Washing mohair

On By CarynIn Craft, Uncategorized

I am almost giddy with excitement. I found a local farm that has angora goats and sells fleece (that is the hair from an animal, not the already finished fabric). I bought some to practice spinning!

By the way, the fleece from an angora goat is called mohair and the tensile strength rivals steel. Fun fact I learned from the book “The Art of Washing Wool, Mohair, & Alpaca” by Mary Egbert, which the grower recommended. Good book, which I very much recommend if you try washing fleece.

Fleece from an angora goat named Dottie

I like the book because the author has done her research and experimentation, so I don’t have to! I followed her advice on how to scour (clean the lanolin off) my new fiber.

I used my softened water from the water heater
Added the soap, then the fiber, and kept checking the temperature to keep it above 100 degrees F
I squeezed the soap water out of the fiber and put it in a hot rinse bath with a little vinegar
I kept the temperature of the rinse above 100F by adding small amounts of near boiling water
After the rinse I squeezed out the water and put it on my drying rack
Dirty fiber on top, clean fiber bottom right, flicked fiber (brushed) bottom left

And now I have soft fluffy local fiber to spin. And I even know the goat’s name: Dottie! That just tickles me pink.

The universe wants me to spin, who am I to say no?