Time for some happy fluff and cute sheep !

Make today Happy !

The weather is still totally wet but today was bright and a bit sunny , so that was a nice change and helping with getting the clubs dry. I had been planning to get all the December clubs out today, but the weather was against me PLUS my hip and back are totally killing me still, making it hard to sleep or stand or walk for that matter…. Not to worry! I can still make the overseas Christmas delivery deadline which is November 29th !!! I am going to have all the batts ready and everything braided, labelled and packed over the weekend, so that makes it shipping date Monday November 28th ! Yeah !!! That means everybody overseas will get their special December club parcel before Christmas! Lots of extra fun stuff will be in the December club parcel as well but…I am not giving anything away yet ! SURPRISE! Here’s a teaser label of the December club:

Talking about Clubs : The November clubs were shipped a couple of weeks ago so I guess it is time to show you what that November club looks like ! Don't forget to share your photos ! I always love seeing what everybody is making !

Don’t forget: the next round of IxCHeL Art Journey clubs start in January ! To sign up , please go to : https://ixchel.com.au/collections/clubs And remember: if you would like a combination of fibre or yarn or batt clubs, contact me at hop@ixchel.com.au because a combination of different clubs together which will be shipped out together will have a better shipping rate than individual clubs. This also goes for all the overseas customers: you can have all three of your clubs shipped out together to save on shipping costs! Although I am running a bit behind because of weather and health issues, I am really trying my best to get a bit ahead of the game so to speak. Who needs sleep right? LOLOL

There will only be three more new product shop updates left before Paul and myself take a much needed break. BUT!!! You know what all will be happening from December 1st til December 12th : THE IXCHEL TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS EVENT OF THE YEAR !!!

In those twelve days, EVERY DAY !  I will be offering lots of new & special items at super special prices for you AND also 10% of all sales go to a charity (the last few years I fundraised for endangered Animals and our Healesville Sanctuary/Zoos Victoria who have been doing an amazing job especially after the many bushfires in Victoria the last few years). The 12days of Christmas event is not only a gift to say thank you to all my patrons but also a gift to an organisation saving endangered wildlife. It is goi8ng to be so much FUN !! and!!! Every day the update is going to be at 12PM AEDT (that’s noon..lol ), which means that it is not a 4am start for those of you in the USA !!!

There are going to be more details on a later blog closer to the date on how its all going to work, so keep an eye out !

What is going to be happening tonight I hear you say? Well, tonight is all about the cutest little sheep you have ever seen: the Ouessant from France. Also known as the smallest sheep in the world. They are immensely cute and very, very spinnable!

The blend is a Ouessant/Blue Faced Leicester/Mulberry Silk blend that is so smoochy and soft and fluffy you have to try it ! The different colours in all the fleeces blended together made a gorgeous base to dye on and resulted in amazing tonal values of the dyed tops. 

I love dyeing tops that have different coloured fleeces in them: it is magical ! 

Located 12 miles off the French coast in the Sea of Iroise, the island of Ouessant (or Ushant in English) is the original homeland of Ouessant Sheep.

Ouessant sheep are the most primitive of the native French breeds. For centuries, they were raised in isolation on the island where they played an integral part of the self-sufficient closed economy, providing both wool and meat. By the end of the 18th century there were over 6,000 sheep on the island of Ouessant. But economic improvements along with a move toward modernization at the beginning of the 19th century radically changed the future prospects of this small primitive breed. Fortunately, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number of wealthy families imported small numbers of traditional Ouessant sheep to the French mainland to graze the lands around their estates.

Ultimately, this seemingly insignificant event insured the survival of the breed. Today, Ouessant sheep are sought after both as companion animals and as “environmentally-friendly lawn mowers”.

They have also gained a certain amount of popularity in several different European countries : Most notably Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.

A member of the Northern European Short-Tailed breeds, Ouessant sheep are distant cousins of the Shetland and Icelandic breeds. The two most distinctive features of Ouessant sheep are their size and their colour.

Considered by many to be the smallest breed of sheep in the world, adult ewes measure less than 18″ (46cm) at the shoulders and rams are under 20″ (50cm).

Additionally, Ouessant sheep come in a number of different colors : Including black, white, brown, and grey. It is true that the small size of Ouessant sheep contributes to the breed’s characteristic charm and appeal. However, their diminutive size also means that the breed is not commercially viable in the modern world of agricultural production. In fact, one of the primary objectives for breeding Ouessant sheep today is the preservation and conservation of the rare genetic resources that are found in the breed.

Despite their small size, these charming little sheep produce a particularly beautiful and versatile wool. Ouessant sheep have a distinctive double-coated fleece with an average fiber diameter of 25 microns and, on average, fleeces weigh approximately 750 grams (1.5 lbs.). It is important to keep in mind that Ouessant sheep are an unimproved breed, which means that from one sheep to another there is less standardization and more variability in wool type and quality than one would normally find in modern improved breeds.

For the handspinner, this variation presents a unique opportunity : From one small flock of Ouessant sheep it is possible to produce wool that can be used for a wide variety of projects, ranging from lace shawls to hats, cardigans, and even rugs.

I have taken great care to only select the finest of the Ouessant fibre and blending that with the shiny Blue faced Leicester to create a beautiful heathered effect when dyed and spun into a yarn.

Please have a look at the colourways available and if there are any colours you would like: please don’t hesitate to contact me at Hop@ixchel.com.au

To see all the goodies on offer this week, please head to : https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new

Wishing you all a wonderful and happy weekend! 

Big hugs, 

Charly

Seaweed and Rare Sheep Breeds

 

What an exciting week !

Very early Monday morning (I actually first thought it was Sunday..lolol) we got a rude awakening because someone lost control on the super wet road, and crashed into our letterbox after swirling all overt the place before finally wrapping his car around a medium big tree, luckily missing huge big trees and out our big gas tank. All in all, a very lucky escape for all parties (except the bunny letter box which was catapulted into Paul’s  car). After making sure the driver was okay, his mum picked him up and the tow truck took his car away, I spent the day carding the last of the November batts and Paul did all the packing so every club parcel was shipped off early Tuesday morning.  I was absolutely knackered and I didn’t even crash into something! Lol

I have to come clean about something else as well : when I had my cardiac arrest in 2019, I hit the kitchen floor so hard that my right hip and back sustained some damage. I of course kept on going since my heart was the main issue and had to get that fixed, but ever since that faitful day, my back and hip is ex5tremely painful. Again, I keep on going, but I am now at a point that I am experiencing pretty high painlevelson a daily basis. I need to take some time off to take care of this soon and I think that will be after the 12 days of Christmas for a couple of weeks. More will be announced later of course, but both Paul and myself need to “regroup” and have some time to relax. I have no idea what, how , where yet…lol   But, before we all get to that point, lots and lots of things are getting done !

The November clubs were shipped out last Tuesday and the December clubs are getting their paintjob right now ! I have published a post with a teaser on my social media today, but just in case you  missed that : here are the photos:

 

 

This painting is absolutely mesmerizing !  There are so many colours that on first glance are clear cut so to speak, but they intermingle with each other and the perception of them changes. There are so many hues and tonal values in there. Its not a rainbow of colours. This is by far the hardest painting I have ever tried to capture because of this. I hope I can do the artwork proud!

I am planning to get all the December clubs out to all the club members around the 25^th of November so all the club members will receive their parcels before Christmas. Australia Post has announced that the deadline for any overseas parcels to be received before Christmas is November 29^th. For Australian customers it will be December 14^th.

The Club sign ups are open on the ixchel shop. The New Art Journey clubs are  starting up again in January 2023, with loads and loads more inspirational art works translated onto yarn and fibres. Please let me know if you have any questions about the clubs or if you would like to have a combination of either yarn and fibre or all three types of the clubs: yarn, batt and fibre club or if you would like all three month’s clubs sent together to save you on shipping, especially when you are overseas so you save on shipping costs.

Now, what is NEW this week? A freshly blended and dyed Rare Sheep Breed blend !

 

Today's update is all about a very special rare breed sheep on the Scottish Isle of North Ronaldsay.  

 

 

 

 

The North Ronaldsay Sheep are the only animals in the world, aside from a certain Galapagos 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 Short tailed 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  surviving 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 like 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.

Before dyeing and  spinning though was the rather painful process of getting rid of the guardhairs !  Here’s a view of the raw fleece :

 

 

After all of the cleaning and carding and blending you get what I am offering you today !

 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 are also new Tibetan Support spindles available from Lair of the Bearded Dragon AND some super special ceramic spindle cups and bowls as well ! 

You can check everything out in the what's new section on the IxCHeL shop by clicking here :  https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new

Have a fantastic weekend filled with lots of creative fibre fun !

Big hugs,

Charly

 

 

Stranger Things

All the November Clubs have been dyed, the tops are braided, the yarn is almost dry and ready to be skeined up and the fibre for the Art Journey Batts are ready to be carded over the weekend. It was a huge push to dye this batch because I used a lot of natural plant pigments which take a lot longer to cure and hold. The one thing to remember with any kind of dyeing is that it all takes time. Not only time to get all the pigments and colours planned out and mixed, not even all the painting and splashing and placing of the colours. It takes time for the pigments to hold on to the fibres.

Of course you can shove it all in a microwave and nuke it, but I have never been a fan of that method. Its too much of a shock to the fibres imho. So, I do it the slow way: steaming and gently letting the fibres and yarns bubble away for at least an hour and in the case of natural dyes used even longer; not taking the fibres and yarns out of their dyebath until the dyebath has totally cooled down. That way I am not stressing the fibres out and scaring the living daylights out of them going from hot to cold for example because that will give them a huge shock and they will felt. Not much good for spinning them into yarn then...lol  So after all of that you are looking at approximately a few days at least  pf curing and gentle dyeing. It isn't called "slow fashion" for nothing ! 

I try my best not to panic or get stressed about the process, but I do stress about the pressure I am putting on myself. I do not take any time off at all. I am always blending, in the dye room,, schlepping huge amounts of wet fibres and yarns and standing at the dye bench wayyyy too long without a pause. In the same position...meaning a bit hunched over to get to all those bits and pieces everywhere. I hunch. I never hunched in my life! But now I feel like I could be easily cast as Igor, the assistant to Dr Frankenstein....lolol

It's funny but at the same time, it is not. It is all about posture and I have definitely let myself go. What all this pandemic and lockdown situation since 2020 has done to me is that I have become even more fanatical about working and trying to keep everything afloat. More hunching down in my case. If I keep this up I will shrink into a 4foot nothing human being and dragging my eh "assets" on the pavement (sorry about this image i just put into your head...lolol). 

So, Paul has dragged me out of the dye room and made me stop work for a day. It's not enough but it is a start.

On Wednesday we went to Mt Baw Baw, which is relatively close by (I lived in Canada, where, when I grew up, my uncle there said "Let's go get Pizza, it's just around the corner" (and He meant a 4 hour drive) ...Anyway, I digress...

So this strange thing happened where Paul and myself hopped into the car and drove up to Mt Baw Baw where I saw gorgeous Snow Gums, hiked up the mountain to enjoy the view (view was awesome, hike was exhausting...but I have absolutely no stamina anymore...mental note to myself: I so gotta start walking again !!!!!) and even saw two cute dingos, the back end of a Mt Baw Baw green Frog AND SNOW!!! Yes, there was a bit left on the mountain: We had a bit of a snow ball throwing. The views were amazing and we had a ball !

The ramp you see there is part of the awesome Mountain bike track! 

Snow Gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora) is magical ! 

While this iconic tree is often associated with the Alpine regions of Australia.   The twists and turns in the trunks and limbs of these trees that makes them so identifiable is caused by the cold, windy, often harsh alpine conditions, with hundreds of years of environmental impact visible in the folds and forms of some of these trees

 

That little bit of change of scenery was much needed for both of us and we so have to do it more often. 

The day after Paul went back to his shed to make some gorgeous new drop spindles AND new fabulous wrist distaffs , which you can see in the What's New section of the swww.ixchel.com.au ! Also there, some new fun colourways I have been working on in Gothic Tops plus a restock/re-dyeing of other Gothic Colourways, since thankfully so many people keep wanting more of that amazing blend.

Dark Secrets Colourway

Secret Garden Colourway

 

No real rest for the "wicked enablers" they say, because right now a new rare sheep breed blend is soaking and being prepared to get dyed today and over the weekend in between me carding the November clubs. The Rare sheep breed blend will debut next Friday and the November Clubs will all be shipped out on the 14th and 15th of November.  The December Clubs will get their dyebath next week as well so they can be shipped end of November. This was the deadline for overseas shipments so everybody will receive their club parcels before Christmas. yeah !

If you are eager to be part of the Art Journey fibre, batt or sock yarn club, please sign up: all the details are on www.ixchel.com.au. Want a combination of all? or would you like to have all your three month clubs sent out at once at the end of the cycle to save on shipping? Please contact me.

I am still planning to do the 12 days of Christmas of course. I am still trying to figure out the technical things and more about that closer to the date.  In short: it is all happening !!!

I hope you are all enjoying your craft time and please know that there are heaps of fun, fibery and yarny things in the works to make it all even more exciting !  More Fun to come before the end of the year !

Big hugs,

Charly

 

Lilac Blooms and Deluge: Spring is Sprung a leak...

it certainly was a Halloween to remember! It seems like so long ago already with all that has been happening here in the valley: storms, power outages, no internet and now no phone coverage (telstra is still not on top of their sh8tstorm apparently) and rain, rain and more rain.l So much rain that the Yarra River had broken its banks, the little Yarra River close to us had as well and there was even so much deluge that the storm drains could not cope. No where to go the water thought "why not park here?" and started to inundate the streets of our nearby towns of Yarra Junction, Lilydale and Healesville. It was all happening.

The water has subsided now but it sure was mayhem !

 

I was very happy I took a video of the lilac tree briilliantly in bloom, before the rain and the wind blew it all away. you can see the video here on my insta @ixchelbunny

No wonder there was a lot of dyeing done in these gorgeous lilac purples and greens. I have been busy again, even without power because you know, improvisation is my super power...lol, You can find heaps of these gorgeous lilac colours on both the freshly hand dyed Magic tops in teh WHAT'S NEW section this week AND NEW IxCHeL Sock yarn ! Of course there are heaps of other new  colourways available as well ! Like this fab Rainbow to put a smile on your face!

 The beautiful thing about these Magic tops is the rainbow dyed Fire Star fibres blended all the way through. They create a fabulous magical touch to the top and the yarn or felted art work it will become. As soon as the sunlight hits this blend, it lights up like a rainbow unicorn.

There are also some more Lair of the Bearded Dragon goodies that are NEW: 

New Twist it little helpers in gorgeous Elm wood and a fabulous Mountain Ash that just shimmers and shines. Twist it little helpers are super handy: not only are they great orifice hooks but they also have a WPI gauge to measure your handspun yarn  AND nice little handy grooves at the end of the handle so you canb twist your handspun yarn around it and "park" your yarn while you get yourself a cuppa tea.

AND A new Tibetan support spindle with Rose Quartz inlay !

If that is not all:

I have some November club news! The artist inspiration this month is the amazing master weaver from the Bauhaus movement of the early 1920s: Gunta Stoelzl.

I grew up surrounded by tapestry and weaving. I love tapestry. I love weaving. I’m super lucky to be surrounded by my ancestors rugs and tapestry in my humble abode and they always are an inspiration to me.
When it comes to art, tapestry is one of those areas that is hardly ever mentioned. I did a club right at the start of the IxCHeL art journey of “lady and the unicorn” tapestries from the Middle Ages so hey, it’s about time I did one made by one of the most influential design periods of the 20th century: BAUHAUS and one of its (only) female masters : Gunta Stölzl. She was a force to be reckoned with in weaving and teaching. Although the Bauhaus school of design attracted and was open to lots of female students, there was only one who became a master. The school was very avant-garde, but in the 1920s despite all of that bravado there was obviously still a patriarchal viewpoint and lots of female students were “guided” towards weaving rather than design and sculpture. Despite that there were lots of female designers and artists who made their mark. It would have been even more if the Nazis didn’t shut the school down because it was subversive and degenerate in their opinion… (my opinion: #fucknazis)

If it wasn’t for Guntas experiments with alternative weave structures and experiments with “new” fibre ingredients, there might never have been a Wassily or an “African” chair, by the designer Breuer, also from Bauhaus, who worked with Stölzl to create the fabulous woven fabric able to work with his amazingly intricate chair designs.
Anyway, I am going too much into detail here…lol🤣

A full and very interesting biography about the life of Gunta Stölzl in a super turbulent time is accompanying the November Art Journey Club.

November and December clubs are totally sold out , BUT you can sign up for the next round starting in January! Just head to the IxCHeL Club   and read all about the fibre, yarn and batt art journey clubs. If you are over seas and would like to have all your clubs sent in one go to save on postage or if you would like to sign up for a combination of all three clubs or any combination you can think of: DM me if you have any questions okay? Always happy to enable😉

The October club photos have been posted on my insta and facebook pages but in case you missed them, here they are:

This weekend I will be dyeing and carding lots of fibres again and the November club will hopefully be ready to ship end of next week or the Monday after, depending if we get any good sunny days to speed up the drying process,

Then it is straight into the December club which will be shipped late November so all of the club members  will receive it before Christmas !

Talking about Christmas: I am also planning another TWELVE DAYS of Xmas fundraiser again, like every year. More on that very , very soon !

Have lots of fun browsing the What's New section in the IxCHeL shop !

Wishing you all a very creative and fun week filled with hopefully some sunshine more than rain !!

Big hugs

Charly