New Adventures and Yarny eggcitement

Happy Hoppy Easter !

I have been extra extra busy to give you an amazing update tonight filled with NEW IxCHeL Sock yarn colour combinations, Handspun super special Angora Bunny with Wallaby yarn AND last but not least: the announcement of another awesome fibery adventure , waiting for you to sign up!
Last time it was the Valais Blacknose Sheep adventure which was shipped out last week…this time I am offering you something amazing and super special : The world famous rare sheep from North Ronaldsay or as I like to call them the Seaweed Eating Sheep and what an adventure blend it is!!!!

There will however be silver in each and every one! Yes, you heard it right: Silver!!! The blend has seaweed fibre in it and the seaweed has been infused in a silver solution to make it extra beneficial.
Seaweed has beautiful qualities also as a fibre: it has skin protective and healing qualities; The brown algae (ascophyllum nodosum or knotted wrack) of SeaCell® fiber come from the cold, pure fjords of Iceland. The slopes of these sea arms are sparsely settled, and their untouched nature is a paradise for wildlife. The seaweed are full of minerals that they draw from the geothermal sea water – enriched with vital substances, free of contaminants and of the highest quality.

Among other things, these brown algae offer a large quantity of vitamins and minerals, such as magnesium and calcium as well as the active ingredient fucoidan, which constrains the growth of tumor cells.
It is effective against influenza viruses and high cholesterol levels, relieves skin diseases, and contributes to the skin’s healing process.
Antioxidants are also a defense against free radicals, protecting against skin damage. Your skin needs nutrients to stay healthy and beautiful. Mineral substances and trace elements are important, for example, since they invigorate your metabolism and have an impact on cell renewal, water balance, the healing of wounds, and protection from the sun. On the other hand, amino acids have a smoothing effect, while vitamins support the natural protective role of the skin and protect it from free radicals.

All these nutrients are present in the select brown algae in SeaCell® to a high degree. Your skin benefits from their health-promoting effects: Due to the natural moisture of the skin, the vital substances in the seaweed are set free when the fibers are worn.
The main nutrients in this special Seaweed fibre that is part of the new Fiber adventure blend I am very proud to offer you are:
• Minerals: e.g. magnesium, calcium, potassium and phosphorus
• Trace elements: mainly iron and iodine
• Amino acids: e.g. glutamic acid, histidine and alanine
• Vitamin: B, A, and E
Their beneficial effect can be absorbed in your skin over time while wearing your magical Seaweed blend– even after many washing cycles!

No wonder the sheep of North Ronaldsay love Seaweed!

The North Ronaldsay Sheep are the only animals in the world, aside from a certain Galapagon lizard, to be able to subsist entirely on seaweed, leading to its nickname ‘seaweed sheep’. The breed is thought to be over 5000 years old. The breed is farmed within the Northern Ronaldsay Islands, Orkney and kept nearby the seashore for most of the year. In 1832 the Laird of North Ronaldsay decided that his pastureland should not be wasted on native sheep and a dyke was built round the island to keep them on the shore and off the land. It was most probably this separation that resulted in the preservation of the North Ronaldsay, as it prevented cross breeding which had been the downfall of other Orkney sheep.

The North Ronaldsay is one of the Northern Shorttailed primitive group of breeds that also includes the Manx Loghtan, Soay, Shetland and Icelandic . The North Ronaldsay is still mainly found on its native island, the northernmost of the Orkneys. The sheep keeping system on North Ronaldsay is unique and involves a stone wall which keeps the sheep on the seashore and away from the cultivated land for most of the year. This wall was built in 1832 and since then the breed has evolved to survive primarily on seaweed. The sheep live on the seashore most of the year around and are only brought onto the better land for lambing.

The North Ronaldsay is one of group of primitive Northern Short-tailed sheep and represents a very early stage in the evolution of domestic sheep. DNA studies have shown a close relationship to sheep found in the Stone Age village of Skara Brae on mainland Orkney, which dates from 3000 BC. In 1832 a wall was built around their native island to confine the animals to the foreshore for most of the year in order to conserve the inland grazing. Since then the breed has developed its distinctive metabolism due to its diet of seaweed, which also renders it susceptible to copper poisoning under standard sheep management systems. North Ronaldsays are very sensitive to copper and will die of copper toxicity if put on the wrong type of grazing. This is due to their seaweed diet and the unique metabolism they have evolved. They should not be fed commercial sheep mixes as despite the label saying “No Added Copper” the normal ingredients used will often have a background level high enough to be toxic (ten parts per million is too high). The North Ronaldsay is capable of surving on less than larger breeds and is an active browser, used to ranging over long distances in search of food.

Colours of their fleece are variable: including white, various shades of grey, black and moorit (deep brown). The double fleece has coarse outer guard hairs and a fine soft inner coat. I have never ever felt and dyed something as extraordinary as this sheeps fleece. It is springy, almost feels moist even after its scouring and washing. It almost feels lkike it resists the dye when you pour the pigments on and everything immediately flows to the bottom, leaving the top layer of the fibre springy and almost without dye. At least, that is what appears to happen…it takes the dye beautifully and retains its springy texture and openness.

It is a dream to spin and work with. You can make a yarn that is strong and still soft to wear. It is very very special ! There are only about 600 of these seaweed sheep left in the world. Only through our effort of conservation of the environment and conservation through appreciation of this rare breed by spinning and knitting its fleece, can we hold on to one of the oldest and most special breeds in the world alive today.

There is a documentary about the island with its seaweed eating sheep on youtube for you to see.  It shows you what the island looks like, the important wild life : Seals ! (warning ! Cute overload !) bird populations and ofcourse its most famous inhabitants:" the seaweed sheep ! (another cute overload ! @ 16:50 mins in) :  

Enjoy!

So, here it is the New Fibre Blend adventure Sign up starting tonight:

IxCHeL Fibre Adventure Sign up

Seamonster Batts and matching Seamonster Tops!  -SOLD OUT !-

Sign in to receive your Seamonster batts and tops, Shipping date: end of May !! This is a very special super limited release !

Here’s your chance to spin some amazingly special batts and tops with a blend of :



North Ronaldsay!(seaweed sheep)


Silver infused Seaweed Fibre!!!!!!

plus
Glitz +

Cashmere +
English Angora Bunny

The Seamonster batts will be inspired by the mystery and magic of sea creatures and seaweed ! and I will ONLY make enough batts for those who sign in. Same thing goes for the tops!

Sign in for the Seamonster batts and tops will close April 28th or until the amount that I can make runs out, whichever comes first !!!

Only the ones who sign up for the Sea Monster Adventure will have these exclusive IxCHeL Seamonster Batts and tops!

the batts will each weigh appr 150grams each!  AU$36
the tops are a 100g + each ! AU$25
There will only be a very very VERY limited supply!!

You will have to sign in before April 28! Pm on Ravelry or facebook or email me :-) 

Single double or combined serves will be available ! and please make sure you mention if you want Angelina bling or no bling option for the batts.



All the batts and the tops have the silver infused seaweed fibre.

All the tops and batts will be in the same colourway inspired by the environment the North Ronaldsay sheep live in.

I have added “inspiration photos” below. Enjoy !

North Ronaldsay Sheep enjoying magical seaweed

If you are not a spinner of yarns but would love to participate in this new fiber adventure, please let me know and I can spin the yarn for you ! Also: if you like to have your tops or batts dyed in a specific colour or colour combination: please ask! You know I like to enable ;-)




The launch Party of the IxCHeL sock yarn blend two weeks ago and the update of last week went so astronomically well that I sold out and had to dye more for custom orders! Again, I did not stop and have some more for you all to snaffle. I love working with this yarn: it is smoochy, super soft and is very colour hungry. Dyeing the speckled yarns and coming up with the colour combinations is the most invigorating thing ever: Colour does make you happy.  I am starting to feel like Jackson Pollock ( but hopefully without his traumatised mental state...)
Happy snaffling  !!

IxCHeL Angora bunny and Wallaby Yarn

from our English angora bunnies who are given a haircut every 3 months and wallaby fibre  (70% angora, 30% Wallaby)

50grams     $35 

 Handspun, natural, super fluffy, 

appr 90-100meters per 50 grams

Angora Wallaby Yarn -ONLY4 LEFT- 

Angora Wallaby yarn close up

IxCHeL Merino Silk Nylon Sock yarn 4 ply Fingering Weight

Great yarn with fab stitch definition and drape. All Spun in Victoria and hand dyed on the IxCHeL Fibre farm with Love by me right here in the Yarra Valley !

+/- 410 meters per 100g

Merino 75% Silk 5% Nylon 20%
100+gram skeins     
AU$28

Romantic colour combo

Happy Peacock Colour combo

Awesome colour combos together for when you are looking to do a bigger project: 
why not combine semi solids, solids, variegated and speckle together?

Eclipse

Moon And Stars

Sun Spots

Eggciting-

Egg Yolk

Bushwalk

Uluru Magic-

Purple Power-SOLD-

Peacock

Ice Age

Heather

Passion

Poppy Field

Leaf

Rose

Dates to put in your Calendar !!

May

Saturday May 6th   10am-3pm

Healesville Spinners and Weavers Guild AGM and talk and shop (it is a general meeting and after 12am I will give a talk and there will be fluff for sale. It will be just me there though: not a spin in as such. So Please contact the Healesville spinners and bring a plate to celebrate !)

Please join me with the Healesville Spinners and Weavers on Saturday for their annual meeting and 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