Friday, November 23, 2018

Winter is coming...again

A Bunny take on the van Eyck painting of the “Arnolfini wedding”
this month’s inspiration of the fibre, yarn and batt club

All the November clubs have been shipped on Monday and lots of people have already messaged me that they love this month’s fibre, yarn and batts.
Because December is almost here,  I have already started to process the December clubs so they can be shipped out first week of December.
To top everything off: The weather here has started to go back to its’ wintery self with temperatures hitting a low of 5C..not quite a wintery white landscape but it is equally hard to get fibre and yarn dry. So that’s why I thought I’d better start a bit early for the last club of 2018 !

 For this week’s update 

1. you can still sign up for the new IxCHeL clubs starting in January again and
2.  the fabulous Christmas/Hanukkah surprise parcels !! Don’t miss out on an amazing deal to put something under the tree for yourself or someone else !
3.  For this particular update I thought it would be great to offer you some very special Qiviut blend fibres to warm you up ! Here is some information for you about this magical animal.


Qiviut is the name of the wool that comes off of the Musk Ox, a gentle giant of a creature often found in Alaska. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, Musk Ox are now considered to have the most precious, softest fiber in the world. Eight times warmer than wool and finer than cashmere, qiviut is rare and it is one of the most luxurious fibres you can choose for a garment.

The softness of Qiviut is something that must be touched to be believed! Qiviut is not only soft, it is also non-irritating to the skin, and is very durable - garments made from it are worn for years and can be hand washed in mild detergent. It retains warmth even when wet.

The lightweight fibre preserves heat in the winter, while also providing cool, breathable comfort in warmer weather. This fibre has been carefully gathered by hand and no animals were harmed in the gentle shedding of it. This fibre generally sells for anywhere between $35-$56/28grams/oz, and skeins of yarn often sell for over $100-200 each!! Fibre count is 100s+ (12-15 micron)!!!

A musk ox mum and her baby

the Qiviut (down of the musk ox)  peeking through the guard hairs

Musk Ox male in Alaska

One of the baby musk ox



The mighty muskox (Ovibos moschatu) is a survivor from the ice age. Possessing powerful curved horns, which hang down like side bangs from a helmet-like skullcap, muskoxen are actually more closely related to sheep and goats than to cattle and oxen (although all of the above are members of the Bovidae family).

Adult muskoxen weigh from 180 to 400 kg (400 to 900 pounds) but they look much larger on account of their thick coats and large heads. Once muskoxen proliferated throughout the northern hemisphere alongside woolly mammoths, but hunting and habitat loss caused them to retreat further and further into the remotest parts of the north until the end of the nineteenth century when the animals could only be found in the unpopulated wilderness and empty islands of northern Canada and deep in the arctic vastness of Greenland. In these remote locations tiny herds of one to two dozen muskoxen still subsist on grasses, willows, lichens and moss while contending with terrible arctic predators and fearsome cold.

Fortunately the muskox is provisioned with fearsome horns and doughty neighbours to fend off polar bears and wolves. The herd is capable of assembling in a ring formation with horns outward to stand off wolves and ice bears (although such a strategy works less well against humans with our projectile weapons). To fight the cold, the muskoxen have fat reserves and one of the most remarkable insulating coats in the animal world.

A muskox’s coat is divided into two layers: a long stringy layer of coarse outer wool and an inner layer of soft warm undercoat called qiviut (this Inuit word now primarily denotes muskox wool but it was once also used to refer to similarly soft warm inner down of arctic birds). Qiviut is one of the world’s premier luxury fibres: it is allegedly 8 times more effective at insulation than sheep’s wool and yet is softer than cashmere.

The Musk Ox survived when the other greats of the Pleistocene – woolly mammoth, mastodon, sabertoothed cats, giant sloth – all went away. And it returned to Alaska by way of New York Harbour. Now, it turns out, the musk ox could again be the great survivor in our new Arctic age of extinction. Ross MacPhee, a curator in the department of mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, says the musk ox’s homogenous genetic makeup suggests it has been through population stress before and can survive boom-and-bust cycles.

“What we find with living musk oxen is they’re not exactly clones, but they’re so amazingly similar that there’s only one explanation,” MacPhee says. “And that explanation is that they had to have had a very severe pinch on their populations. We estimate that that happened about ten thousand years ago.” But that doesn’t mean it’s all good news for the cold-weather beast, which is most closely related to goats and sheep and can weigh up to 800 pounds. The pace of these changes could challenge even an animal as resilient as the musk ox, scientists say.

Brendan Kelly, an Arctic ecologist and research scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says all Arctic species are currently endangered by the rapid speed of climate change. “For organisms to adapt – whether it’s changing body size, or changing the timing that they have their calves, and hence can match when the plants are most nutritious – it really depends on the rate of the environmental change relative to the generation time of the organism,” Kelly says. “So if there’s a really, really rapid environmental change, it’s very hard for there to be an adaptive response.”

As I was reading about Musk Ox I found out that all of the muskox at the Myskoxcentrum in Härjedalen, Sweden, came from Ryøya, near Tromsø, Norway. What?!? Muskox on Ryøya? I knew about the Dovrefjell group and an attempt to introduce muskox on Svalbard, but I had never heard of a group in northern Norway. The search was on.

It turns out that there is a flock of more 40+ animals now running around free on a small island named Ryøya off the coast of Tromsø. NRK’s Ut i naturen television program made a 24-minute show about “Moskusøya” (“Muskox Island”) in 2006. Unfortunately the show is in Norwegian, but even if you don’t speak Norwegian, it’s still worth watching for a while if you want to see muskox running around and scientists trying to catch them. In the Ut i naturen program, we also get to see some historic television clips from the 1960s when the muskox first came to Troms.

In 1969, 25 muskox calves arrived in northern Norway via boat from Greenland. The idea was to raise muskox for their wool as domesticated livestock. The University of Fairbanks in Alaska had some kind of research project related to muskox husbandry (I haven’t looked into that yet) and the idea was transferred to Norway.

The undercoat wool of muskox, known as qiviut, is a highly valuable wool: it is warmer than wool, finer than cashmere and hypoallergenic. Sounds like the perfect winter clothing material, except that muskox are pretty rare and not widely domesticated – which makes it a very, very expensive material

In 1969, the herd was established at a farm in Bardu with the hope that eventually every farm in the area could have 2-3 muskox for a meaningful supplementary income. But by 1975, calls for the end of muskox experiment were being made. According to media reports, a hunter was killed by a muskox and the muskox population was being devastated by a virus (hmmm, sounds familiar, right?). So in 1976, the herd was moved to northern Troms, and five years later, the Tromsø University is taking care of them to preserve the species.

The Department of Arctic and Marine Biology took over the herd and moved them to Ryøya to study their behaviour and adaptation as arctic animals. Muskox as livestock in Norway didn’t work out, but who knows what the future holds. The Qiviut are still here.

If you watch the TV program, you’ll see that while the scientists herd the muskox to collect measurements and/or for transportation to the overwintering station on the mainland, they quickly pull out the qiviut, which they sell to support their research. Qiviut is a bonus of having muskox in Norway — if you can catch them.

Well , don’t you worry I caught some of it for you !! to support the musk ox population growing not only on the American continent but also in other habitats that are good for them. This will enable the species to grow, get stronger, adapt and hey, probably outlive us all, since they already did that to the woolly mammoth.

Don’t worry, if I EVER find a woolly mammoth, I will share its’ wool with all of you …

A Qiviut cowl, the warmest and softest thing you will ever wear



So, here it is: a Qiviut blend to cuddle up to tonight !

Have a fun weekend with lots of fibre play and love!!

All my contact details and "HOW TO ORDER" are also to be found at the end of this week’s blog entry. And please remember: Every time you buy from a small business or a farm you are not only getting something unique and handmade but you are supporting so much more !

IxCHeL Tundra Tops

50 grams AU$25

Qiviut 25% , Cashmere, Silk, Tencel, superfine Merino, Angora Bunny








Winterfell-sold-






Wild is the wind 









Things I do for Love







Sunset -sold-






Rose Velvet




Moss Forest Faeries -sold-




Gothic Velvet
-2left-




Bohemian Rhapsody-1 left-




Indigo Magic




Natural




Peacock
-sold-



Skittles




Somebody to love





Have a fun time browsing through all the different Xmas options and the starry night yarns; looking at all the new goodies on offer! Oh ! and don't forget to sign up for the IxCHeL Fibre, Yarn or Batt club! you can read all the details below! 

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 week’s blog entry.



van Gogh’s Starry Night Hand dyed inspired Yarn 

IxCHeL merino/silk/nylon 100 grams 410meters AU$29 
 OR 
 IxCHeL Silver Star Yarn merino/cashmere/nylon/silver Angelina 100grams 423meters $32







painting and glazing in progress





the finished yarn



CHRISTMAS / HANUKKAH SURPRISE FIBRE OFFER (valid until Tuesday 27th of of November and will be shipped out last week of November so you will have it in time for the holidays)  

 3 surprise tops for $60

This is a rare opportunity to get a fabulous array of fibre at an amazing HOLIDAY price ! Here is the offer:


THREE CHRISTMAS / HANNUKAH Surprise Special IxCHeL Blended FIBRE TOPS for $60 (That’s a saving of around $15 !) Your parcel will be wrapped in special Holiday giftwrap, ready to either put under the tree for yourself or gift to a friend 😊 and each parcel will have an additional gift added to it to thank you for your awesome support of our little fibre farm. The handdyed tops will be surprises, but they will definitely put a smile on your face.









CHRISTMAS / HANUKKAH SURPRISE SOCK WEIGHT/4PLY YARN OFFER  3 Yarns    $70


(valid until Saturday 24th of November and will be shipped out last week of November so you will have it in time for the holidays)
This is a rare opportunity to get a fabulous array of 4 PLY yarn at an amazing Holiday price !

THREE  Surprise Special IxCHeL hand dyed 4 ply yarns (either a merino/silk/nylon or a merino/cashmere/nylon/silver Angelina yarn) for $70 (That’s a saving of around $17-$26 !) !) Your parcel will be wrapped in special Holiday giftwrap, ready to either put under the tree for yourself or gift to a friend 😊 and each parcel will have an additional gift added to it to thank you for your awesome support of our little fibre farm. The handdyed tops will be surprises, but they will definitely put a smile on your face.
;


CHRISTMAS / HANUKKAH SURPRISE LACE WEIGHT/2PLY YARN OFFER (valid until Tuesday the 27thth of November and will be shipped out last week of November so you will have it in time for the holidays)       3 lace yarns $70

This is a rare opportunity to get a fabulous 2PLY LACE WEIGHT OF SUPERFINE MERINO yarn at an amazing HOLIDAY price ! Here is the offer:




THREE  Surprise Special IxCHeL hand dyed LACE WEIGHT PURE SUPERFINE MERINO YARNS (100G / 710M X 3) for $70 (That’s a saving of $20 Your parcel will be wrapped in special Holiday giftwrap, ready to either put under the tree for yourself or gift to a friend 😊 and each parcel will have an additional gift added to it to thank you for your awesome support of our little fibre farm. The handdyed tops will be surprises, but they will definitely put a smile on your face.


CHRISTMAS / HANUKKAH SURPRISE COBWEB WEIGHT/1PLY YARN OFFER (valid until Tuesday the 27th of November and will be shipped out last week of November so you will have it in time for the holidays)    3 1ply yarns  $70

This is a rare opportunity to get a fabulous array of CASHMERINO cobweb weight yarn at an amazing Halloween price ! This yarn is excellent to ply your handspun with too ! and to knit with of course ! Here is the offer:

THREE Surprise Special IxCHeL hand dyed cobweb weight 1ply cashmerino YARN (100G / 1200M X 3) for $70 (That’s a saving of $26 !) Your parcel will be wrapped in special Holiday giftwrap, ready to either put under the tree for yourself or gift to a friend 😊 and each parcel will have an additional gift added to it to thank you for your awesome support of our little fibre farm. The handdyed tops will be surprises, but they will definitely put a smile on your face.



Special 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   The Giftvoucher 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$50 Personalised Christmas giftvoucher Pack
A personalised Christmas 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$100 Personalised Christmas giftvoucher Pack
Comes with a personalised Christmas 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$150 Personalised Christmas giftvoucher Pack
Comes with a personalised Christmas 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.




Spinner’s Control, Yarn Gauge and Ply angle card


a great way to gauge the thickness of your yarn and plying. A nice tool with an info sheet to hang on your spinning wheel or carry wit you anywhere you go.


$5







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 week’s blog entry. 
Have a fun weekend !!!





IxCHeL Club Sign ups for 2019 are now open !


Here is a photo compilation of the previous club  months January to October to give you an idea what the "Art Journey" Theme of this years clubs has been all about : The interpretation of art into fibre.






















IxCHeL Fibre Club January, February and March 2019  


The subscription is for a period of three months and you will receive one special hand dyed top/roving per month to the value of AU$24 or more. 
All the tops will be hand dyed and will be especially made for the members of IxCHeL Fibre Club ! Price to join the IxCHeL Fibre Club #38 and receive your special hand dyed top :)) for three months (January, February and March 2019) is AU$72 + postage (parcel post or airmail). AND there are good value double serves available !!! 

 For Australia : single serve $72+$29 postage (parcel post), double serve $136+$29 (save $8) or triple serves $204 (save $12!) + postage 

For USA + Canada: single serve AU$72+AU$57 (Airmail) double serve AU$136+AU$57 

 For UK,Europe, rest of the world: Single serve AU$72+AU$69 (airmail) Double serve AU$136+AU$69 

 For Asia: Single serve AU$72+AU$50 (airmail) Double serve AU$136+AU$50 

If you want to receive a fibre surprise every month then join the IXCHEL FIBRE CLUB #38 now. Numbers are strictly limited ! The January 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of January, the February club mid February and the March club Early March. Payment via direct deposit or credit card or paypal. Just PM or email me your details. 

 The IxCHeL Sock Yarn Clubs January, February and March 2019


 Every month for three months (January, February and March 2019) you will receive: enough hand dyed luscious yummy yarn to make a pair of socks or a lush shawl or scarf of course! (the hand dyed yarn will be exclusive for the Ixchelbunny SOCK-IT-TO-ME Yarn CLUB and will range from a sockweight yarn (a 4ply/fingering weight yarn) or an 8ply / DK weight enough to make a pair of socks ; Every month a sock pattern, tips and instructions ! Now is that GOOD or is that GOOD ??! 
 I will even offer a double serve for those of you who like their socks extra long ! 

For Australia : single serve $87+$29 postage (parcel post) double serve $146(= one skein FREE!!!) +$29 For USA + Canada: single serve AU$87+AU$57 (Airmail) double serve $146 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$57 

For UK,Europe, rest of the world: Single serve AU$87+AU$69 (airmail) Double serve $145 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$69 

For Asia: Single serve AU$87+AU$50 (airmail) Double serve $145 (= one skein FREE!!!) +AU$50 

Numbers are strictly limited ! Payment via direct deposit or credit card or paypal . Just PM or email me your details By the way: you don’t HAVE to knit socks if you don’t want to.. the hand dyed yarn is amazingly nice for scarves, cowls, beanies and even tops ! Anything goes . The January 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of January, the February club mid February and the March club Early March.

 IxCHeL Funky Bunny Batt Clubs January, February and March 2019


Here are all the details and just pm me when you have any questions or want to be part of the funky bunny batt club Movement ;-) Welcome to the blingy dark side ;-D The subscription is for a period of three months and you will receive one special hand dyed funky bunny batt per month to the value of AU$40 or more . The batts will range in weight from 140grams to 170grams with luxury fibres like camel , angora, cashmere, silk, yak, llama even wallaby and bison and rare sheep breeds !!!! All the batts will be hand dyed and will be especially made for the members of IxCHeL funky bunny Club ! Every month you will receive a HUGE luxury funky bunny batt ! 

Sign up now and you will receive an IxCHeL Hand dyed , super luxurious funky bunny batt for July, August and September 2018. 

Price to join the IxCHeL Funky bunny for three months is : 

 For Australia : $114+$29 postage (parcel post) For USA + Canada: AU$114+AU$57 (Airmail) 

 For UK,Europe, rest of the world: AU$114+AU$69 (airmail) 

 For Asia: AU$114+AU$50 (airmail) 

 If you want to receive a fibre surprise every month then join the IXCHEL FUNKY BUNNY BATT CLUB now. Numbers are strictly limited ! 

The January 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of January, the February club mid February and the March club Early March. Payment via direct deposit or credit card or paypal. Just PM or email me 

 Have a fun week Creating your Dreams!




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.
4. message me on Instagram 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.







 RABBIT ON !
((hugs))
Charly
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