What to do with the Angora yarn

Anybody want to share what you make with your bunny fiber? I've got about 170 yards spun up and some waiting in the wings. It's 100% and no idea what to do with it.

Sky, an angora breeder on another forum swears by her angora winter gloves she made. Said they are quite water repellent and when/if they do get wet, they retain more body heat than sheeps wool gloves. She also makes boot liners for her hubby's friends that work in the oil field and/or hunt.

I plan on making DD some flip-top gloves for work this winter ... along with a stocking cap and scarf as she will be in and out of the weather on her job.

For myself, I am making some gloves/hat/scarf sets too ... and one thing I have always wanted is an angora vest :cheesysmile:

Angora is awesome for scarves and gloves. I talked to a lady once who ONLY used Navajo Churro yarn, and she tried to tell me how worthless angora was because it just wouldn't hold up. I then showed her a pair of gloves I made that I used frequently and told her how old they were. "We'll", she said "they're just too fuzzy..." Hmm, I guess she didn't like being proven wrong...

Anywho, I love lace patterned scarves made from angora. The halo traps a lot of warmth, so you don't loose that by having a lace pattern with the angora yarn, or that's what I've noticed. Also, they're just plain beautiful with the combination of the lace pattern and the halo.

PSFAngoras":1o1dns4i said:

Angora is awesome for scarves and gloves. I talked to a lady once who ONLY used Navajo Churro yarn, ...

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What did she use it FOR? Please not next-to-skin items....

I have some undyed Navajo-Churro, worsted weight, that I'll probably weave (on a rigid heddle loom, not very fancy!) into placemats or similar just to get used to the texture. I was going to integrate it into my "Sheep Breed Lace Experiment," but couldn't find any Nav-Churro spun down fine enough. This was before I gave up and decided that I'd better learn to spin (May 2012), since very few breeds' fleece was actually available as yarn, even on Etsy.

I hadn't considered a vest! Hats and scarves were on my list (haven't made gloves, whether crocheted or knit, yet), of course, but a VEST--that would be awesome. Let's see...a blend of Angora and--what? Corriedale? Romney?--something with body and not just softness, because I lust after an all-natural, i.e., non-dyed stranded color-work/Fair-Isle-style vest. The sheep wool will need to provide some "grab" to help hold the work together around the Angora content. So far, I've knit a Fair-Isle hat (two colors only; a beginner class) and a couple of samplers (Jamieson & Smith jumper weight wool).

I'm such a Bunny Beginner (just joined this forum Thursday night, don't have a single rabbit yet, still need to go to two or three shows and meet rabbits and people!) that I don't know all the possible legitimate colors that Angoras can come in across the four ARBA breeds (or are they referred to as "varieties"?). Is it reasonable to even think about an all-natural Fair-Isle-style vest with non-dyed Angora wool blended with sheep wool?

Of course, stranded color work can be used in hats, scarves, and gloves, too...Ravelry dot com has tons of patterns, and many sites devoted to Shetland knitting do, too.

Personally, I wouldn't use Angora in socks unless I could implement a technique for knitting/crocheting a top separately from a bottom. The top would have the Angora content; the bottom would not. That way, when the bottom (toe or heel) needed replacing, no Angora fiber would be lost! (See Anna Zilboorg, Knit Free-Sole Socks: Handknit Socks to Last a Lifetime, http://www.interweavestore.com/knit-fre ... o-download, for one such technique.)

I think it would also be nice to weave scarves with maybe a CVM (California Variegated Mutant, a light brown sheep) warp and an Angora or Angora blend warp, either in a matching or contrasting color, with knotted CVM fringe. For those who don't weave, making a knotted fringe from (planned!) extra warp length is a beautiful way of finishing a woven scarf. Beads can also be strung on the warp ends before knotting. I'm thinking "out loud" here, but a terrific scarf is developing in my mind...and I don't even have the rabbit yet! :lol:

So these ideas of "what to do with Angora yarn" can go into the hopper as well. Hope they're of use to someone! Great topic; thank you.

DogCatMom":1vr11mea said:

PSFAngoras":1vr11mea said:

Angora is awesome for scarves and gloves. I talked to a lady once who ONLY used Navajo Churro yarn, ...

Click to expand...

What did she use it FOR? Please not next-to-skin items....

Click to expand...

She made some beautiful color work vests that were dyed using only plants. I just think its funny that I complimented her in her species and work, and she was very insulting towards mine. Just stuck up I suppose. And she was using fiber from much older animals too. If you use fleeces from younger churros, and separate the guard hair from the wool, it is actually a nice, soft yarn. Sure it's not for scarf use still, but think Corriedale...

As far as blending angora, try to keep the staple length the same as the angora. Otherwise I find that mine seems to just ball up and felt rather than blend into the other fiber, no matter how much or how carefully I run it through the carder. It is also good to blend it with fiber that is already a bit softer itself. I find that merino and alpaca turn out really nice with angora in it. Some softer Shetland too. I have a steel grey Shetland fleece from a ram that win the fleece show at state fair several years in a row, I was going to blend it with wool from my smoked pearl buck and lilac steel doe. I also really like to blend angora wih silk. I won't dye my angora usually, so I dye silk and add It for extra color. It turns out beautifully every time

This I don't want to blend. If I did, I'd use the alpaca I have, seems about right for the job. I don't care for Merino, but Shetland was my second choice.

I don't card my Angora either, it's spun right from the cloud.
Ravelry has some patterns, nothing I liked strictly for Angora.
Does anyone have any picts of anything they made? I need some visuals. Gloves sound interesting but I am a destroyer of gloves, and I lose everything, something as precious as Angora would be wasted as gloves for me. Scarves would go over very well, I have a ton of those, because it's about all I have had the courage to make. I wish I had the nerve to make an entire vest, or maybe a shawl. I'd need to beef up my Angora program for that, to get more wool. I'm down to one black buck and two cross weanlings.<br /><br />__________ Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:10 am __________<br /><br />Ravelry has some nice patterns, but I don't knit. I do have the knitting board looms though.

yes, sky I agree , you need to beef up your angora program.. you need more angora rabbit. lol

On my way to get one now. Will post pictures when I get back.

I personally love angora scarves and am working on spinning up my smoke pearl wool into a nice yarn for another scarf