Our winner of the spectacular spinning gift basket is : Rachael from Rochester.
Congratulations Rachael, happy spinning and learning about different fibers.
A big Thank You to Storey Publishing, Interweave and The Spinning Loft for supplying our prizes.
On to our spinning!
First this week I spun Kid Mohair
Wow this was fun to work with! Silky and sexy – it’s most of what makes up Rowan’s famous Kid Silk Haze after all.
I didn’t both to wash the fiber, it had a little vm, but no real dirt and it wasn’t sticky.
I combed the fiber and made two samples, one thin and one thick spinning woolen-ish. Then just to be ornery I carded some (which some folk frown upon for long stapled fiber) and spun it long and fluffy draw. I was surprised at a couple of things: How shiny it is even when spun woolen. How fast it got away from me and got lumpy.
This is a fiber that piqued my curiosity and I want to spend more time learning to control it, learning how it loves to being spun.
Two fun facts about Kid Mohair from The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook:
Next up is Churro
Churro kind of made my head explode
It is a unique and a little odd fiber. It has such a rich and important history I really wanted to like it, but looking at it it just confused me.
The fleece wasn’t dirty and it was only a little sticky. One wash and it was clean. It is a sort of double coated fiber, different looking but not different enough in coarseness to separate the fibers.
I watched the Churro portion of the Handspinning Rare Wools dvd, and prepped the fiber exactly like Deb suggested. I carded it.
It only did two passes with my handcards and spun it longdraw. It made an even and lofty yarn, much softer than I expected. I wouldn’t wear it next t0 my skin, but I was surprised how soft it felt in comparison to Navajo rugs that are woven from Churro.
This fiber is strong. Prepped and spun woolen I couldn’t break even a single with my hands.
Two fun facts about Churro from The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook:
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy rates Churro as a Threatened breed.
Until next week, happy spinning!
The churro looks more like hair than the other fleeces. Very interesting looking!
I won’t be one of the folks frowning at carding long fibers! Although at this phase in my spinning life I mostly comb (because we didn’t have combs when I started to spin), I’ll card long fibers to get special effects.
On Navajo-Churro: the wool is surprising, and variable. The sample you have looks and sounds like a “typical” fleece, with double-coating that isn’t distinctive enough to encourage separating the coats. Also in that it spun up feeling softer than you expected. There *are* relatively single-coated and more strongly double-coated fleeces in the breed.
Loving your experiments!
I’m Rachael from Rochester, and I cannot thank you folks enough for having such an awesome giveaway! I can’t wait to get my hands on this stuff.
Congratulations Rachael!
Talk about fibers with differing characteristics. Thanks for sharing this information.
Thar Churro is pretty fabulous! Can I touch your sample?
🙂
The churro is gorgeous thanks for sharing.