Bunny Fluff

 Bunny fluff...wonderful bunny fluff...fuzzy, exquisitely soft and warm...
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)

Clockwise from left...white, red and gray.

 Then...one day...I was inspired!

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!

100%Angora

  And here is a skein of one ply of Angora and one ply of Rambouillet.
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

Blending Mohair and Silk

So my friend Maria brought over some Mohair from her own goat and some silk she had bought. 

The idea was to blend them and spin into a fine lace yarn. 

 First there was fluffing the fibers and blending them by hand into a loose, airy fluff ball. 

Then the fiber was put onto hand cards, made into rolags and finally spun into a very fine single. 

The two fibers compliment each other very well and blend up beautifully!

The silk on top and mohair underneath.

 .

Blending the two fibers together with the hand cards.

Rolags made from the mohair and silk blend.

Spinning it from the rolag.

Eventually when she has enough of this, she will knit up a very beautiful lace shawl!