German Angora Bunnies For Sale

The bunnies are growing and I can tell by the density of their first coats and the shape of their bodies that this is a great litter. There are 3 males left, $125 each, each comes with a year's membership in iagarb, the International Association of German Angora Rabbit Breeders, which will allow the buyer(s) to participate in the wool co-op and glean information off the chat boards and newsletters. Here the bunnies are playing in the play yard in early November after shearing. The older rabbits mostly like to sit in the sun, rub their chins on the stepping stones and nibble at the cottonwood leaves, but the bunnies like to ZOOM! They're everywhere and I have to stay right with them to make sure someone doesn't figure out how to climb up the chicken wire, which they can do before they get grow up and get too heavy. Up close shot showing the full hindquarters of the uber German imported bloodlines. Thick hindquarters mean lots of wool potential. I expect each of these bunnies to shear at least 40 ounces or 3 lbs each, probably more, of prime angora per year.

For more information you can email me at shelly@butternutwoolens.com

Old Shale Afghan

Did anyone get to see Stephanie at Powell's? I was too tired to go and I'm bummed out about it, but hey, you can only do what you can do.

Instead, I've picked up the Old Shale afghan that will be a wedding gift for my cousin Stacey. It's the historic Feather and Fan (also known as Old Shale) lace pattern worked lengthwise on a 47" needle so the waves move the long way across the piece. I like how the scale is at play here: the pattern is usually worked with thin yarn on small needles, but here I use heavy worsted/bulky yarns on a size 11 needle. I have an oversized scarf worked this way that gets a lot of comments.

If you don't have a stitch dictionary, here's the pattern I'm using over an 18 stitch repeat:
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: (K2tog) 3 times, (k1, yo) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times
Row 4:Knit

Simple, (but you knew that.)

The yarn is Butternut Woolens Landscapes Thick and Thin 100% wool, BW Mohair Clouds brushed mohair, with the odd line of BW Homegrown 3-ply wool yarn. The variegated yarns are the North Meadow Creek colorway, the bright green is Pond and the heathered purple is Wild Plum.

Stacey's dad, my uncle Dave, was a cowboy when we were growing up. They lived out of town on a small holding in the Madison Valley at the foot of the Tobacco Root Mountains in southwest Montana. One summer we visited at the same time as the cows and calves needed to be moved to their summer range in the mountains and this work had to be done on horseback. I was so excited I about wet my pants. I loved my cousins and aunt and uncle, but I was CRAZY about horses.

Early in the morning us 5 kids, my uncle and my mom and a couple of no-nonsense blue heelers piled into the stock truck and drove a short ways up North Meadow Creek where the horses were kept. Stacey and I rode double on her fat Palomino, we didn't do much "herding", we were mostly trying to stay on because the Palomino insisted on jumping over every little gully which would make us squeal and laugh with the thrill of it all. Eventually we climbed to the top of a ridge and had lunch. I remember the sage green hills falling away and the valley hazy below and right behind us the rocky shoulders of the Tobacco Roots.

The barn at North Meadow Creek was shaded in purple and green when we rode out of the mountains and the beauty of the old corrals and weathered boards against the cottonwoods along the creek is burned in my memory.

We lost Dave early to cancer, I hope this afghan can give Stacey a bit of comfort.

German Angora Bunnies

Our newest litter of German angora bunnies were born August 9th. Here's Boy A with a bunny.

The mother Beira weighs in over 10 lbs and gives about 14 ounces of fiber every 90 days.

The bunnies are just opening their eyes and leaving the nest box on wobbly legs. Bunnies use the corner for elimination, just like the big rabbits.

Black Sheep Gathering Friends

One of the best things about fiber fairs/wool shows in general and Black Sheep Gathering specifically, is the high concentration of friends. Imagine having most of your friends gathered together in one place for a weekend, doing their own thing, stopping by now and then to bring you a plate of food or a cold Coke, or offering to sit in the booth awhile so you can take a break. There is no other time or place where this happens for me, except perhaps when I've been in the hospital, which is much, much less fun than a wool show.

Here's the talented Dr. E modelling her Yellowstone cape . The design is her own, the yarn Butternut Woolens Landscape in the Yellowstone colorway. The goofy girl is me.

German Angora Hybrid Bunnies Coming Soon

Although outside temperatures are slowly climbing toward 100 degrees, the inside of the rabbit barn remains a gentle 65-70 degrees, perfect for angora rabbits. Like all pregnant ladies, Bierra, Queen of the Snows, is appreciating the air conditioner I'm sure.

Biera will deliver her litter in mid August. These German hybrid bunnies will be 75% new import lines through their sire Windsor Farm's Uber Umphrey. They will be pedigreed as German hybrids through the International Association of German Angora Rabbit Breeders, iagarb. The buns are 99+% German. All of the buns will be white, but if crossed with a colored sire, the offspring could be black or other self colors becaue Biera's dam is a black German hybrid. Even agoutis are possible because Uber carries the agouti genotype.

The bunnies will be $125 and come with a health guarantee against genetic defects, a bunny care pamphlet including shearing tips, a free shearing lesson for local buyers, and a free 1 year membership in iagarb, which will allow you to join the co-op and send your angora to the mill to be made into yarn, as well as access to the forums, shearing parties and quarterly newsletter.

If you are looking to produce you own iagarb co-op yarn or spinning fiber, these buns will be an excellent choice. Biera shears about 12 ounces of wool every 80-90 days and Uber about 10 ounces. We ship to the US and Canada. We do not sell rabbits for meat production. I'll post pictures in a few weeks, if you'd like to be on the waiting list for these bunnies which will be ready for new homes in mid October, please email me at shelly@butternutwoolens.com.