Merry Christmas:)

Snow people!

One more gift done. Aren't they a lovely couple? I was tempted to keep them but I guess I can share.

Shhh!

Don't tell John but this is what I made him for Christmas. The first picture is a pair of sheep's wool mixed with angora mittens that are hand dye, hand spun, and hand knit. The orange flecks are the sheeps wool. They turned our really nice.

These are a pair of hand knit socks made of wool, alpaca, and nylon.

And this little lovely is hand spun and hand knit hat made of left over bits of alpaca, angora, and camel. Can you believe that, camel? I just had to try spinning it. It is the least soft of the three fibers but worked well in this hat.

Now I just have to keep him from looking at the blog for a couple more weeks.

Bill just wants to say hi:)

Exhausted!

Yes, that would be the word to describe me today. Since this is a 'fiber' related blog I thought I should post some pics of a rescued Komondor being shaved down AFTER three years of neglect. A client rescued this boy. File this under crappy fiber.

It's coming off in one piece!


I'm being such a good boy for never having this done before.

Look, a tail!

Are we done yet??

. I'm guessing at least 5 lbs. of matted fur.

Sorry I didn't get an after picture of this fine fellow but he left a happier client and I felt a sense of accomplishment:)

He bakes!

Once upon a very long time ago John use to bake. In fact, he even owned a bakery, however, I have seen no sign of this in the nearly 15 years we have been together. Yesterday, the sun, the moon, and the stars must have aligned because John baked! He made the most awesome sticky buns and I have pictures to prove this... YUM!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

There comes a time when our rabbits must part with all that fiber we have so diligently managed to make our fiber stash richer. Bree was cut down last week after acquiring her third leg at the last show.

Bree before

Bree after

Fortunately, Bree isn't too vain to show you what she looks like under all that 'hair and make-up.'

A Buck!

Not a bunny buck but a DEER buck! How cool is that? Yesterday John and I spotted this fine fellow in a field up the street from us and he was there all day. Too bad they cut down the soybean today now he probably won't come back:(

A show

Judge Randy Waggoner going over Bree

Can you guess which rabbit is mine?

Me getting some assistance from the judge.

Today John and I went to another rabbit show. I was quite surprised to see competion there. 16 English Angoras in total showed up. I am happy to report that Bree won best of breed and got her third leg thereby making her a Grand Champion! So now Edie, Armando and Bree all from the same litter are grand champions. Not too shabby:)

Oh, one more picture...

My two able bodied assistance John and Roxy came to assist me:)

The Convention

Me, Betty, and Chris.

What a gorgeous color.

This is my favorite natural color to spin. So pretty.

Look at those furnishings! Chu's Stewart wants more food.

Chu's Nolan. This handsome flirty little boy won Best of Breed!

Today John and I drove down to Louisville, KY to the rabbit convention. Just imagine 23,000 plus rabbits in one show! It was nice to visit with rabbit friends and see the competion.

The fruits of my labor

A friend of mine recently gave me some tips on dying fiber prior spinning. Usually I would not do this as it is easier to dye a hank of yarn but the end product can be very different if you use other methods. In this first picture I have put some soaking wet fiber in a roasting pan and got a little crazy with some dye.

Now I have a heaping mess of matted up fiber.

After I carded it out and spun a ply it's beginning to look like something that resembles yarn.

Presto! Now we have yarn. It is a long road from rabbit to yarn but if you have patience and enjoy the process you eventually will get a lovely end product.

Happy Birthday...

To ME!! Yep, it's my birthday. Or at least it will be in a few short days and this is what I got. It is a Coral Burst ornamental crab apple tree and it makes me very happy:) For years John threatened to cut down a lovely crab apple tree that sat in this very same spot due to it's failing health but this tree hugger wouldn't allow it. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had her way with the former tree during that nasty wind storm a few weeks ago and snapped it in two. I was heart broken:( My saddness was short lived when I realized I could replace the white flowereing tree with A PINK ONE! With time, this itty bitty beauty should grow to look something like this...

http://www.naturesgreennursery.com/Coral%20Burst%20Crabapple.htm

John worked hard picking out this tree, digging the hole, and planting the tree. What a great gift!

While we are on the subject of trees, check out this fine new addition to the backyard.

It is quite a beauty for sure but try explaining that to the dog in the foreground. Angus was all for the big hole dug in the backyard until the new tree occupied it. You would swear it was the enemy invading! For a dog who never seems to be out of 'water' when it comes to trees this one just wasn't in the database. He has since adjusted.

A show

It was good to be back showing this past weekend. The weather was perfect and the show site was so close to home I would have gone even if I didn't have rabbits to show. the first picture is judge Mike Adams going over Bree.



Judge Mike going over Too Sexy.



Moving on to French Angora, Lisa and Annette intently listening to the judge's comments.

Best of Breed winner in show A was my white doe Bree and best of breed winner in show B was my chocolate tort doe Too Sexy.

A fiber fest!!

Christmas for most comes December 25 but not for me! Every year near the middle of September John and I have been attending the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. It started out in one teeny tiny tent 11 years ago at a dairy farm and has continued to grow to it's present size of two HUGE tents plus various outside vendors. It is a great family event suited for everyone since they have ice cream, goats, cows, picnic area, and not least of all FIBER!

Annette, myself, and Lisa who are also my fellow rabbit show friends.

A curious alpaca. Isn't he cute?? No, I didn't buy him.

This is one of my weakness'. A rainbow of potential projects in the form of many hanks of yarn. I resisted the urge to buy anymore sock yarn as there was A LOT of that here.

I behaved myself for the most part not buying too much:)

Bunny girls

Hey! Remember these, the whole reason for the inception of this blog??? It's Edie, Gabrielle, and Bree all grown up! Despite s somewhat crazy year I have actually been able to keep up the buns enough to grand two. That is miraculous now that I think about it.

(Armando the brother could not attend this photo shoot due to a prior commitment.)

Hello??

Tap, tap... Is anybody out there?? I know, I know. It's been eons since last we met here but what can I say. There has been nothing blog worthy to report! Now that worked has slowed down a bit I can be more normal and take a picture or two to share.

Stay tuned.

Alpacas!

John and I paid a visit to a local alpaca ranch last weekend that had over 400 alpacas. The seminar was very informative and we learned a lot. Not to worry, we aren't switching from rabbits to alpacas, we just like looking!

This is a Suri alpaca. It has a more silky texture to it's fiber. The rest of the alpacas were huacaya alpacas that had a more sheeplike texture, but still very soft. Not nearly as soft as my rabbits but softer than most wool.



Look at all the alpacas!!





A mom and her 3 day old baby.



The mom keeps a close eye on her baby.


This is a baby making date. It's not very romantic.




Even though this female alpaca has a 3 week old baby she is ready to be bred again. She will be pregnant for 344 days.