I have always known about Angora fiber, but I had yet to try and process and spin it myself.
So last summer, I decided to buy some.
Then it sat....in my stash...Like so many other wonderful fibers...
(I'm sure none of you know what I'm talking about...lol)
Then...one day...I was inspired!
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| Clockwise from left...white, red and gray. |
But how to process it...hmmmmmm.....
Well, firstly, I had to wash it, very carefully.
I know, some of you are probably thinking "no you don't'!
Well, I do. I wash all of my fiber before carding or combing it.
Even if you don't see the dirt, it's there.
So I put it in a small lingerie bag and gave it a bath.
It came out fine, although it looks pretty sad all wet,
but as it dries it fluffs right back up!
As seen in the picture above, it does have rather nice crimp...but it's so fine...
So I decided to card it with my cotton hand cards.
To get it in a spin-able state, I dizzed it off...then spun it right away.
I know it can be teased into a loose fluffball and spun that way,
I just prefer to do it this way.
It's so fine that it is rather difficult to roll into a ball like I would
normally do with fiber after dizzing. Well...actually, it's not the
turning it into a ball, it's the unrolling to spin, so it's better
to just diz and spin, diz and spin...
It is so slick that it is a little challenging to spin...
I admit, I actually over-spun it a little during my first attempt.
And the yarn it makes it so lovely!
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| 100%Angora |
The Rambo was a slightly different weight, but I did this during a demo and decided it would be fine.
Next will be blending it with another fiber and spinning them together!
Happy spinning :) -Kim