My Fun (but busy) Weekend

I had a jam-packed weekend! I loved it though.
 
I brought my two junior English Angora does to show at the LoneStar Rabbit & Cavy 2014 Convention Fundraiser show. They both did very well and got great comments. My blue doe, Acadiana, did exceptionally well. I'm really happy about her development. She finished her GC this weekend (including a RIS)...not bad for a 4 month old baby. She really does look older though.  All the judges have very  nice comments.  I also got to see my new friends Peggy and Monica again...such nice ladies and great company! 

Show Results

Friday Show (Judge Loyd Morgan)

English Angora BOB - Kelly Flading (Yay, Acadiana!)

English Angora BOS - Peggy T.

Satin Angora BOB - Kiki C. 

RIS English Angora (Judge Don Mersiovsky)

Saturday Show A (Judge Reanelle Harris)

  English Angora BOB - Kelly Flading (Acadiana)

  English Angora BOB - Sasha M.

Satin Angora BOB - Kiki C.

Satin Angora BOS - Dana F.

Saturday Show B (Judge Cheryl Blackman)

English Angora BOB - Kelly Flading (Acadiana)

English Angora BOS - Sasha M.

Satin Angora BOB - Dana F.

Satin Angora BOS - Dana F. 

       
Also, during Saturday's show, I got up early groomed my girls and drove 2.5 hours to south of San Antonio. I picked up a beautiful new baby buck and dropped off one of my rabbits to go to his new home in west Texas. His new family is awesome! (added bonus) They picked him up at the Yellow Rose Fiber Festival in Seguin...and gave me some lovely silk fiber to play around with since I didn't have time to actually go into the Fiber Festival building. I would have never came out and missed my afternoon show. I hear that bunny is settling in nicely. He is such a sweet boy. I hope he makes them as happy as he made me. 








 

We Have TWO Yarn Shops Now!

So...there's this new yarn shop right around the corner from my house. This could be trouble. 

I've been there about three times within the week and plan to be there tonight for the Friday night group.  Figured that this would be a wonderful way to prep for Christmas gifts.  I already have a list of items I wish to make for the holidays.  Now I just have to carve out time to make everything. 

My current project is a shawl for Mom (Cassie don't tell lol).  I chose a wonderful Malabrigo worsted weight yarn in a color called Paris Nights.  It's beautiful....dark blue with a touch of forest green.  Looks like the deep ocean.  Fabulous!  
 
The shop is stocked with KnitPicks, Malabrigo yarns, dyed roving, wool, spindles and an assortment of other fiber fiend goodies. 
 
And best of all...that's not the only yarn shop in town. Yay! The other one is the Old Spinning Wheel shop. I really like it, too. 

Old Spinnng Wheel has a nice complement of items like Cascade yarns, wonderful books, and also KnitPicks.  They have a group that meets on Thursdays if you're on that side of town. I'm so happy to see fiber enthusiasts have places of their own in our area.

If you're in the Central Texas area, check them both out....Wools & Tools and The Old Spinning Wheel.  

It's A Long Way To Wisconsin...But Worth Every Mile

1280 miles

Recently my daughter and I took a little trip north to Superior, Wisconsin to visit one of my mentors, Terri. Terri has an English Angora blog that has been very helpful to me as I learn.  I have talked to Terri many times about my Angora rabbits, but we have not had the pleasure of meeting in person.  She had a few rabbits for sale and I wished to check them out...and learn a bit more in the process. 

My family thought I was a bit nuts to drive that far to just look at rabbits, but it was much more than that.  We attended one of the Wisconsin shows (5 shows in weekend) and I got to see what shows are like for Angora folks in other parts of the country. Plus, I soaked up valuable stuff that I would have never gotten otherwise. 

Helping a new friend with her Himalayans

It was a real learning experience to watch Terri prep her rabbits for the show.  I have to say that she was just amazing... always unfrazzled amidst a whirlwind of activity.  I could only stand around awestruck.  I really appreciated that she took the time to teach me along the way, too. I learned a lot.

 I also got to meet some other really nice Angora folks with beautiful rabbits, Deb and her daughter Alicia...and also Pam, who taught me how to needle felt. Such nice people!  I felt very welcomed...and was so excited to share in their day. I wish I lived closer OR could teleport. 

I ended up with two more wonderful rabbits to add to my herd.  I picked up a black pearl junior buck for my pearl line herd sire and a senior REW doe.  Both bunnies are gorgeous.  Princess Grace is very nice, even clipped down.  

Our favorite rest area...in Iowa...so cute and very clean.

I did fall in love with one of Terri's REW bucks.  I just couldn't keep my eyes off of him. I thought I didn't like REWs, but after seeing a REW in full coat in real life...I see what all the fuss is about.  There is nothing like a big, glorious, white cloud of a rabbit...and not cirrus clouds either, but big puffy, crawl in and sleep cumulus clouds. Spectacular!  It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I wish I hadn't been to wrapped up in everything to take pictures during the show.  I was just too busy soaking everything in. I did brought home his mother, though. Maybe one day I'll get lucky!

June Has Been Busy Month

Florida rabbit

I've been bad about posting this month, but I've been here in spirit.  It has been so interesting keeping up with everyone. The world keeps on turning! 

Our extended family vacation to Florida was big fun! It was great to see our Ohio family. My hubby teased me that rabbits turn up wherever we go...as we took a walk one morning and were stalked by a wild rabbit.  It followed us around for most of our walk.  I didn't mind, but I think DH was looking forward to a "rabbit free" week haha. I brought along some of Little Sun's wool so I could practice spinning on my drop spindle.  I don't know what I was thinking, though.  I  got very little done....I kept ending up at the pool.  Fun in the Florida sun always wins out!

The rest of the month has been a hodge podge of rabbit related activities, including local rabbit club meetings and a fun visit with our good friend, Ricardo.  I've been working steady on our club's first webinar series.  It's a simple webinar on basic Angora rabbit care.  At least it seems like a simple webinar....12 page research paper, short powerpoint presentation, and 3 page handout later.  Maybe it wasn't so simple after all.  I do have to admit that I really enjoyed the process. I hope it helps the new members of our club learn more about Angora rabbits. 

Unfortunately, I had to miss two shows that I had been excited about...the MidAmerica Angora Club Show in Wichita, Kansas and the ETRBA Show in Longview, TX.  I heard that both shows were great, but our family vacation happened to hit both weekends.  Congratulations to all the folks that came out for those shows.  

I heard the Angora results for Longview were as follows:

Show A

English Angora BOB -  Jinnifer B.

English Angora BOS -  Jinnifer B.

Satin Angora BOB - Sasha M.

Show B

English Angora BOB - Sasha M.

English Angora BOS - Jinnifer B.

Satin Anogra BOB - Dana F.

There were a lot of Angora folks at the Longview show.  I was excited to hear about the good turnout. 

All the Way From England to Hold an English Angora

So much fluffy cuddlin'...
so little time.

This week was full of all sorts of fun stuff…besides moving, which really hasn’t been fun at all. 

I got to see my little niece Cassidy who came all the way from England to visit us for spring break. She’s growing up so fast. I really miss her being around. 

Cassie loves animals and is a superb animal caretaker (just ask her hamsters) so I was extra thrilled that she got a chance to play with Mom’s new English Angora bunny, Charlee.

Charlee originally lived at my house. His white toenail prevented him from being a show bunny, but it didn’t prevent him from being a great pet bunny. Mom provides him with a wonderful home where he can be cuddled all the time…and I get to still visit him...and so will Cassie!   

Ohio Holiday and Candy

DH is from Ohio so we spent our holiday with family there. I loved the abundance of evergreens. It was like every yard was a finely arranged Christmas tree lot. Once I see that in writing, it does not sound so nice, but it WAS beautiful...so beautiful that I actually forgot to take any pictures! What a shame.  I fell in love with a nearby quaint little town named Canal Winchester.  Even the boarded up old buildings looked precious. I don't know how they did it.

Anyhow, I got super lucky and was able to spend a couple of hours with English Angora breeder, Candy Haenszel.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! She was generous enough to let me visit with her and her rabbits.  We had a very nice conversation about angora rabbit wool and body type, genetics, fiber and rabbit raising best practices.  I originally contacted her because I was interested in her genetics booklet.  I picked up one while I was there and read it a number of times on the way home. Good, solid genetic stuff for Angora, and other, rabbit folks.  I particularly liked the section on gene linkage and also the handy chart that sorted out what all the breeds call different colors.  I found all those different color names so confusing when I was looking for my mystery kit...which by the way, might actually be a lilac pearl.  Geez...Just when I thought that problem was solved, I am reminded that those little shaded ones are tricky. Candy suggested waiting a bit more and reexamine the eye color...just to be sure.
Blue/gray = lilac pearl and brown = chocolate pearl.      
Here is Candy's website:  http://nexgenaccess.com/~cdh/ and yes, everything at Candy's is just as beautiful as it looks on her Web site.

Also, I just want to give a BIG THANK YOU to my son (and my eldest daughter as backup) for taking great care of all my rabbits when we were gone these 13 days. Good help is hard to find in the rabbit world. He had never watched rabbits before, nor even cared for them.  He was patient with my clipboard with miles of notes about each rabbit and annoying almost daily check-in phone calls.

AND even though my daughter prank-called me to say that my son had not been to my house in three days because she thought it would be the most hilarious thing ever....AND even though my son took pictures of himself holding the kits up like they were lunch, I appreciate them both.  My kids are rascally.  The apple...uh,  rabbit, doesn't fall far from the tree.