it is a new adventure and hopefully it will be easier for some to get in touch with me or have a feel of what fluff I can provide. I am really excited to announce a brilliant relationship with a unique Victorian spinning company to give you a wonderful new and unique fingering weight/sock weight yarn for a super exciting new adventure. You may not knwo this but I do dye and make yarn, whether it be handspu or dyeing it: I do all kinds. And this year, 2017, is defenitely going to be ----hopefully--- a more yarny year with all kinds of exciting new angles and twists to it all : I cannot wait to bring you the first batches in a couple op months time !




Here is the first blog offering of this year: a very special unique blend of my VIKING tops: a wonderful blend of super special Spaelsau sheep (from Normway), Faroe island sheep(from the faroe islands) , Gra Troender (from Norway), Gutefar (Sweden) and Icelandic sheep blended with some magical angora bunny, cashmere and glitz !


If you have totally forgotten to give somebody a gift and it is too late to go to the shops or send anything physically to  them: you can still get out of the "naughty" corner and give somebody a giftvoucher which I can email to you.

Again a huge thank you to all of you who support our little fibre farm dedicated to sustainability, creativity and sharing : Big Fluffy Hugs to all !

Please let me know if you have any questions okay? If you like to order some of what you see here on tonight’s blog, just message me on ravelry or facebook or send me an email. I will get right back to you with all the details. Happy Snaffling !!!!

A very happy End of 2016: STAY SAFE (2016 can hit you over the head without warning!) and get ready for a fantastic 2017! New Beginnings they say: Let's hope it is going to be amazing ! Make it so!


Special IxCHeL Gift Vouchers 

It's not too late to send a giftvoucher to that special someone: I will email you or the person you want to gift it to the voucher ! Easy ! 


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   The Giftvouchere will be emailed to you or your friend with a unique number to quote when buying from my updates or at any of my markets. The Vouchers are valid for 1 year.     Here’s the deal:

AU$25 Personalised  giftvoucher Pack
A personalised  giftvoucher, free post for the receivers first order in Australia (for overseas customers you can deduct AU$9 off your shipping cost!) and a badge

AU$50 Personalised  Pack
Comes with a personalised giftvoucher, free post for the receiver's first order in Australia(for overseas customers you can deduct AU&9 off your shipping cost!) , a 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 giftvoucher, free post for the receivers first order in Australia (for overseas customers you can deduct AU$9 off your shipping cost!), a badge, a bunny photo 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 yourself! And I will send you all the details.



VIKING  Tops

An adventurous Passionate blend

100g /AU $ 24

Spaelsau sheep (norway), Faroe island sheep (faroe), Gra Troender sheep (Norway), Gutefar sheep (Sweden) and Icelandic sheep (Iceland), Angora Bunny, Cashmere, Glitz




Thor-sold-




The Seer-sold-




Siggy-sold-




Rollo-sold-




Ragnarok (dyed with Indigo)-sold-




Ragnar-sold-




Lagertha-3left-



Freya-sold-



Floki-1left-


Eostre-sold-




Bjorn Ironside-sold-



Athelstan-sold-



Landscape dyes 

 100g tubs   AU$11 
250g tubs    AU$25


Want to dye your own with easy to use acid dyes? I have been selling these Landscape dyes at my workshops and shows for a long time :  They are extremely easy to use and come in great shades.
Just contact me with the name of the colour you are after and I will get right back to you.


Have a creative week!
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 here:


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 
3. Message me on www.ravelry.com  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
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