BOB Angora at the UK Bradford Premier Small Animal Show

 

 

 

 

 

The Bradford Show is the major show of the year, similar to our ARBA convention.   Several of the ARBA judges attended Bradford show this year.    This is the English Angora that won BOB and Group.    In UK, there isn't any French Angora or Giant Angora, the English Angora is just called "Angora".


 

The White English Angora Siblings

 

We are brother and sister.

 

We love each other.
 

Call us handsome and pretty.



 

Scenes at Stitches West 2018

 

 

Lots of beautiful spinning wheel on display and for sale.

 

Lamb's pelt.
 

Mohair or sheep wool?
 

Love these buttons.
 

This shawl is to die for.
 

Another gorgeous shawl.
 

A loom!

Crafty people love a good chat.



A booth that sells "project bags".


We thank Carol for sharing the Stitches West memories with us.






 

Carol Goes Yarn Shopping at Stitches West

 

 

 

 

Stitches is a huge convention and market place for fiber enthusiasts especially knitters.  There are convention locations all over the country and the west coast convention is called the Stitches West 2018.  It was held from Friday February 22 to Sunday February 25 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. 

 

 

 

Look at these yarn and colors!!!




These yarn are now in fashion, considered as art yarn.
 



More traditional yarns.


 

Carol loves yarn, she won't pass such a great opportunity to buy more yarn.    She is wearing the sweater that she made from the yarn she bought at Stitches West 2017.



These are the colored yarn that caught Carol's eyes and she got to have them.

 

Carol bought several hanks of these merino yarn for another sweater.




 

 

Pretty mom and daughter

 

 

 

 

Henrietta is a pretty French Angora broken chestnut doe.  "Broken" means a pattern that combines white and an accepted color in the Angora Color Guide.    There is a 10-50 requirement in the current standard; 10-50 means the color has to be no less than 10% and no more than 50% of the body/coat.  
 

Rayna takes after mama Henrietta with her broken chestnut patterns. 

Broken pattern is only accepted in French Angora; broken English Angora and broken Satin Angora are in the works.  There are Certificate of Development for each breed.  We look forward to seeing the broken pattern in all breeds of Angora.




 

Experimenting with Avocado Pit Dyeing

 

 

 

 

Maureen sent me a link about dyeing yarn with Avocado pits, see

https://www.kathryndavey.com/blogs/news/75241285-dyeing-with-natural-dyes-avocado-pits

                          Hubby eats a lot of avocado, I asked him to save me the pits. 

 

 

I spun up 80 yards of white Angora for this purpose.
 

The white Angora yarn is soaked in the Dawn bath.
 

 

There are about 12 small avocado pits simmering in a large pot.

 

The color associated with Avocado is green but the pits produce a pinkish bath.  The yarn is soaked in the hot bath for a few hours for the color to set and for the temperature to cool down.


 

After dried, the yarn is a pale pinkish color with a touch of lavender.   
Pro: If Avocado is a part of your regular diet, instead of throwing away the pits, now you can use them.
Con: The resulting color is very pale.   The on-line instruction calls for 3-5 pits while I used 12, there's no improvement in the intensity of the color.   Some may like pale colors but it's not my favorite.

It's a fun experiment.  

 

 

 

 

 

 



Recycled Nestbox

Babies are in a bin from an old refrigerator.

Mama Uptown Girl doesn't mind this untraditional arrangement.