A Sad Bit of Angora History

Any historical information on angora rabbits is pretty hard to come by.  There are little snippets here and there in encyclopedias on online, but just not a whole lot of detailed information.  Even books dedicated to angoras are a bit sketchy about their history.

So today I came across an intriguing link on Facebook.  I checked all over the website, but I couldn't find their rules governing reprinting their articles, so I hesitate to post the article here.  I'm including the link so you can read for yourself (and so I can find the article when I want to). 

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/nazis-secretly-bred-angora-rabbits-at-concentration-camps?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=atlas-page

I already knew the basics that the article covers, and I'll share them with you so that you can decide whether it's something you want to learn more about. 

The author tells about the raising of angora rabbits in Nazi Germany at the concentration camps.  Of course, the rabbits were treated vastly better than the Jews.  While the subject itself is disturbing to ponder, there are not any photographs in the article to worry about showing to children. 

Novelty Yarn (Don't Throw Those Little Mats Away!)

Our view count is down some days, so I had hoped that the traffic from icky sites was shrinking, but alas, such is not the case.  I wish it didn't bother me so much, but it does.

Anyway, on to a topic that people raising angoras don't normally discuss in public.  Mats.  We just don't want to confess that we sometimes get them in our rabbits, and we want to believe that other breeders don't have this problem, either.

We started raising French angoras because we don't want to deal with mats.  And we still prefer to avoid them when at all possible.  The senior rabbits the girls have here all grow relatively carefree coats.  They really only need two minutes of grooming per week until they are close to shedding their coat.  But junior rabbits usually are an entirely different matter.  Sometimes they have coats that mat way too quickly, even with grooming several times per week.  Usually it is just the nature of the baby fiber, but it can also happen when they take a fancy to rubbing against their water bottles or playing in water crocks, or rubbing against each other if they are sharing a cage.

It used to be so annoying because I viewed it as a complete waste of beautiful fiber.

But now I've come to see it as not a complete waste.  I become a lot less stressed when the girls miss grooming an area on the rabbit and find some mats.  It's good to chill out.

Anyway, the mats are spun into the yarn and provide an interesting texture.  It gets called novelty yarn, and I've been told that novelty yarn actually sells better and commands a higher price than evenly spun yarn.  I can't comment because I can't compare.  I've only sold two mini-skeins of yarn, and those were both novelty yarn.  I've got a couple of skeins to put in our Etsy shop, one white novelty yarn skein and one chocolate lace-weight yarn skein.  We'll see which one sells first.

I think it makes beautiful mittens. 

Bad Stuff Happening

We haven't been posting much at all because we're just depressed about what is going on with the blog.  Unfortunately, for some reason, our traffic has jumped about eight-fold, from the normal 30 hits per day to well over 200.  And it's all due to hits coming from sites dedicated to the number one internet use, which shall remain unmentioned in the hopes of not attracting more of that attention.

So I'm going to delete a bunch of the posts that I think attract that attention and hope that it will correct the problem.  It probably won't, but I have to try.

My First Yarn Sale

Charlotte and I spent this past Saturday (oops, apparently I didn't publish this last month and just now found it) at the UNR Field Day.  Once again, I forgot the camera (and I have only a stupid phone), so no pics.  Anyway, we were there for Charlotte to share her rabbits with youth and adults and talk about raising the bunnies and spinning and knitting their fiber.  Charlotte had her teeny tiny angora bunnies for sale and was pretty happy to bring home $40 for the ten she sold (she probably could have earned twice as much if she'd remembered to get them out before lunch).  Her last buyer wanted four, but she didn't have any cash on hand.  Hmmm....

We were trying to figure out a way around this dilemma that didn't involve us making a special delivery later.  I couldn't remember my PayPal account password.  I suggested our Etsy shop, and she could buy everything there.  Unfortunately, I somehow set it up so that only one teeny tiny bunny was listed, and not the dozens that are available.  So that wasn't going to work.  Ugh.

Erin had already asked about whether I spin angora to sell, and I told her that I don't.  If I spin it, I want to knit with it.  She ventured to ask whether I would sell the two mini skeins of pure white angora novelty yarn that I had brought to display.  I had plans for that yarn.  But anyway, I wanted Charlotte to be able to sell her bunnies, so I sold the two mini skeins.

And now I'm wondering whether I should spin more novelty yarn to sell.  Hmmm....

Who's Buying Bunnies?

On average, the people who buy our rabbits fall into three pretty evenly divided groups:  one-third are for show, one-third are for spinning, and one-third are for homeschool families who want the whole rabbit-raising and showing and spinning experience for their education. 

This past month, however, all our bunnies have gone to homeschoolers.  I wish I would remember to take pictures of our buyers with their new bunnies, but we're usually so caught up in demonstrating holding and grooming and spinning that I totally forget about photographs.  It happens almost every single time. 

Anyway, our first family bought two of Charlotte's does for their daughters to start showing in 4-H and to start spinning and knitting.  We look forward to seeing them and their bunnies at local shows.  The girls were so excited to be taking Lyra and Vela home and we know that they will be very much loved.

Our second family just got settled in Reno after leaving the military.  They decided to begin their angora journey with our two wool bunnies Leo and Jasmine.  And the whole family (well, maybe not the three-year-old) is planning to be involved with the bunnies, with the girls feeding and loving the bunnies, and Mom grooming and spinning, and Dad--a Marine--knitting and maybe even spinning.  They're going to have a great experience.

Fingerless Texting Mittens Pattern

I have been making quite a few pairs of these fingerless mittens for our new Etsy shop.  Of course, nothing has sold yet.  We've been open less than a month and it is still summer after all.  Most people don't even know what they're having for dinner tonight; thinking that people would actually plan ahead for winter would be unreasonable.  But for now I'm spinning, dyeing, and knitting up a storm.

Lydia really likes the colors in these mittens.

And I'm really loving it.

These are Charlotte's favorites.

You see, with smaller amounts of yarn, it's a little easier to experiment.  If I decide that I don't like the result, well, it was only 80 yards, not over a thousand like I need for a sweater.

I liked how this turned out so much that I dyed 1500 yards of angora/alpaca blend to make a sweater.

So far I've really liked most of the results, and there are some mittens that we just really love.  The girls hope they don't sell so that they can have them for Christmas.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the pattern.

80 yards handspun art yarn  (Sometimes I use 100% angora, sometimes it's a 50/50 of angora and merino or alpaca)
Needles size US2 and US4
Yarn needle
Stitch markers

Everybody's hand spun yarn is going to be different.  What I am spinning right now is thick and thin.  And the thickness of the yarn ultimately determines how many stitches you should cast on.  Normally (at least at this point in time), I cast on 56-64 stitches.  I knit a few rows, and sometimes I find that the mitten is going to be too large or too small and I have to start over.

Using smaller needles, cast on 64 stitches, place marker, and join to work in the round.

Row 1:  K2 together, P2 together for one row (32 sts).  This is to make a more elastic cast on that is necessary for angora mittens. 
Rows 2-12:  K1P1 rib. 
Rows 13-15:  Change to larger needles and work three rows in stockinette stitch.

 

To form the thumb gusset:

Row 16:  Slip marker, knit one front and back (k1fb), place marker, k to end.

Rows 17, 19, 21, 23, 25: Knit

Row 18:  Slip m, k1fb twice, sm, k to end.

Rows 20, 22, 24: Slip m, k1fb, k to st before m, k1fb, sm, k to end.

You should now have ten stitches for the thumb gusset.

Rows 26-27:  Knit.

Row 28:  Remove marker, bind off ten stitches for thumb, k to end.

Rows 29-36: Knit.

Rows 37-41: Switch to smaller needles, k1p1 rib.

Row 42:  Using larger needles, bind off loosely.  Weave in ends.  Repeat for second mitten.

CoyoteRidgeKnits--Our Etsy Shop

So last month the girls and I decided to open an Etsy shop.  Probably the most difficult part of the decision was what to name our new venture.  I thought it best to stick with the Black Diamond name, but the girls insisted that Black Diamond belonged only to the bunnies, and that we needed something else to cover the sheep that they now raise as well.

Using anything with our surname or obvious physical location was out of the question.  So was anything that sounded too cutesy.  I suggested something with Juniper Ridge in the name, as that is what detailed topographical maps call our exact location.  But the girls don't like the name Juniper.  So then I suggested Coyote Ridge, which is the name of the ridge that we look at through our windows.  They liked that.

CoyoteRidgeKnits (Etsy doesn't permit any spaces in shop names) is open for business.

The girls knit and sell mostly cute animals (naturally there are lots of bunnies) of all sizes.

 
I currently focus on mittens and booties.