angora and mohair

Spinning

June 17, 2017 by Poppy Creek Farmer Mama

Spinning lessons are taught either on my handmade Louet-inspired single treadle wheel, or my Ashford Country Spinner 2.

If you have a finished project in mind to knit, crochet, or weave, feel free to bring along a pattern and we can make sure that the yarn is suitable.

Depending on your experience level, in your class we can cover the basics of spinning, setting up your wheel, spinning worsted vs woolen, spinning singles and plyed yarn, and lockspinning and tailspinning. Sometimes a certain type of yarn suits a specific way of spinning, and we can discuss this too. There are many different types of yarns dotted around my studio, so you can decide if there’s a new technique you’d like to try or if a certain type of yarn catches your eye.

alpaca silk merino afghan yarn — Natural alpaca and hand dyed silk/merino blend, spun as a 2-ply chunky afghan yarn

Three hand dyed mohair yarns, all lockspun.

A single ply, hand dyed lockspun mohair yarn.

hand spun yarn — A fractal spun silk, polwarth and merino yarn.

2-ply yarn — A 2-ply cheviot and alpaca blend spun on my hand made wheel.

Dyeing

June 16, 2017 by Poppy Creek Farmer Mama

For me, dyeing is the process of taking a beautiful fleece and personalizing it. It becomes art, yet this is still just one more step along the journey of turning your fiber into the finished piece, whatever that may be.

I trained with Natalie Redding from Namaste Farms for over a year to become a certified Master Dyer and teacher and her techniques are inspiring.

In a dye lesson, which is taught either one-on-one or with your small group, we will cover the basics of dyeing, the chemistry, and the tenets of the Redding Method philosophy. We will dye your fiber in the colorway of your choice, either kettle dyeing or oven dyeing.

If you would prefer to learn to dye finished yarn instead of loose fiber, we can move the dye lesson around to accommodate that. If you would like to learn to dye milled yarn, please let me know in advance, along with your weight preference, and I will order some in for you.

The cost of the lesson covers the shampoo, dyes and tuition.

Beyond this initial lesson, further dye classes are available to cover other techniques, troubleshooting and colorways.

Dyed Wensleydale locks in “Once Upon A Time” colorway

Border Leicester fleece in “Electric Unicorn” colorway

Border Leicester fleece in “Electric Unicorn”

Mohair locks dyed loose and then lockspun into yarn

Lockspun mohair dyed in “Fiesta” colorway

Fiber processing

May 23, 2017 by Poppy Creek Farmer Mama

Once you have chosen your fleece, we will barn skirt it as we shear, and I’ll explain my process for shearing and bagging, along with the various parts of the fleece and how they differ. Then, we will lay the whole fleece out and skirt again, leaving us with the prime areas, which will become our yarn.

Often, fleeces will benefit from being tumbled, to remove second cuts, some vm and dust.

If you are planning on dyeing your fleece, it is likely that we will split your experience into two days, as the fleece will need time to dry. In this case, the carding process will come after the dyeing.

Carding is where we brush the fibers into some kind of order in preparation for spinning; a either a batt made on the drum carder, or rolags made on the hand carders. Some fibers can be spun from the cloud with minimal preparation, and we can discuss how this affects spinning techniques and look at some sample yarns.

At this stage we can also blend your fleece with some other kind of natural fiber such as wool, mohair or silk, or with some sparkle, such as angelina or firestar. I’m a huge believer in letting a fiber speak for itself, and not processing the character out of it, which is why I avoid milled fibers wherever possible, but I also believe there’s few things in the world can’t be made even better with a little sparkle.

Hand dyed mohair rolags prepared on the hand carders.

A lock of Navajo Churro fleece sitting on top of a carded batt.

Blending wool and alpaca on the drum carder

Preparing Navajo Churro x Jacob rolags on the hand carders.

alpaca on drum carder — Carding 100% grey alpaca on the drum carder

Angora goats and mohair

May 23, 2017 by Poppy Creek Farmer Mama

Mohair is the holy grail of fibers, in my opinion. There is nothing that takes dye the way quality mohair does, and the luster, handle and shine are breathtaking.

Angoras were the first fiber animals to join the flock, back in 2010. I still have my first three, Pearl, SuzieQ and Tipp. Tipp is now an old, stinky buck with some antisocial habits, but I love him anyway.

These three are the foundation of my mohair herd, and were later joined by Cilla, my first MyGora (Pygmy x Angora). My herd is now usually between 25-30 goats, all carefully selected for the quality of their fiber, their parasite resistance and their general hardiness.

Angora goats are easy to handle, easy to shear and their fiber is so versatile. Longer locks are sometimes used for doll hair, such as the ones used by Lunart Dolls by Desi.

When brushed out and prepared, the locks become works of art. These locks below were prepared by a wonderfully talented lady who purchased fiber from SuzieQ.

mohair doll hair

Mohair can either be carded, or spun directly from the lock, known as ‘lockspinning’. The image on the left shows kid mohair dyed and lockspun with minimal preparation, while the picture on the right shows punis, or mini-rolags, which is moahir that was washed, dyed and carded on hand carders before being rolled ready for spinning.

There’s so many wonderful ways to experiment with mohair – I’d love to help you find the way that fuels your imagination!

Twin bucks, Brownie’s babies from 2017. I can’t wait to see how the fiber color on these two develops.

Long locks! 10-12″ locks, carefully harvested from one of my home grown angora bucks. This was his 2016 kid clip.

My sweet Sarin, home grown MyGora buck and his kid clip from 2015.

Sarin in full fleece. He just glows in the sun!

Choose your fleece and shear it

May 23, 2017 by Poppy Creek Farmer Mama

No matter what your fiber passion, I bet I have a fleece here that will make you smile. Whether it is wool, mohair or alpaca that makes your fiber artist fingers itch, I invite you to come into my barn to see the beautiful Faces of Fiber hard at work, growing your fleeces.

The joy of raw wool over the kind processed commercially at the mill is the handle, the luster, and the natural crimp. It’s truly amazing to me that an animal that sleeps in the woods, rolls in the dust, and bathes in my pond can produce a fleece of such softness and beauty.

If you’d like to try a new kind of wool or fiber, this is your opportunity!

If you are unsure about which kind of fleece suits you best, we can discuss the benefits of one kind of fiber over another for various projects, and find the one that will get you hooked on raw wool.

Once you have selected your fleece or fleeces, we will shear it, and I’ll explain the different types of fleece found on the animal, the delights of prime fleece, and why we avoid second cuts. We will barn skirt as we go, and then skirt again when the shearing is complete.

Start here: choose your fleece!

Mohair (Angora goats)

Alpaca

Wool (sheep)