woolly friends angoras

April 15, 2012

     With the arrival of spring we notice the pretty yellow daffodils blooming, grass turning green again, and the gardens soil warming to prepare for this years seeds at planting time. We are also preparing for a very special event in the rabbitry.

      In a few short weeks, two of our does will hopefully deliver two litters of bunnies. They were bred earlier this month with one of our bucks. From breeding time to birth takes about 31 days. During this time we move the does into cages with nesting boxs. There are a few different types of nesting boxes.  We have choosen to use the drop nest boxes for our does. Marc spent many hours building and retrofitting cages with drop nest boxes.

      Drop nest boxes are built into the cage. When a doe enters the nest box she hops down into it. This resembles a rabbits burrow in the wild. It is more natural for a rabbit to feel that she is going down into a burrow for her litter of kits. A pregnant doe will pull fiber from her belly and mix it with hay to build a nest for her kits in the nest box. 

     Our 2 does have been in the cages with nest boxes since a few days after breeding. We make sure they have more than enough hay each day so that they can use it for their nest when they feel the need to do so.  We wait patiently as we count down the days on our calendar. We are hopeful that the nest boxes will be full this spring!!

March 18, 2011

                                                  Daisy

       While the sun is shining and the temperatures are soaring into the 70's today our hearts are sad for we lost our dear rabbit, Daisy. About two months ago, we noticed that Daisy was not acting like her usual self and she was losing weight. We talked with a trusted and experienced angora rabbit breeder and apparently, Daisy most likely had cancer.

     She was very special since Daisy and her sister Lilly were the first two Angoras that started our rabbitry. We will remember her with a special fondness in our hearts. Daisy was a French and German Cross Angora Rabbit. I will never forget bringing Daisy and Lily home for the first time. Daisy was a beautiful tort. We carried them out to our car from the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival in our arms. We must have looked like two proud new parents with huge smiles on our faces leaving the show. Their first cage was a big two story type hutch with a ramp for them to hop up and down between the two levels, and a closed in area. Each evening I would go out to the garage and clean their cage. Well, let me tell you what a show you missed! Quite frequently one or both of these cute little bunnies would escape out of the cage and look for adventure in the garage. Many a night I would be trying to catch quick hopping bunnies. I finally learned how to corral them towards a ramp leading back into their cage. Quickly closing the door behind them. In the beginning Marc would wonder what was taking me so long with the rabbits. I would explain what was happening and eventually, he started coming out to help me catch bunnies when they escaped. Every evening was fun and I never knew who was having more fun; us or Daisy and Lily. Daisy's fiber was a beautiful fawn reddish color. My scarf and mittens that are knitted with her angora are beautiful. I will always treasure them.

We are happy that Daisy came to us. She was a beautiful angora rabbit who we loved and enjoyed. Daisy will always have a special place in our hearts. We're sure she's in a better place now.

March 5,2012

       This spring we are expecting a new grandchild. Every evening for the past month I have been knitting up this adorable baby sweater and matching hat. It is an easy knit. Perfect for beginners as well as the more experienced knitter. The fronts and back are knit seperately and then woven together at the shoulders. The sleeves are started from the shoulders with picked up stitches. I found 6 matching buttons in our button bucket.

     The hat is so cute and fun to knit! The same  stitch pattern is knit in the hat that was followed in the sweater. A few decreases brings the back of the hat together nicely. One button is stitched on the hat for the strap to attach to.

       I cann't wait to see my new grandchild wearing it!!!

February 25,2012                    

      This morning we awoke to a blanket of snow covering the ground. We have seen very little snow in Vermont this winter. I have usually taken a few loops around the yard and into the woods on snow shoes by now, but not this year. Mother nature has simply not supplied us with the piles of snow that she usually delivers. Until last night. We have about 5 inches of snow to enjoy! It won't be quite enough for snow shoeing, but it has been enough for shoveling and we have noticed the deer tracks through the yard. It is a beautiful sight!!

Februray 12, 2012

     Raising German Angora rabbits is a wonderful experience for us. We enjoy watching our rabbits grow, play, sleep and do cute little antics like jumping onto the couch when we least expect it. There are of course the daily chores that we tend to as well.

     Early each morning we give each rabbit fresh hay, water, and a special treat of oats and sunflower hearts. Then while they are munching away on breakfast we are cleaning all the trays. All of the manure goes directly into our vegetable garden to enrich the soil. Nothing goes to waste. Another part of raising German Angora rabbits is caring for their fiber.

     German Angora rabbits need to have their coats harvested. Every ninety days we clip our rabbits. It is a time consuming task but also an exciting time. The rabbits are usually very ready to have their coats clipped. We bring each rabbit inside and place them on the grooming table that Marc constructed. We have paper bags ready for the angora. Using a small pair of scissors Marc carefully clips away the beautiful fiber. Starting on the back and working down to the sides until there is no more to harvest while the rabbit is sitting. We then hold the rabbit on it's back and once again Marc carefully clips away the angora on its belly, legs, tail, and bottom area. We also at this time trim their nails. Our rabbits are then very happy to have a moment to hop around on the living room floor. Once we bring them back to their cages they get a special treat to eat. The rabbits appetite usually starts to increase to produce another luxurious coat of angora. Now the excitement begins for us!

     We weigh each bag of angora fiber. Our German angora rabbits are outstanding producers. We usually harvest up to one pound of angora every ninety days per rabbit!! With six German Angoras we harvest a lot of soft, beautiful angora. What do we do with so much angora?

     We enjoy blending our German angora with merino, alpaca, and other fibers. Marc and I each have our own wheels for spinning. Marc enjoys his Ashford traditional and I love my Jensen Tina II wheel. We also sell a lot of the angora we harvest

     This will be our third year vending at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. Our booth is filled with an assortment of yarn, fiber, raw angora, and sometimes a friendly bunny to share. We are always happy to talk with anyone who is interested in German Angora rabbits. We like to share our experiences and knowledge that we have learned along the way.

February 5, 2012 

Wendy, our primary breeding doe pulled a fast one on us this last summer. She is an amazing German Angora, producing 16.5 ounces every 90 days! On October 7,2011 we brought her in to be sheared and we were shocked to find that she had gained an incredible amount of weight. She weighed almost 14 pounds! Wendys normal weght was 11 1/2 pounds. Breeding an overweight doe is not a good thing.  Looking to the spring breeding season we decided Wendy needed to loose a few pounds.

We had noticed that she was eating all of her pellets quickly and we had gotten into a bad habit of giving her extra pellets.  How do you put a rabbit on a diet you might ask?   Well, we decided to offer her all the hay she wants, but we give her only one cup of pellets per day. We also give her a small treat of oats and sunflower hearts in the morning as we do with all of our angora rabbits. Of course fresh, clean water at all times.

Four months later she is now back to her normal weight of 11 1/2 pounds. We are now looking forward to breeding season which is almost here. We have learned from this experience that weighing each rabbit on a regular schedule is good practice.

December 29, 2011

Happy New Year!

We want to thank everyone for all their continued support over the past year. The Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival was lots of fun and we meet some wonderful people. It is fun to see peoples expressions when they stop by our booth and touch the German Angora fiber or pick up a skein of our IAGARB Frost Yarn. Oh so soft!!! We would love to see some of the beautiful projects completed with our angora fiber and yarns.

This year I knitted two sweaters and two scarves for gifts for Christmas. One sweater was for our granddaughter knitted with our IAGARB Frost Yarn dyed a pretty violet. The second sweater was from a Vermont Romney Leicester cross dyed a beautiful blue for our grandson. A quick one skein scarf pattern knitted with  IAGARB Frost Yarn dyed a lovely green was for our daughter.  The one skein scarf pattern is available free with the purchase of one skein of IAGARB FROST Yarn! Finally, the second scarf was knitted  on large needles with handspun wool. Next year, I hope to give each person on my list something hand knit from the heart. As I write I actually have a mens scarf on the needles now!

From all our bunnies at Woolly Friends Angoras we want to wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy, New Year!!!

October 5, 2010

   This past weekend we attened the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival for the first time as vendors.  In the above photo is Woolly Friends Angoras Buddy, one of our German angora bunnies. He enjoyed all the attention from so many people stopping at our booth. Buddy is 17 weeks old and is for sale. If you are interested please contact us for more information. We want to thank everyone for supporting us at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. It was a wonderful weekend meeting new people, looking at the sheep, lamas, goats, and gazing at the wonderful fiber all around us. I even got in a little shopping for myself. I can't wait to spin my "mystery bump"! We are looking forward to next years Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival.                                     

September 15, 2010

 As summer turns to autumn I find myself looking back over the past few months and am amazed at how quickly time passes. We have been very busy in the rabbitery. Two litters were born, lots of angora fiber harvested, and our wheels have been turning.

   Samsons Virginia and Samsons Tobias produced a litter of nine ruby eyed white german angora kits. They are a joy to watch. Wileys Oriana delivered a litter of four german kits. Samsons Tobias is the sire. This litter was especially exciting to see because it was our first litter of black germans. Wileys Oriana is a black german. Her kits consisted of one ruby eyed white, three black german angoras. We have decided to keep one black buck. His name is Woolly Friends Angoras Lucky. Lucky is a fantastic buck.

   I had the pleasure of visiting a local fiber farm this summer to celebrate the opening of their fiber studio. It was a day spent taking various mini workshops. I participated in the following workshops:  How to spin on a spindle, knit a lace scarf, dye fibers with natural dyes grown in our own back yards, and use roving to hook a small pillow. It was a fun filled day spent with friends who share a love of fiber and the wonderful fiber animals. 

   The rest of the summer was spent dyeing and knitting. I had fun painting roving in shades of pinks and blues. It is exciting to see the painted roving turn into beautiful yarns. I gathered all of my scraps of yarn and used them to knit a "Lucy Bag". What a great little project to use up extra balls of yarn!

   With autumn upon us and the weather turning cooler we are busy getting ready for the long winter ahead of us. This is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp cool air, the leaves changing colors, apple picking and baking. It is a perfect time to look over patterns and yarns and plan that next knitting project.

March 28,2010        

                                      SPRING!

These crocuses blooming in our front yard are a welcome sign of spring. It will soon be time to pack away the scarves, hats and mittens until next winter. While we are waiting for the last of the cold weather to pass I have my newly knitted angora mittens to wear. They are cozy, soft and oh so warm. They are 70 percent angora with 30 percent sheeps wool. Angora is seven times warmer than wool. They warm my hands as well as my heart knowing the angora came from our own woolly friends.