Friday, June 7, 2019

Oopsies and Broken Hearts


Oops!
First of all, I want to thank the huge amount of people who have contacted me, sent me lots of love and blessings. I want to thank my Bearded Dragon Paul for being there for me,  his dad for calling me  and all my friends for showing they care, after learning of my "adventures" last week. I am still "proudly" sporting a huge bruise the size of a small country on my right leg and a guinea pig sized hematoma on my thigh, but the stitches were taken out of my wrist where the glass had tried to punch through my artery and failed.

The Handknitters and Crochet Guild of Victoria Show was only a week and a bit ago but it seems like years…for me anyway. In the week and a bit since my unfortunate fainting/falling/collision with the kitchen benchtop and ~floor, I have been seeing more doctors than in the 9 years since my encounter with cancer  and having so many tests done I felt like a lab rat.

I did manage to finish some custom orders and started dyeing the June Clubs (which I hope will be ready to ship on Tuesday next week ! Yeah) but apart from that, there was not a lot of time in between the medical appointments. One of the downsides of living where we live and not having a lot of those facilities around the corner so to speak. So every appointment takes an hours drive or more. Huge chunks of my day were stripped away and by the time I got home , I was so tired I could just fall into bed.  Mind you this kind of extreme fatigue was not foreign to me: I have been feeling exhausted for the last 4 years and still battling on. because let's face it, that's how my brain works: feeling tired? Off you go! Work harder! that'll teach it! LOL

I did spin yarn for custom orders and also some more wallaby/angora bunny yarn for the Bendigo show. Spinning yarn is such a calming thing. It calms me down (apparently not a good thing, but I will talk to you about that later) and centers me, the only thing I have to be aware of is, that whenever certain stressful thoughts enter my head, I dismiss them immediately instead of letting them run around my head like little devil hamsters in rhythm with the treadling of my spinning wheel.
 I was doing a pretty good job…until today.

Lots of the tests came back normal or semi normal, not out of the ordinary, until I got an urgent call from the doctor asking if I could come in immediately. Well, that didn’t sound good. No news is good news I always say and to get a message like that is ..well…alarming. So me and my already stressed out, through the roof blood pressure, hopped in the car with Paul (Paul is now my Uber driver until they can get my fainting under control) and off to the docs we went. (Another half a day gone..I mumbled to myself….and of course, what’s going on?!)

Well, good news is they found out why I was fainting..bad news is, it’s not good. I have no clue how to put it to you but apparently I have a broken heart. It’s not beating as it should. It beats too slow and even then, not all the beats are not necessarily doing the job they should do. That’s why, when I was totally relaxed the Monday after the show, My heart slowed down so much that BANG! :  I was so relaxed my heart went on a holiday and stopped pumping necessary oxygen to my brain and my body had a violent conversation with the kitchen floor.

Next week sometime, I need to go to the hospital for more checks (hoorah!) and a talk with a  cardiologist.. and then some magicians will have to go in and fix my heart. Accio Heartbeat !
 I have no idea what or how or with what. A pacemaker was mentioned,  heart surgery was mentioned.

I CAN tell you, I am in total shock, I am super stressed (doesn’t help! I know !) but there it is. The glass half full person immediately goes” Cool! Any electric impulses from a heart device like a pacemaker will increase the neuro transmitters in my brain as well and I will have better memory! Bonus !” together with “ Woah! I can change my name from Energiser Bunny to Bionic Bunny !” Insert hilarious laughter and tears streaming down my face, making me look like Alice Cooper.

I am still here. It is not the end of the world! I can do this. BUT……I am super super tired ALL the time AND that means I WILL definitely have to do far less than I am used to. This also means that the stock levels I had planned for the Bendigo show will suffer. 
I will still have the same awesomeness and blends but there will be less of them. That’s the best case scenario. The worst case scenario would be that, If, for some reason the specialists hold me down (…and it would take all of them at once! Lol) and I have to have operations before the show..you will have Paul at the Bendigo show and my bunny helper sis in law Maggie to hold the bunny fluffy fort. Both of them will be wearing Bunny ears I promise. You will have to wear yours ! 

Also, I know I have to take it easy, but doing what I do and not having a million $ (hahahaha) to fall back on as a self employed fibre enabler and bunny carer, means that things need to go on or there is no money to pay bills. I know this sounds terribly dramatic, but that is the meaning of "self employed". You need to make things work.
Unfortunately in times of something physically in your own body NOT working, it means a lot more added stress of not being able to work and produce stock to sell. I know I should be thinking of getting better and dealing with that, but it’s easier said than done. So, I am still here! I am still here! and I will keep swimming. I will keep doing what I love….just…. at a slower pace…

Since I obviously did not have lots of time or energy to dye fluffy stuff for you this week I have something else for you  I prepared and blended earlier: a fantastic blen with the super rare Hungarian sheep called Racka!
Here are all the stories and details. Enjoy browsing and reading all about it !
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any requests: always happy to enable. Also: The club sign ups for the next round starting in July are still open. So, if you would like to join, email or pm me and I will send you all the details. Also, there are a few of the tweed yarns still available with more colours available soon ! message me if you want to go on a tweed adventure !


The rare sheep breed in the spot light is the very special Hungarian Racka sheep ! It is a very rare breed especially known for its unusual spiral shaped horns that are unlike any other domestic sheep horns and can grow to be 2 ft/0.61meters long ! The smallest standard size of the horns is about 51 cm for rams and 38cm for ewes. Whatever the size , you wouldn’t want to get caught on the end of one!

Lucky this breed of sheep is very gentle and very shy and not blood thirsty..lol.


HISTORY

The Racka Sheep originally come from Hungary and have existed at least since the 1800s when there was a first registry established. Their history goes further back than that though : In South-West Asia have been found skulls and bones of Racka-like sheep dating from about 11.000 years ago.

About 8.000 years ago, in Mesopotamia, the ancient Iraq, and in the ancient Egypt lived long-tailed sheep with the same drill-shaped horns as the Racka, as can be seen on wall-paintings found in local caves. Possibly, the Racka is originating from the wild Middle-Eastern sheep: the Ovis ammon arkal.
The Racka left his original area during the Great Migrations . The Avars, Petschenegs, Jazygs and Huns brought them to Central- and East-Europe. In 1750, half of the total flock of seven million Hungarian sheep were Rackas! Somewhere around that time, about 50.000 lambs and sheep were traded on the market near the Hortobâgy Bridge. Economically, in these days the Racka was very interesting: they managed to survive quite well on the open, dry and poor plains of Hungary, the Puszta. The fleece of 2-3 day old lambs were sold to make very fine bonnets and collars for the richer Hungarians.

The farmers used the fleece of the old sheep to make their coats. When the weather was dry, the coats were turned with the wool inside, when it was raining the coats were turned inside out, the water dripping from the wool. Clipped wool was used to make coats for the poorer people. The in the 18th century imported Merino, now 95% of the total Hungarian flock, almost drove the Racka to total extinction. In 1939 the Hungarian government had to interfere and centralized the lasting 4000 Rackasheep on a State farm in Hortobâgy, on the puszta east of Budapest.

Wrong methods of reproducing and far-going consanguinity made that during the Second World War, there were only 1450 Rackas left. In the 50's the flock was decimated till about 200 ewes! The state farm of Hortobâgy was ordered from the Hungarian government to save the Racka .
In 1973, the Hortobâgy area was installed asthe first National Park of Hungary and the Racka was saved; Now there are about 5000 ewes again. Other rare Puszta-breeds were also saved as the Grey Puszta cattle, the Noniusz and the Mezöhegyes horse, the Hungarian water buffalo, the Mangalica pig and the typical Hungarian sheepdogs: the Komondor, the Kuvasz, the Puli, and the Pumi. In 1983 the organisation of Hungarian Racka breeders was founded in Debrecen. Now the exceding part of Racka ewes may be exported again, though a number of minimum 750 ewes has to be kept in the National Park of Hortobâgy, thus creating a genetic bank for the Magyar Racka.

DESCRIPTION

The Racka is a relatively small sheep with large horns, a mixed fleece (hair/underwool = 1/2), a long body and fine bone-structure. The rams are circa 70cm and weigh about 50 Kg, the ewes are circa 65 cm and weigh 40 Kg. The horns of the rams are ± 52 cm long and have 3 windings. The distance between the points of the horns is almost 80 cm. Ewes have ± 25 cm long horns with 2 windings. The distance between the points of the horns should be 41 cm. The peculiar shape of these horns is the result of the interaction between the length-growth of the horn and the circular-growth.

If these two kinds of growth are in balance, then the sheep get horns like the Merino, the Drenth Heath sheep, Dorset Horn, Black Welsh Mountain and the presumed ancestor of the Racka: the Argali. If the length-growth is much more important than the circular-growth, then we get the typical shape of a corkscrew as we see with the Racka.

The fleece can have two colors: black and cream-white. In the Hortobâgy flock, ± of the sheep are black, with a black skin, the other half is cream-white with a light brown-yellow skin. Some sheep are white or have spots on head and legs. The wool is very long and curly (staple-length 25-30 cm with a fibre diameter of 15-60 micron). Legs and head are unwooled, except for a little tuff on the forehead. The position of the ears is almost horizontal, the shells downwards. The tail is very long with very long wool.

The horns of white and cream animals are yellow, sometimes with black stripes, the horns of the black are black. Lambs of the cream variety are born with a yellowish to darkbrown fleece, getting lighter with growing. When cross-breeding with white and black animals, the white is dominant, but in the F-1 generation can appear also white sheep with dark brown or black spots.

PROPERTIES

The Racka is a relatively shy and very resistant breed, that can have a reasonably production under harsh climatological conditions. The flock-instinct is extremely developed, they are grazing as if they are tied shoulder to shoulder, they can live on dry hay, and remind us a little bit of deer.
What's typical is the somewhat over-developed hind-quarters, the equal standing under and upper jaw, And the deep laying and relatively few muscles in the neck, so the sheep can lift his head very high to watch out on the plains. Fertility is low: about 100%, twins birth is 5 to 15%. Some of the ewes don't reproduce for one or maybe more years. The average weight of the lambs is 10 Kg after 30 days, 14 Kg after 60 days. Wool production is 3 to 4 Kg for the rams, 2-3 Kg for the ewes. The wool was used to make traditional coats, carpets and the typical Cserge blankets.
Ewes produce 50 to 70 l of milk during 100 days of lactation (producing about 10 Kg of cheese). The Racka was mainly kept for as well the meat, the milk and the wool.

VARIETIES

 The Racka belongs to the large group of Zackel-sheep, living in South and East-Europe, as the Vlach in Greece, the Karakachan in Bulgary, the Pramenkain Yugoslavia, Walachian in Czechia and Slovakia, the Volochian in Russia and so on. The large group of Zackel -sheep can be divided in breeds of the plains and the mountains, possessing all a mixed fleece, a long body, a fine bone-structure, and straight horns for the rams.
With the Turcana, the Transsylvanian Racka of Roumania, only the rams have horns. They are mainly light brown skinned with a white fleece. The Moldavian Racka has not V-shaped horns, but these grow somewhat more to the exterior, the spiral growth is not so strict .
Other Racka varieties are the Walaschka, the Zigaja, the Zikta and the Zurcana. It is a very tough breed and use for milking, meat and WOOL!
Their wool is long with a gentle lock definition and is similar in handle to other longwool breeds. The staple length can be 12”/20cms and can vary from 12micron to 40 micron. The long locks have some really nice luster. I found it to be crunchy and crispy. Not for a next to skin wear but it would be wonderful or for outerwear.
And that , my friends, Is where I always take the challenge on. First there is a selection of the best fleeces, then it is all about preparation and blending. And blending it with bunny and cashmere fibres in a special blending process, makes it that this rare breed Racka sheep , in my humble opinion, can be close to skin wear. I loved the feel and airyness of it in the blend. I find the lustre amazing and most of all, I felt very priveledged to be able to put together a blend with this magical fleece.
Here you can see some photos of the herd, their cute behaviour, their fleeces and their magical horns
 Enjoy !

hmmmm food










Please understand that I do not have a lot of stock of this exceptional rare breed fibre. These tops are an amazing spinning experience and fabulous to wear. The added bonus of the silver infused seaweed and mint in the blend is that it is anti bacterial and great for socks or any kind of garment that gets lost of wear.

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 fun !!!

Hungarian Rhapsody Blend tops

Racka Sheep, Cashmere, Angora Bunny, Mulberry Silk, Tencel  

100+ gram tops     $25



Natural Racka  Blend tops. 
 Excellent to spin and felt ! Amazingly shiny and fluffy



IxCHeL Tweed fingering weight yarn

Super soft lambswool 70% and Kid Mohair 30%


Spun singles, fingering or sock weight yarn

+/- 200meters/218yards

50grams      1.76oz

AU$16



Kookaburra
(a beautiful silver grey with ochre accents that complement the dingo colourway)


Dingo
( A beautiful warm honey ochre with pops of royal bluebell, kingfisher and kangaroo paw)



Grevillea
(a gorgeous raspberry base with pops of royal bluebell, flowering gum, grey and daintree)




Flowering Gum
( a gorgeous medieval warm red with bright red, kookaburra and fern forest accents)





Fern Forest
( a deep forest green with accents of bright red, dusky purple and daintree) )







Jacarandah 
( a fabulous deep purple with accents of royal bluebell, daintree, grevillea and kingfisher )





Wombat
( a fabulous deep walnut brown with accents of dingo and kookaburra)




Kangaroo Paw 
( a fabulous warm orange with accents of fern forest, royal bluebell and grevillea and dingo )



isn’t it gorgeous how the Kangaroo paw knits up?! )






Royal Bluebell 
( a deep blue with accents of flowering gum, kookaburra and fern forest )




Wallaby
( a warm light brown with accents of soft blue and kookaburra)





Daintree ( a soft green with accents of fern forest and dingo)





Kingfisher 
( a fabulous Turquoise blue with accents of fern forest, kangaroo paw, Jacaranda and Grevillea)




Pm me if you would like to give some of these amazing new IxCHeL Tweed yarns or the Buddhas tears tea a good home or if you want to sign up for the IxCHeL Clubs ! Enjoy looking and have a fun weekend !

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. 


IxCHeL Buddhas tears tea

carefully packed and presented in a special organza gift bag

50g/ AU$19

Two organically grown superior green tea leaves and a jasmine bud are plucked from the best quality tea bushes and mixed with delicately smelling jasmine blossoms, then sieved and hand rolled on bamboo trays, into small balls while the leaves are not quite dry. 

The leaf captures the fine jasmine aroma and releases it during brewing, giving a champagne coloured cup. 

 Brewing: 1-3 minutes 75-80degC , 

 4 pearls/cup, 

you can reinfuse 3-4 times so those 4 pearls last a looong time



Carefully handrolled tea



Enjoy the tea over and over again, by adding hot water again and again


IxCHeL Club Sign ups for the third trimester of 2019 are OPEN!!! 

 Here is the overview of all the clubs shipped out to all the members in 2018 and 2019. 

Teasers of the april club will be posted on my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter soon !

 If you would like to join for the next round just PM me.


Here is a photo compilation of the 2018/2019 clubs to give you an idea what the "Art Journey" Theme has been all about : The interpretation of art into fibre.







IxCHeL Clubs 2019






March Yarn Club


March Fibre Club


March Batt Club


IxCHeL Fibre Club July, August and September 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$25 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 #40 and receive your special hand dyed top :)) for three months (July, August and September 2019) is AU$75 + postage (parcel post or airmail). AND there are good value double serves available !!! 

 For Australia : single serve $75+$29 postage (parcel post), double serve $142+$29 (save $8) or triple serves $214 (save $11!) + postage 

For USA + Canada: single serve AU$75+AU$57 (Airmail) double serve AU$142+AU$57; triple serve $214 (save $11) + postage

 For UK,Europe, rest of the world: Single serve AU$72+AU$69 (airmail) Double serve AU$136+AU$69; triple serve $214 (save $11) + postage

 For Asia: Single serve AU$72+AU$50 (airmail) Double serve AU$136+AU$50; triple serves $214 (save $11) + postage 

If you want to receive a fibre surprise every month then join the IXCHEL FIBRE CLUB #40 now. Numbers are strictly limited ! The July 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of July, the August club mid August and the September club early to mid September. Payment via direct deposit or credit card or paypal. Just PM or email me your details. 

 The IxCHeL Yarn Clubs July, August and September 2019


 Every month for three months (July, August and September 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 or scarf 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 or scarves extra long ! 

For Australia : single serve $87+$29 postage (parcel post) double serve $150( save $24!!) +$29 postage For USA + Canada: single serve AU$87+AU$57 (Airmail) double serve $150 (Save $24!!) +AU$57 

For UK,Europe, rest of the world: Single serve AU$87+AU$69 (airmail) Double serve $150 (Save $24!!) +AU$69 

For Asia: Single serve AU$87+AU$50 (airmail) Double serve $150 (= Save $24!!!) +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 July 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of July, the August club mid August and the September club Early to mid September.

IxCHeL Funky Bunny Batt Clubs July, August and September 2019


Here are all the details. 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 2019

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 July 2019 Club is going to be shipped out end of July, the August club mid August and the September club Early to mid SeptemberJune. 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:





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 !!!

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.



Dates to put in your Calendar


Friday July 19th to Sunday July 21st 

Australian Sheep and Wool Show, Bendigo

Go to http://www.sheepshow.com to see what is happening and book your tickets. The Bendigo Sheep and Wool show is the biggest wool show in Australia ! with an amazing amount of woolcraft, indie dyers, a huge amount of tops, yarn, craft, felt and spindles, spinning wheels and anything you need for your knitting,crocheting and crafting.
I will be there with an amazing amount of new exclusive wool blends and yarns, batts, felt and landscape and botanical natural dyes and so much more !!!
I will also have spindles by the amazing Bearded Dragon and lots of fibre tools as well from darning mushrooms to noste pinne, Turkish spindles, Navajo and Mayan spindles, Turkish spindles and needle cases to distaffs, and something amazing  for spinners and knitters.

Get ready for a fabulous weekend filled with lots of craft and fun !!!








 RABBIT ON !
((hugs))
Charly
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