Hoping to win a give-away...

I haven't ever blogged about a give away before, but the two entries on the Phat Fiber blog that I am interested in winning are

Into the Whirled who has awesome stuff. She can be found on Etsy and intothewhirled.com

The other is from FiberFancy. Yeah, she has some fancy fiber alright! I love Purple Rain. She is on Etsy as well.

Making it from scratch

It has been quite some time since I last blogged and a LOT has happened!

Just look at the pictures at the top of this post! From top to bottom, they are Bonnie Blue, Adella (who is now called Pearl), and Flipper D'Skippens (Who I call Flipper or Flippy, and Duane calls Fluffernutter)

They are all French Angora rabbits. Flipper and Bonnie were born 3 days apart this past May. Bonnie on the 26th and Flipper the 29th. So they are almost 5 months old. Pearl was born in 04, so she is 5.

Flipper is red, Pearl is pearl (white) and Bonnie is blue. While they are all lovely and have excellent bloodlines, they each have something going on which makes them "fiber bunnies." Bonnie and Flipper are unshowable. Bonnie because she is what is known as "Vienna Marked" with the white spots on her nose, head and toes. Flipper can't be shown because she has no tail. Apparently her mama got a little carried away cleaning her up when she was born. Pearl's "problem" is that she is barren, and hadn't been being cared for properly. But that is all changed, now!!!

I bought a 10x10 TuffShed to house them. I painted the plywood floor to seal it. Yes, it is purple. Why do you ask? LOL Of course it's purple! We were having some problems with pee on the wall and floor, so I bought a remnant of vinyl flooring and stapled it to the wall and underneath the cages. So much easier to clean up now! It also makes it easier to sweep up the hay that falls.

Right now, they are all trying to shed thier coats (molt), so I am collecting that fiber. Since Bonnie and Flipper are losing their baby coats, and that fiber is really delicate, I will have to either blend it with something else or just ply it with something else. Like Pearl's fiber. I am so excited that I have a direct source for awesome, really soft, luxurious fiber! And making it from scratch. I get to be in on the whole process. I get to watch it grow and feel it and snuggle with it in its raw form. The I get to "harvest" it. The grooming is a good time to bond. Then comes the spinning and knitting of it. So. Freaking. Awesome!

These girls are so cute. They are so different from each other. Flipper is always trying to get out of her hutch if the door is left open. Pearl is kind of stand offish, and Bonnie is always looking for something to eat!

People keep asking if I am going to breed them. Here's the answer: Not yet! Let me get used to taking care of these three. Obviously, Pearl is out. She's been tried 7 different times with 5 different bucks. With Flipper's missing tail, it's possible that she could prolapse (have her insides become outsides) and that wouldn't be good. So, that leaves Bonnie. Oh, the possibilities... Because she is VM, she carries the gene to make Blue Eyed Whites (BEW). And, because she is blue, she could also throw blues and blacks! And lilacs!! Bestill my heart. Purplish bunnies! But all that is in the future!

Right now, I have enough cages for 2 more rabbits. There's every chance that Bonnie could be like her mom and have a litter like the one she was born into... 11!!!! There were so many babies that Bonnie's mom couldn't take care of them all, and one had to be fostered with another doe. So, if I were to breed Bonnie, I could possibly have to come up with the monies for 9 more cages!!! And I would have to do some serious re-arranging in the barn!

Okay. So. What do you think of my "girls"?