Carpe diem..Carpe filum (seize the day…seize the yarn)

 

Spring has finally sprung here in the Yarra Valley: the bulbs are jumping out of the earth showing off their blooms, the lilac is blooming and all the flowers are coming out , flaunting their wares. As usual I have been inspired by all of this and more to dye a blend I have just made : Rapunzel. A super soft top with some added gold bling fit to feature in a fairytale ♥️

I have added new colourways and I hope you like them: ranging from pumpkin sparkle to tulip mania and electric dreams.  Here are some inspirational photos to show you how I dream up these colours to come together: 

Theer are so many inspirations all around us….so much inspiration..so little time!And, the Stephen west MKAL is almost starting in October! So I have dyed up another gradient ! I thought it would be great to have a more witchy, halloweeny kind of gradient since the mkal is in October!! Why not go total witchcraft!!

Here is the witchcraft geogradient on offer here : 

Paul has made some beautiful spindles again: inlaid with Turquoise or Gaspeite stone and two amazingly beautiful Osage orange ones . Support spindles and drop spindles ! So, please check them out on the website if you like to spin on some very special spindles ♥️

https://ixchel.com.au/collections/spindles

 

 It’s been extremely hard to keep myself “together” to write this blog post while I am also in a puddle of a mess. I just was told of the passing of one of my close and dear to my heart friends Erika. She was the most kind, passionate, compassionate and loving human beings I have been privileged enough to be around. The loss of such a dear friend is still extremely raw and I feel for her beautiful family and so many friends in the spinning and knitting community that she has touched with her kindness. 
Always, she  will always be part of my heart, my inspiration, my smile, my world. I will so miss her in this world. I wish there were more people like her and will cherish her memory for as long as I live ♥️

Carpe diem my friends and Carpe filum ♥️ life is too short: spend it on doing things you love and sharing it with those who love you ♥️

 

 

 

big hugs

Charly

 

It’s always a bit of Halloween here !

Another week has flown by and it now has come to a point that there are so many things that have to be done and no matter how much I do, there’s always more. So much fluff, so little time ! Instead of doing what I used to do, which was, stress myself out and stay up late, I reassure myself that there will always be more to do and I can only do so much and I go to bed at a reasonable time....which may still turn out to be 3am..because I just needed to finish spinning and fill that bobbin.... or like this week, have to deal with lots of stressful administrative and supplier stuff. I won’t bother you with that last bit bu I can assure you that trying to survive running a small fibre farm and a small craft business, is not all “playing with fibre, paints, dyes and spinning”. You have to deal with sooooooooo much more. No matter how much I try to get everything right, especially dealing with getting my hands on rare breeds or  on getting suppliers to live up to their promises, it’s not always easy. Sometimes it is very complicated and hard and super stressful. This has been a couple of hard weeks in that regard. 
Leave me to figure out something to do with yarn or fibre or spinning or dyeing: I am right there, enthusiastically. On the other hand, me having to deal with people who do not do their jobs as they are contracted to leaves me in a cold sweat and stressed out of my brain. I guess it’s one of the reasons I did not go ahead practicing Law: I’m a total non confrontationalist by nature…lol

Anyway, that’s enough about me…lol

As it comes to fibre and dyeing though,  my mind never stops to come up with new and exciting ideas and blends and well, special fun fluffy stuff to create and because it is almost Halloween I thought it would be super nice to offer you a Super Special "Halloween Fibre Treats Bundle" filled with Spectacular, Spooky themed, Luxurious themed tops and lots and lots of treats! More about that later in this blog ! AND also offer you two fab halloween needle felting projects: six different Halloween ornaments and a magical owl! Pre orders for the needle felting kits that have everything you need in them plus step by step instructions, are open til midnight AEST September 24th and they will be shipped first week of October! You can find these needle felting kits right here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new

I have also added more glow in the dark yarns to the shop this week, because it is a fabulous way to knit or crochet a little cute ghost or even a beanie that glows in the dark! 
You can find the glow in the dark yarn right here: https://ixchel.com.au/products/glow-in-the-dark-yarn

This glow in the dark beanie pattern is available on Ravelry right here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spooky-bat-beanie

is that all for this update this week? No! Of course not! I made some gorgeous enamel sugar skull stitch marker sets as well. They are amazing to use in either your knitting or crochet, or you can use them as progress keepers. You can find them here: 

https://ixchel.com.au/products/sugar-skulls-stitch-marker-sets

I was just telling you, before I went off in a totally different direction, that I was busy. Yes! Although there are no fibre or yarn markets that I am doing at this time (health issues are putting a lot of restrictions on me atm), to produce the fibres and yarns to go on these weekly blogs AND do the monthly clubs AND custom orders…well, it takes a lot of time. 

I absolutely love doing what I do . I feel now more than anytime before: Art and Craft is what saves me. I can focus on creating, colours, softness of fibres, blending sumptuous new fluffy combinations together and paint. It is a life saver....even when everything else around me seems to crumble, doesn't make any sense at all, or, there are people who are knowingly or unknowingly subjecting so many people to so much harm, I always have my Art and I always have my Craft. 

"Art Matters, because your imagination can change the world" - Neil Gaiman.

I am stubborn. I also believe in Art. Art and business however can be very dark and terrible partners. When we create something it feels like an adventure and fun! When you create something to survive on, that boundary is not only blurred but totally distorted: is it an adventure and fun OR is it work?  

Also, we all know that when you create something, whether you weave or spin or make yarn or paint: it is not always perfect at the first go. 

There is lots of experimenting, frogging, starting again, maybe even frustration because our imagination envisaged it totally different to what it looks like in real life. 

I love the little titbits of inspirational wisdom from Neil Gaiman (yes him again...lol...):

"When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. you need to be thick skinned...to learn that not every project will survive.  A freelance life, a life in the Arts , is sometimes like putting messages in bottles, on a desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you".

This blog and what I create is exactly that:  I will keep on swimming, creating and thinking up new exciting fluffy stuff. So keep tuned ! I so appreciate your support! Which brings me to the very exciting offer of tonight: A super special Halloween Fibre treat parcel offer ! Great to spin always, because let's face it, Halloween can be celebrated every day if you like 😉

You will receive 3 x 100g IxCHeL hand dyed tops, special Halloween stitch markers, some extra fun fibre surprises and a nice yummy treats as well ! I mean, who can possibly resist??!

Pre-orders close Thursday, September 28th.
All Halloween treat parcels will be shipped Friday October 6th, 2023. 

Have lots of fun exploring the shop this week and if you have any questions or requests: let me know ! You know I always love to enable ♥️

Big hugs

Charly

 

 

Expect excitement

 

The sky was filled with electric excitement: I was running here, there and everywhere, getting the september clubs dyed and dry, getting loads of yarn prep done for this update and…..then the power went out for two days…obviously the grid could not handle nice weather, blue skies and absolutely no wind to speak of.  Unfortunately I have no technical engineering gene that can make something to harness  the electricity in the sky and the sunshine into something I can use. And no, before you ask me: no we do not have solar power …yet…working on it..but I need to sell an enormous amount of yarn and fibre to be able to pay for that…. I think I’ll have a better chance winning the lottery…lol but I am hopeful and inventive enough so I could make lots of things happening, despite the badly timed power interruptions. If anything, living in rural areas, you learn to improvise and get on with it. So I did.

The one thing that I could not operate without any electricity was our big carder to make the art journey batts, so the shipment of all the September clubs is now set for Monday September 18th. Remember that this September club shipment is the last club shipment of this quarter and if you’d like to continue to receive the monthly art journey parcels, please go to the shop and sign up for the next clubs starting in October here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/clubs

Now what is happening tonight? Well, I don’t know about you but I have been getting super excited about the next knit along organised by the fabulous Stephen West “West knits MKAL Geogradient”. I have been thinking and dyeing some inspiring gradients for you, ranging from Earth, Sky, Ocean, Forest, Wonderland and Magic Coven.

I’ve been inspired by my surroundings and experiences just in case you were wondering. In case you were wondering what my favourites are? Magic Coven is my nr one, followed by Forest and Wonderland.
You can find all the geogradient yarn sets here in the what’s new section: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new

If you would like another colourway gradient dyed especially for you: let me know! I will happily custom dye anything for you!

I have been putting some video reels on my Facebook and Instagram socials, if you’d like to check out and get an idea where the yarn has been drying and where my inspiration came from.

I am very, very fortunate to be surrounded by so many birds, wildlife and magical trees. 

No matter what is happening that stresses me out..and believe me there are atm (not getting into that now…maybe later…) just being outside working and watching the wildlife always puts a smile on my face.

I don’t know about you, but I am going to put my feet up tonight, get some reading done, knit, relax, before the busy , busy weekend of packing and labelling and carding all the September clubs. 
I wish you a fabulous weekend, filled with heaps of crafty fun!

big hugs

Charly

Happy Bunny Tops and Cute Stitch Markers

Another busy week at the funny farm....eh I mean fibre farm...lolol

There has been a huge amount of blending and dyeing happening again plus prepping all the september club fibres and yarns but more about that later.

This week I have a very special blend to offer you: Happy Bunny Tops. I have put this blend together because I found that there were hardly any hemp fibres or blends with this amazing plant fibre available in Australia at all..

In 2019, at the Bendigo show I showcased the Happy Sheep blend for the first time and now it’s the time for my Happy Bunny Blend to shine. I started this happy bunny blend with hemp (albeit with a slightly different fibre contents) way back in 2016 and I thought it was time to do some more !

Hemp always has this stigma attached to it that almost always makes people think you smoke the plant rather than see it for how amazing and versatile this plant really is. In so called Industrial hemp, which is also part of the marihuana/cannabis family, there is no THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis, the ingredient which gives the meaning to "feeling high" ..is not present in the hemp grown for industrial purposes). Growing industrial hemp as a farmer is totally different  from growing medicinal cannabis. 

 

Hemp is really one of the most versatile plants known. It can be grown in most climates, is drought resistant, requires little fertiliser, no pesticides or herbicides, and has a range of uses. The seeds can be used as food and fodder, and can be processed to produce hemp oil. The stalks provide fibre for textiles, clothing, rope, paper and building products. The bulk of the woody stalks can be used for paper, animal bedding, and building material. The hemp plant biomass can be used to produce fuel. Anything that trees/timber can be used to produce, hemp can produce and more, including house construction. Actually in the early 1900s Henry Ford built the bodywork of a car out of hemp fibres that proved to be ten times more dent resistant than those made out of steel and weighed ¾ less ! Due to the lobbying and pressure of the steel industry , well, we all know what happened…the bodywork of cars are not made of hemp fibre blends anymore are they….

A hemp crop can provide the basics of life – food, shelter, clothing, fuel and medicine. In fact almost anything from 'dynamite to Cellophane' can be made from hemp.

Why use hemp for all these products? There are two main reasons – one ecological, one economic.

Ecological: As a renewable resource from living plants hemp does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. The growing plants absorb as much CO2 as will later be released when oil or other plant matter is burnt. Unlike fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) or nuclear fuels hemp could supply us with raw materials for thousands of years, without ever changing our climate and without producing waste that remains radioactive for millions of years. Hemp is a natural plant material that can be grown with little or no herbicides and pesticides, and little fertiliser. Therefore in terms of the agricultural system it is more ecologically sensitive. In paper and textile production, it can be processed without toxic chemicals, whereas alternatives such a cotton or textiles and wood pulp for paper, require large amounts of toxic chemicals. Because hemp is not a fussy grower and can grow in a wide range of soils and climatic conditions it is ideal for a bio-regional approach. It is a bulky crop and does not require high capital technology to process, making it ideal to process locally, increasing local employment and economy, and saving transport costs and pollution.

Economic: Hemp is the number one biomass producer - 10 tons in approximately 90 – 120 days. One acre of hemp will produce as much fibre as 2-3 acres of cotton. One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as 4 acres of trees. Hemp clothing will last six times as long as cotton clothing. Hemp also does not need any herbecides or pestecised and uses wayyyyy less water to grow than coton does.

Natural fibres from the hemp stalk is extremely durable and can be used in the production of textiles, clothing, canvas, rope, cordage, archival grade paper, paper, and construction materials. There are two principal types of fibres in hemp – bast or long fibres and hurds or inner short fibre. Traditionally hemp has been grown for its valuable and versatile high quality bast fibres.

Bast fibres account for 20-30 percent of the stalk (depending on the seed variety, and planting density). There are two types of bast fibres: primary bast fibres. Primary bast fibres make up approximately 70 percent of the fibres and are long, high in cellulose and low in lignin. Primary bast fibres are the most valuable part of the stalk, and are generally considered to be among the strongest plant fibres known. secondary bast fibres. Secondary bast fibres make up the remaining 30 percent of the bast fibres and are medium in length and higher in lignin. They are less valuable and become more prevalent when the hemp plants are grown less densely, making shorter fatter stalks since they do not have to compete for light. The production or extraction of the primary bast fibres has traditionally been a very labour intensive process, but recently an alternative fibre separation process has been developed using technologies such as ultrasound and steam explosion, which are much less labour intensive. Once separated the bast fibres are ready for spinning and weaving into textiles, or for pulping into high quality pulp. Bast fibres are ideal for specialised paper products such as industrial filters, currency paper or tea bags.

Hurds are the short fibred inner woody core of the hemp plant. They comprise 70-80 percent of the stalk and are composed of libriform fibres which are high in lignin. Traditionally hurds have been considered waste as they are the by-product from bast extraction. The hurds are 50-77 percent cellulose making them ideal for paper making. One acre of hemp can replace 4.1 acres of trees for pulp production. Although the fibres are shorter than bast fibres they are suitable for a range of products such as rayon, biomass fuel, cellophane, food additives, industrial fabrication materials and newsprint pulp.

There was a time that the world depended on this fibre: most ropes for the ships were made out of hemp. In fact England made sure that their colonies produced a lot of this product to fulfill their needs. Unfortunately , the production of hemp stopped when cheaper products like sisal were imported. The second world war made it necessary for America and the allied forces to start to “condone” the growth of hemp again since all the countries who produced sisal and hemp were not able to produce anymore for them. Here follows a recent “discovered” American agriculture department promotion film to explain all the steps in hemp growing and what is needed for the war effort. It shows you the growing AND the further processing and everything that is needed to get the fibres ready for making ropes and yarn.  It is very enlightening.  Enjoy !

China is currently the prime producer of hemp textile. China has had an uninterrupted hemp trade for approximately 6000 years. Other countries are now producing textiles to a lesser extent. The once major hemp textile industry has now almost completely disappeared from the Western world. Currently the bulk of our demand for textiles is met by cotton and synthetics, both of which have serious environmental problems associated with them.

There is a huge change happening though with a production taking place in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania at the moment. There is a big  demand for hemp seed and hemp seed oil and it is starting to make economic sense that the hemp fibres are now also used ! Both to make building materials and fibre products.

 Hopefully we can soon have a bigger production of Australian Hemp fibres to spin and make textiles with. Not only are there environmental benefits through hemp cultivation, hemp fabrics themselves have advantages to us.

Fabrics with at least 50 percent hemp content block the sun's UV rays more effectively than do other fabrics. In comparison to cotton, hemp fibres are longer, stronger, more lustrous and absorbent, and more mildew resistant. Woven and knitted hemp textiles are used in the production of clothing, shoes, apparel, canvas, rugs and upholstery.

Another titbit of information: In 1916 the American government predicted that in 40 years time there would be no need anymore to cut trees down for paper production: hemp production would be enough since 1 acre of hemp would produce the equivalent of 4.1 acres of trees…I guess the prediction didn’t eventuate…but the fact remains: one acre of hemp can produce 3 tonnes of protein, about 4000 liters of fuel and 30 tonnes of fibre.

The Happy Bunny Blend I am offering you today is awesome to work with: the hemp in it will provide lots of strength (great to spin a durable and yet soft yarn ; great for socks) and is just a fabulous blend to spin and knit up. Super soft next to skin wear as well with the fabulous cashmere and angora and silk.

There is only a limited quantity available and you can find them all here: https://ixchel.com.au/products/happy-bunny-hemp-merino-silk-cashmere-tops

The September club is well underway to being finished this weekend which means that , drying weather permitting, the September clubs are on schedule to be shipped out to all the Art Journey Club Members next week ! Yeah ! it is looking super special and here is the club teaser label for this month to give you an idea:

This painting has always mesmerised me: the light, the hypnotic gaze of the girl, the broken window (why?) and what were the couple discussing in the back ground? It only adds to the mystery of the painting that for a very long time this painting was attributed to a male painter David when it was purchased by the Met in NY in 1922. Only after extensive research the attribution was changes and then, all of a sudden "art critics" started to negatively comment on it ... typical....In her fabulous book (2001) “The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work”, Germaine Greer wrote that the picture "does not seek to charm, nor does it seek to portray the sexual vitality of its sitter" and felt that it was a feminist painting in nature (…) a woman painting another woman, who both wanted to become acknowledged in the art world.

All the Art Journey club members will receive their batt, fibre and or yarn club (whichever they signed up for) plus some extras and a biography of the artist and extra info.  Remember that if you are a member of the Art Journey Club 3rd quarter this month is the last of your 3rd quarter club parcels. Sign ups for the 4th quarter of IxCHeL Art Journey Clubs are open now on the shop and you can find them here: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/clubs

What else is there to report? Oh yes !!! Something new ! Because you cannot leave me alone with myself and my ideas for new fun stuff...ROFL  So I have been distracted and making...Stitch Markers ! Becasue hey, why not? and I wanted something fun and colourful and even quirky. So, I am offering you some fun stitch markers of cats hiding in pot plants (because I love cats), some super cute Cactus stitch markers (coz I love cacti), Rainbow stitch markers (Because Love is Love and Rainbows are awesome) plus some very special Fairytale resin stitch markers !!

I mean, you don't even have to use them as stitch markers because they look extremely cute as earrings or pendants as well ! Anything goes I always say !

Here are some photos of the cute stitch markers on offer and the link: https://ixchel.com.au/collections/whats-new (You can find all the stitch markers in the what's new section on the shop this week or, later, you can type in stitch markers in the "hop to it-search box" and you will be transported straight to them.)

On a personal note: I have not dyed my hair yet.. LOL...somehow it always comes down to dyeing fibres and organising the weekly shop updates and work first  rather than self care or...."self upkeep".

I cannot tell you how many times I have said to myself to have more "Me-time" but then I forget, focus extremely hard on what needs to be done to pay the bills and then... it's bed time...LOL  I have to do work on that and...myself...sigh  I'm a work in progress....hahaha

Wishing all of you a fabulous weekend with lots of fun craft time !

Big hugs

Charly

All you need is Love

 

It’s been another crazy week filled with heaps of dyeing, blending, organising, tattooing..eh..I mean pyrographing spindles 😜 and so, so much more! Since theer was so much to do, I OFCOURSE  left it too late to put a lot of effort and time into writing this blog….I know…bad, bad bunny. Lol

I also wanted to dye my hair….but since I’m flapping about all over the place like my usual adhd high functioning self…I cannot seem to find the time to sit myself down into one spot for hours trying to wrangle bleach (yes dears, I need to bleach my hair (coz somewhere underneath I am a dark brown haired person with fabulous streaks a la bride of Frankenstein grey popping through I am sure..lol. At least I think I am, I haven’t been my natural colour since high school…rofl) and then quietly sit for another few hours with dye on my hair trying not to splash every where…it’s Friday…it was delusional of me to think I was ever going to get that to happen.  I am however pretty proud of myself that I gave myself a hair cut…it was about a year since my last hair cut which was a pixie short cut which I absolutely loved, but since my usual hairdresser fabulous person has closed shop, I haven’t felt comfortable going anywhere else…so, I thought “why not cut it myself”…now, as you may realise, it was not an organised cut….more like a “look in the mirror, see what hair stick out in a disorganised manner, grab it quickly and …cut it off….lol.  See me as  “Charly Scissorhands” 🤣

Anyway, I think it looks pretty good…now I just need to get calm enough to attack it with bleach and hair dye🤣 I’m going green (hopefully…🤣 not black)

I had a lot of fun dyeing some amazing silk ribbon as well so they are new to the shop tonight as well! Brilliant for embellishments, crochet, weaving and knitting! 

You can find them all in the yarn section on www.IxCHeL.com.au

What else? Oh yessssss: pyrography! I have pyro’ed some fabulous lotus phang spindles Paul aka Lair of the  Bearded Dragon has turned beautifully, so they’ll be in the shop as well. Particularly proud of the LOVE phang with silver backed Garnets!  You can find this one plus a Discworld one, lots of ghosts and cats and more new spindles in the spindle section of IxCHeL.com.au

Yes, it happens a lot when I start drawing or designing something and then mid way, I go off in a tangent and think “I’ve got some semi precious stones I found a while back…they would be AMAZING in that spindle….and so, there goes another half day of my life trying to figure out how to incorporate jewels into wood knowing light needs to be reflected off the back so you can actually see the colour…yes, physics, light refraction combined with wood turning, craft and invention…and then I can hear you ask me with big roaring laughter “you complain about not having  enough time To do ALL THE THINGS?!”🤣

so yeah…busy…and I haven’t even told you about the handspun yarns! Not to worry: you can find them in the what’s new section in the shop today as well: QIVIUT BLEND YARNS !

Don’t forget: sign ups for the fourth quarter of IxCHeL art journey fibre, yarn and batt clubs are open! 

well, I better get going again… before I start to lose time by thinking of another gazillion things to start!

I wish you a fabulously fun weekend !

big hugs

charly