Thursday, January 24, 2013

Angora knit cable braided necklace

I plied the lumpy angora singles:






This is a free pattern Cable braided necklace, from that yarn design genius 
http://olgajazzzy.blogspot.ie/2010/12/cable-braided-necklace.html
Thank you Olga!
And no, it's not itchy but it does supply a little warmth behind the neck, which is a good thing here at the moment as it's been below zero quite often - however, quite sunny now.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Spinning Angora

I bought 100 gms of white angora rabbit fiber form World of Wool, plus a little sample pack containing raw and combed fiber (very small amounts).
I was a bit taken aback but the uneven lengths and and and amount of noyles and what appear to be second cuts in raw fiber! I thought if it were shorn a la German angora, the fibers would be fairly long and uniform unless they were shorn at the wrong time i.e. before coat had reached a decent length and while there was lots of short new coat growth. If French or English - well it would have been better to pluck molting locks rather than include all those short bits in a shearing.

Anyway, as expected, the hand was very soft and silky to feel. I carded it with mini-carders into 88 little rolags and have almost finished spinning 44 of them onto one spool at 12 tpt over 1/2 inch i.e. about 24 twists per inch using short forward draw with smoothing  and around 19 wpi. This is very approximate as ther a many little slubs - due to included  nolyes - which I elected to leave in. I left these because a) they are very soft and probably won't cause annoyance when used to knit, b) they smooth over fairly easily and c) working to eliminate them completely seems to make a weaker yarn - with this proparation anyway.
 The blue fiber roving I prepared from one of my sheep's fleece and dyed with Eurolana dye.

 A little rabbit current?


First bobbin of singles almost done

 Slubby single - but the slubs are so soft.

I intend to add the plied yarn when it's all done.
I'm such a slow spinner 'though - even allowing for having to do it standing up as my back hurts if I sit for too long. I was making just 40 treadles per minute with this single - while I see others talking about making 80 plus treadles per minute! Could this be due to the sort of fiber they are spinning or the process they are using e.g. long dew vs short worsted draw or the wheel they have - perhaps set for more rapid use? I don;t know - I think it's just because I'm slow at this even after 8 years at it!

Ah well, maybe I should get an e-spinner! But the price is huge - but then again I might go to "Wonderwool" in Wales this year and see one there!!