Infinity Scarf

Infinity scarf in progress; double strand of Satin angora and nylon metallic yarn.

The Evening Star

Vesper is Latin, meaning "evening star," and shares part of its meaning with the religious term evening vespers, meaning "evening prayers." We lost our own Vesper last Sunday. It's taken me all week to be able to write about it. She was an older girl by rabbit standards and was cherished for her sweet shy personality and her amazingly dense and beautiful black coat. She was second generation in my French Angora line-her sire was Evander and her dam was Angelica. She will not be forgotten.

Vesper 2008-2013

Angelica

One of my two original French Angora foundation does, Angelica, left this world on Friday. She was an old girl by rabbit standards and slipped away in my arms, after having what was probably a heart attack. She was a gentle girl who loved to have her head scratched before eating her meals.  She was born in a snow storm in our potting shed during a particularly bitter winter and she and her litter mates were almost frozen when I got to them.  I was able to revive 5 of the 10 kits by warming them in my hands.  Considering her precarious start in life I would say she had a good run. We built a small memorial in the back yard this weekend for all the rabbits that have lived at Lilac Haven and who are buried in our backyard.

Yes this is her. The dark nose that she had the first year faded out over time.

Luxury Nests

The baby goldfinches in our yard will have posh nests this spring. I gave Andrew a bunch of my shorter angora fiber that I took off my french angoras this spring and he put it in a dispenser for the birds.  Two pairs of goldfinches were busy yesterday gathering up fiber for their nest. One of them got so exuberant that she was covered with the stuff.  It was so much fun to watch and they seemed  delighted and almost playful as they flew back and forth all day collecting their treasure.

Discovering the fiber

Off with the first batch

 Getting pretty exuberant with the "harvest"

 The male "supervising"

 Picking up another batch

This is mine! Go find your own!!!

From Bison to Yarn

DH has an interesting job as a forest ecologist/prairie management coordinator.  Last week he was seeding one of the paddocks at his workplace where the Bison roam and found a small section of shed Bison down.  Bison lay on the down in the winter months and as it gets warmer of course they shed it.  Click here for some interesting information about Bison fiber which is considered to be a luxury fiber.

 Shed Bison down-this is laying flat in one side of our sink so you can get an idea of amount. It is all matted into a piece that feels like thick felt. The down had no odor or oil and contained some lighter, probably sun bleached areas.  It was mostly dusty with bit of earth clinging to it.

 As soon as you wet the fiber it is easy to pull apart. Washed fiber/24 hours to dry.

 Carded fiber. This particular bit of fiber was mostly very short to medium in length.

 This preparation of Bison was hairy with a varied staple length.  It required a tight twist to keep the yarn from separating.  All of the hair and varied lengths has resulted in a more rustic looking yarn.

25 yards of heavy weight yarn/rewashed to set twist. Very soft (not scratchy yarn).

 

 

Knit One...

This past week I have been busy making baby booties for the new three babies in our family. I also made some knitted driving mitts for my godfather who is celebrating his 70th birthday this coming weekend.  The baby booties are 60/40 red satin angora and cream alpaca.  The driving mitts are 100% blue-faced leicester wool and are very warm. Hoepfully the recipients will love them as much as I do. Amazing what one can accomplish without the distraction of a computer. Ours in in repair hopefully coming out today.

Antique Rabbit Book

I was perusing eBay not long ago trying to find a vintage book for hubby that he has wanted for some time.  While looking I came across a vintage 1948 edition of Rabbits by Herbert S. Zim and decided to purchase it for myself.  When it arrived the other day I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely illustrations done by Joy Buba and the inclusion of information devoted to the angora rabbit.  While seeking to learn more about the author I discovered that he wrote dozens of the golden nature guides of which I have probably ten.  My brother and I referred often to those books as children and seemingly learned everything we knew about natural history at that point from Zim's books.  Here are a few of the pages for your viewing pleasure. Oh and I did find the vintage book for hubby and gave it to him for Valentines Day. He was delighted.

Stansborough Grey and a Surprise

I purchased some Stansborough Grey locks from a blogging friend and fellow fiber enthusiast.  I'm always interested in spinning different types of wool just for comparison. Here's some information on the breed (thanks Sherry). Apparently Stansborough sheep were discussed in a recent edition of Wild Fibers magazine (btw-the summer issue features an angora rabbit on the cover).  Yesterday my sister in law helped me card my washed locks on her electric carder and then we added some sable colored french angora fiber from my rabbit Dylan to the roving. The Stansborough alone was had a wonderful sheen and was fairly soft as far as wool goes.  The angora added some additional loft and softness to the roving. I'm anxious to spin it and will post photos of the final product. Also the day that my locks arrived was one of the crappiest I've had in recent memory.  I had a migrane and overall felt like dog doo.  Inside the package was a small envelope and inside it was a darling little shrinky dink bunny.  That made my day!  Sherry and her daughter had been busy crafting shrinky dinks this summer and sent along one for me to enjoy.  Haven't seen a shrinky dink in years-had them myself as a kid and Elisha had them when she was little too. Anyway I made a necklace out of it!

 Roving from Stansborough Grey

Dylan

A shrinky dink

And a necklace...

Working with Wool

I got a third wind this weekend. I've knitted a hat for my uncle and am working on a coat for Daisy. I'd like to have her coat done by the weekend so she can wear it for Halloween. She has a pumpkin hat that she hates so I thought I'd give her a reprieve from the dorky outfits this year.  I've been grooming rabbits all weekend. They don't look too bad but their cages are a mess with wool strands all over the wire on their cages that drive me nuts. The moisture in the air doesn't help in regard to sanitation matters either because nothing dries.  

 Raw Satin angora fiber

 Hand Spun Yarn

Sweet Ryan relaxing

AWG

A Wool Gathering was in Yellow Springs today. What a great day for it!  I went and visited with my friend Lisa at Somerhill ,who was a vendor, and also met mom and dad for lunch.  Of course I didn't come back empty handed as I got a couple skeins of yarn from Valhalla Acres. I love her style of spinning and the natural colors of yarn she offers. I plan to weave another angora/BFL shawl and got this yarn as an accent color.