The first time I saw a rabbit being spun, it was in molt, sitting quietly in the lady’s lap. She had her little spinning wheel at the rabbit show and was drawing a strand of fiber from the bunny and spinning. Just like that. And it looked so very easy the way she was doing it.
Angora is from a rabbit. Mohair is from an Angora Goat! Don’t get confused here. So this little white Angora rabbit was sitting in the lady’s lap and seeming not to mind that he was loosing all his fur to the spinning wheel. Since most show rabbits are groomed daily, this bunny didn’t have any knots or mats in his fur and it was easy for her to draw off the loose fibers into her spinning.
A friend of mine had some Angora bunny fur from her rabbit in a gallon pickle jar in the fridge. She brought it to a show where we were demonstrating spinning and weaving. She wanted to use my carding machine to comb this stuff out. Total failure!! This fur was so very fine that my carder drums were way too coarse to comb it. We tried blending it with wool, silk, and in desperation with some Pima cotton. It still wouldn’t blend, comb, nothing. It was clumped on the carder drum just as nastily as it was in the jar. I tried hand picking it out, I tried flicking it and then trying to spin it. Nothing was working with this Angora fiber.. Spinning was just a series of clumps, not the smooth thread she wanted for trimming a sweater.
A couple of mistakes she made were: 1. she didn’t have time to daily groom this bunny. That would have saved us a lot of time and cursing in trying to comb it, and 2. she clipped the fur off the bunny rather than combing it off or plucking it off. I have worked with some other bunny spinners since getting this fiber and it is much, much easier to deal with the Angora if the bunnies are combed or brushed at least once a week.
Much care should be used in removing the fur from the rabbit. They do bite when hurt! Don’t try to pluck tight fur. Just take that which is loose and would shed off anyway. If the rabbit is groomed frequently it might be alright to shear them as with sheep. Take care not to let the Angora felt. It is too much trouble to card it back out. Don’t allow alfalfa and other feed stuffs to get in the fur. It doesn’t come out. Much less likely to come out of that than out of sheep’s wool and it won’t come out of that either.
Angora bunnies should be housed in clean, comfortable hutches with air conditioning or fans in hot weather. Other rabbits can have their frozen water bottles, but the moisture from these makes the fur clump as if you deliberately felted it. Bunny fur must be spun very tightly as it is so very fine and very slick surfaced. It will fuzz out when washed and look like the bunny itself.
Showing posts with label dust bunnies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dust bunnies. Show all posts
Monday, February 4, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Housekeeping??
Housekeeping is a fairly simple task to do daily, right? Not for me it isn’t. I would much rather be sitting at my wheel or loom than running a dust mop. If one doesn’t live in an ancient mud hut, run the vacuum around the rooms quickly on a daily basis, picking up and putting in a basket what does not belong in that room. Wash the few dishes and stack them to dry or stash them in the dishwasher. Start a load of laundry if necessary.
If you live in the ancient mud hut, like I do, it is just a bit more complicated. Run the spider-chaser duster around the edges of the ceilings, run the dust mop over the middle of the floors, and then move some of the dust around on top of the furniture. Gather into that basket everything that doesn’t belong in the room chosen for the “lick n promise” cleaning today.
My 100 year old adobe, ancient mud hut, is not air tight. I don’t have air conditioning, so the windows are open the three seasons of the year when it is possible. The wind blows; the adobes seem to shed dirt. The windows are open so dust devils fill the house with pure dirt on nearly daily basis. Not too much problem, just sort of keeping it to a minimum is all that is required.
The other problems with housekeeping are the little critters like clothing moths, silverfish, and carpet beetles. They must be removed!! We bring them home with every box and bag from almost every store we walk into. It is best not to bring boxes into the house. Open them out doors and bring in the contents!
Put all fleece from any source into a trash bag, tie it up tight and put it into the freezer for about three or four days. This won’t kill the eggs, but will kill any adults in the fleece. Take the fleece out on the lawn and shake it well. This should cause most of the insect eggs to drop out where they can hatch without eating your fleece. That should keep most of the critters out of the house.
I like aromatic herbs in little sachets all over the house. It not only makes the house smell nicer, it is environmentally friendly, and it chases all those unwanted critters elsewhere. They do not like the sharper more pungent smell. Chamomile, sandlewood, thyme, basil, sage, lavender, cloves, cinnamon, any of the herbs and spices with a nice pungent odor are just fine. Make up the little sachets from nylon net or silk netting. They take only a few minutes to run a couple of stitch lines. Tie the tops with a pretty ribbon. Spread these around on end tables, shelves, in small pretty dishes on tables, and on window sills.
I like to keep whole cloves in the pockets of my wool garments when they are hanging in the closets. Be sure to take them out before sending garment to the dry cleaners and replace them once the garment is home again. Lavendar makes any drawer smell especially nice.
Do not seal any natural fiber, fleece, yarn, or garment up in plastic. It must breathe! If it needs to be kept fairly dust free, place it in a pillow case and baste the end shut. This is death to loads of antique quilts whether made of cotton or wool. Also do not allow any of your fine fabrics to touch the cedar walls of the cedar chests. Get some archival or acid free tissue paper to line the chest with. The oils in the cedar wood will stain most fabrics and it is impossible to remove these stains.
We will spit-polish, to our white-glove sisters’ approval, when we run out of our stashes. The only thing that must absolutely be done daily is to oil your wheel on any of the moving parts so they don’t squeak! Chasing dust bunnies and spiders can really wait til next week, don’t you think?
If you live in the ancient mud hut, like I do, it is just a bit more complicated. Run the spider-chaser duster around the edges of the ceilings, run the dust mop over the middle of the floors, and then move some of the dust around on top of the furniture. Gather into that basket everything that doesn’t belong in the room chosen for the “lick n promise” cleaning today.
My 100 year old adobe, ancient mud hut, is not air tight. I don’t have air conditioning, so the windows are open the three seasons of the year when it is possible. The wind blows; the adobes seem to shed dirt. The windows are open so dust devils fill the house with pure dirt on nearly daily basis. Not too much problem, just sort of keeping it to a minimum is all that is required.
The other problems with housekeeping are the little critters like clothing moths, silverfish, and carpet beetles. They must be removed!! We bring them home with every box and bag from almost every store we walk into. It is best not to bring boxes into the house. Open them out doors and bring in the contents!
Put all fleece from any source into a trash bag, tie it up tight and put it into the freezer for about three or four days. This won’t kill the eggs, but will kill any adults in the fleece. Take the fleece out on the lawn and shake it well. This should cause most of the insect eggs to drop out where they can hatch without eating your fleece. That should keep most of the critters out of the house.
I like aromatic herbs in little sachets all over the house. It not only makes the house smell nicer, it is environmentally friendly, and it chases all those unwanted critters elsewhere. They do not like the sharper more pungent smell. Chamomile, sandlewood, thyme, basil, sage, lavender, cloves, cinnamon, any of the herbs and spices with a nice pungent odor are just fine. Make up the little sachets from nylon net or silk netting. They take only a few minutes to run a couple of stitch lines. Tie the tops with a pretty ribbon. Spread these around on end tables, shelves, in small pretty dishes on tables, and on window sills.
I like to keep whole cloves in the pockets of my wool garments when they are hanging in the closets. Be sure to take them out before sending garment to the dry cleaners and replace them once the garment is home again. Lavendar makes any drawer smell especially nice.
Do not seal any natural fiber, fleece, yarn, or garment up in plastic. It must breathe! If it needs to be kept fairly dust free, place it in a pillow case and baste the end shut. This is death to loads of antique quilts whether made of cotton or wool. Also do not allow any of your fine fabrics to touch the cedar walls of the cedar chests. Get some archival or acid free tissue paper to line the chest with. The oils in the cedar wood will stain most fabrics and it is impossible to remove these stains.
We will spit-polish, to our white-glove sisters’ approval, when we run out of our stashes. The only thing that must absolutely be done daily is to oil your wheel on any of the moving parts so they don’t squeak! Chasing dust bunnies and spiders can really wait til next week, don’t you think?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
