(BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT! 1/29/08- 7 Kits were born to Claudine, a Chestnut French doe, wife to Baxter, a gorgeous Chocolate English buck! Now, at 10 weeks of age, their colors are more defined. There are 4 Chocolate and 3 Chestnut! Photos are on the Home Page!)
Mostly devoted to our forty English & French Angora Rabbits, Cozy Rabbit Farm is located on over four rural acres in beautiful, southern New Jersey, farm country.
We are also home to 4H Club rabbits of other breeds, goats, chickens, cats, a Border Collie and a "Best in Show" winning mouse!
Our home business is centered on our lovely and pampered English & French Angoras. This is Margaret, a Chocolate English Angora doe in full coat.
Handspun Angora yarn and finely crafted, one- of- a- kind hats and scarves begin with bunnies like Arabella, a fourteen week old Blue doe.
The baby coat is clipped off between 3 and 4 months old. The full adult coat will come in between 6 and 8 months of age. At that time between 3 and 5 ounces of spinnable wool will be pulled or clipped from the rabbit. No rabbit is ever harmed in the harvesting of wool. It naturally molts every 3 to 4 months and must be removed to avoid matting.
Rabbits are fed and watered twice a day. They eat specially designed pellets, Timothy or grass hay and occasional treats, such as carrots or apples.
The harvesting of wool and general grooming of each rabbit takes one to two hours.
It takes about an hour to spin one ounce of angora. Once a single thread is spun, a second must be spun onto another bobbin so that the two can be plied together.
After spinning and plying, the yarn is wound onto a Niddy Noddy, washed, dried, then twisted into a skein.
I can produce about 200 yards of handspun yarn per day....as long as I don't have very much else to do!
Here are some Angora skeins dyed in brilliant colors!
All dyeing and painting of yarn is done by hand in our own kitchen and is an additional step after pulling, spinning, wrapping and washing.
I usually use Jacquard Dye because of the brilliance and fastness of color, but occasionaly use other dyes since it's so much fun to experiment!
Each hat and scarf is completely handmade from handspun and hand-dyed yarn and is totally unique because I don't use a pattern. Most are crocheted and take between two and three hours to make.
All Angora is taken directly from my own rabbits. Hats and scarves made from this elegant fiber are 7 times warmer than those made of other types of wool. After a little use, they will have a lovely halo. Unlike Angora garments purchased from discount stores, mine will not shed. This is due to never using fiber that is less than three inches long and is often up to six inches!
Sheep wool for plying with Angora or making into its own unique yarns is obtained from fiber fairs or a local farm with Jacob, Leicester and Corriedale sheep. They also have some lovely Mohair goats.
Merino Sheep Wool is a great compliment to Angora because of its softness and lends stretch to a garment not possible with Angora alone. Items made with one ply Angora and one ply Merino will have a nice elasticity with a soft halo.
This is some newly dyed angora and angora/merino yarns hung up to dry outside.
Check out the Shop page for a variety of completely handmade items!
While at the Rhinebeck Sheep & Fiber Festival last fall, I picked up a new addition to my bunny herd! He is a beautiful Chocolate Torte, German Giant/English Angora cross. He has gorgeous Fawn/Orange wool and great conformation.
Here is a photo of Henry! He is nine weeks old in this photo and is getting to know Patches, a kitten we rescued from a vacant lot in Philadelphia this summer. (Patches is not so sure she wants to know him!)
He is friendly and sweet and a great additions to the menagerie!
