Experimenting With Other Fibres

Why a page on other fibres? As you gain more experience as a spinner, you will find yourself with the desire to start experimenting with other fibres!

So what are your choices?

Alpaca

Alpaca is a wonderful fibre to spin, well a female fleece is anyway.

I have spun both male and female fleeces and found that the fibres in the male fleece where much stronger and actually cut into my hands during spinning!

The fibre is more like hair than wool and is lighter and silker than wool. Alpaca fleeces come in a range of colors from a very dark chocolate brown to light fawns, silver and white.

Although alpaca fibres do not have any lanolin coating them they are very easy to spin, and unlike some other fibres there is no need to mix the alpaca with wool to make spinning easier.

Angora

Contrary to popular belief angora does not come from the coat of the angora goat, but from the pelt of the angora rabbit.

(Angora goats actually produce Mohair!)

The fibres are collected by shearing (clipping) or hand plucking three or four times a year.

Most spinners do not spin the angora by itself but spin a wool/angora mix instead. Angora fibres are very fine and smoother and silkier than sheeps wool.

It is also eight times warmer!

Cotton

Coming soon...

Dog Hair

The hair from any long haired dog can also be spun.

Years ago I had a Sheltland Sheepdog and over a period of several months I saved the hair removed when I was grooming his coat. He was a beautiful sable color, and when mixed with a white polworth (abut 50:50) I was able to spin a very nice yarn.

I had to wash and deodorise the yarn thoroughly after spinning (to remove the male dog smell), but I was very pleased with the end result.

Mohair

Mohair is the fibre harvested from Angora Goats, and is soft, silky and non-elastic. This fibre can be spun with very little preparation, usually a light card is all that is required.

Because mohair lacks elasticity, most spinners mix their mohair with a fleece that has a similar crimp. Blended wool and mohair is relatively easy to spin and can be tackled by beginners without too many dramas.

Silk

Coming soon...

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