How to Shear a Rabbit for Spinning and Knitting Angora yarn

This video is a demonstration of how to shear an Angora rabbit because I’m going to make a hat for my six month old neighbor, Paolo! You will see my very big buck and how gentle and well-behaved he is. I am not sure he likes being filmed, so he is a little nervous and I have to pamper him a little by holding him and speaking gently to him. You will see that I take his beautiful lush coat and brush it first and remove all the matted hair. Then I use my Fiskars fabric scissors to cut it. As I mention, you must get a Fiskars sharpener when you buy these awesome scissors.

How to Card Angora Fiber for Spinning and Knitting

This is simple and ultimately rewarding. You will see that I have a basket full of that gorgeous hair that I sheared from my angora rabbit. I am working with it by the handful only. I am working with two hand carders (brushes). The first time I run the wool over the carder to make sure the fibers are lining up. Then once the whole handful is on one carder, I use the other to transfer the fibers from one to the other. It is important to make at least three passes from one brush to the other. We do this to make sure the fiber has no vegetable matter, dirt, flecks of matter, etc...

How to Hand Spin Wool

Did you know that you can make your own garments with your own hand spun yarn?

You can because I do it all the time. Today you are finding me in the “Tiny House” which is my favorite place to spin yarn. It is a miniscule building on my property and I snapped it up as the place for me to do what I love…spin.

The yarn that I spin comes straight from the animals that I have raised on my farm. Today, I’m working with Angora (rabbit) and Pygora (goat) fibers as well as Merino wool.
I won’t say that what I am about to teach you is easy, but I will say that it’s totally worthwhile.

How to Make a One Bobbin Scarf

It’s a rainy day and I am in my tiny house spinning again! I told you, it’s addictive. Today I’m working on making a one bobbin scarf which is unique because although I am using only one bobbin, I am able to combine several different types of fibers which will make a very unique handspun scarf that everyone will admire and you can tell them…it’s not available in stores!

My Woolly Mammoth Fiber is in!

What you are about to witness is slightly embarrassing. It shows that I am-- as one of you has called me-- a Fiber nerd. This video simply shows my unrestrained glee when I open a box of my own pygora fiber back from the mini mill.

For those of you, who don’t spin or are beginners, let me explain.

As you know I work with angora fiber which is the fur from my angora rabbits. I also have a pygora goat and I work with that hair as well. I have mentioned that pygora fiber has guard hairs which need to be removed. You may have imagined me with tweezers removing the small hairs from my pygora fiber but actually it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Flameware Pottery

I'm here visiting the owner of Pottery Works, Terry Silverman.  I just couldn't wait to show you this cool alternative cookware.

The beauty of flameware, besides the fact that is actually thrown pottery, is that it cooks food more evenly and doesn't break down the molecular structure of the food. It also doesn't change the flavor or add any harmful chemicals. It is pottery that has been fired at 2,450 degrees and glazed with a glass formula.