# favorite fibers? Least favorite?



## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

I was looking over my stash this morning, trying to figure out how I want to re-do that room it's in. That, of course, led me to head toward the spinning wheels for a bit of sit down time.

I have work currently on three wheels. Even though I NEED to finish some wool that someone is going to make a sweater out of (for me!), I keep gravitating toward my favorite fibers instead. 

I LOVE to spin angora. I know, I keep hearing how hard it is to spin. It's a good thing I never heard that until after I had a rabbit, else I never would have tried it. To my mind, it's the easiest of all fibers to spin! Course, now I have 13 rabbits, with more on the way....

Second favorite? It's Cindi's fault. I bought some silk roving from her friend that was selling stuff. Now I usually dislike spinning roving. Draft, predraft...so much more work! But the silk! Ahhhhhhhh.......and one little wheel I have, wobbly though it is, just prefers to spin that silk into lace. I now have silk in every form but on-the-hoof, and I'll be there next summer!

Romney is still my favorite breed of wool. However, I'm replacing my nasty-tempered ram with a new one soon, and he's a Corriedale/Border Leicester cross. He looks Corrie, in build and fleece. I can't wait to see how that crosses with my Romney girls!!!

What I've decided I don't care for is llama and alpaca. I do like the feel of the fiber itself, but I don't like the lack of elasticity. Seems the yarn is just dead, unless it's in a blend.

As far as plant fibers go, bamboo is pretty good, once I get past the roving thing. Ingeo is nice too. I don't like ramie quite as much as those. I haven't tried soy, since I have a personal antipathy to the plant. :nono: 

I also haven't tried things like yak, or buffalo. I figure since they're sooooo expensive, I don't want to allow myself to 'develop a taste' for them!

So, tell me...what do you like? What do you not like? I might want to ttry something new!

And donsgal....I KNOW merino is on the top of your list!  And I'm betting Lisa has an affinity to BFLs!!

Meg


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## holleegee (Mar 3, 2005)

angora is also my favorite and also what I have the most of.

least favorite so far:
Buffalo....I found some and had some given to me. I have spent hours picking out the rough guard hairs...once I get a little bit that is spinable it is nice but it is a lot of work.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Hands down over all is Corriedale.

For mitts & socks I like a Dorset cross.

Meg, I can't wait for your Corridale/BFL X Romney!!!

I don't like alpaca or llama either unless carded with some wool


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## liznbeatle (Nov 17, 2007)

Hey Meg,
In my whole week of spinning experience I love the Romney and the wonderful rumplestiltskin angora. Mixed together they were gorgeous, lumpy but gorgous I hope with time mine looks half as good as yours! The straight angora spun very fine and easily to me compared to the wool. I crochetted my first beggining of a hat from my yarn, I am so tickled!!!!I can definately see why you prefer the wheel as it is very slow with the drop spindle, but it's been good because it allows me to stop and draft more carefully since i'm not good at it yet. Thanks so much for sharing all the wonderful fibers to try. I loved the look of the mohair, it is so shiny and smooth. I have a silly begginer question, how do you keep the twist in your yarn once you take it off the drop spindle, mine is unraveling on some of them to where it has to be re twisted before I can use it, It should keep its twist right? Am I not drawing the fibers out long enough maybe so that they don't bind well. My best to you and hubbby and the critters Lisa


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## donsgal (May 2, 2005)

Meg Z said:


> And donsgal....I KNOW merino is on the top of your list!  And I'm betting Lisa has an affinity to BFLs!!
> 
> Meg


bwahahahahahaha you beat me to it Meg! LOL I had my answer all ready to go while I was reading the post  And yeah, you got it! Merino rocks. Followed closely by Rambouillet, BL, Finn, Corriedale....oh....ALL OF IT! OK???? ALL OF IT.... BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry, I lost it a little. LOL

I'd like to try Angora.

donsgal


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I have to agree with the angora too, I miss my bunnies and spinning their fibers. I still have a few baggies full around here and I try to save it for when I need comforting. I especially like to spin it fairly bulky then plying it with a wool single. As for sheep's wool I would have to say my favorite to spin is Polworth. I'm also really liking this Romney it drafts so nicely. My favorite fleece by far is from a BL ram they I used to get every year from a friend, she sold him though :Bawling: His fleece is similar to the Romney in how it drafts but it is a much longer staple.


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## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

liznbeatle said:


> Hey Meg,
> In my whole week of spinning experience I love the Romney and the wonderful rumplestiltskin angora. Mixed together they were gorgeous, lumpy but gorgous I hope with time mine looks half as good as yours! The straight angora spun very fine and easily to me compared to the wool. I crochetted my first beggining of a hat from my yarn, I am so tickled!!!!I can definately see why you prefer the wheel as it is very slow with the drop spindle, but it's been good because it allows me to stop and draft more carefully since i'm not good at it yet. Thanks so much for sharing all the wonderful fibers to try. I loved the look of the mohair, it is so shiny and smooth. I have a silly begginer question, how do you keep the twist in your yarn once you take it off the drop spindle, mine is unraveling on some of them to where it has to be re twisted before I can use it, It should keep its twist right? Am I not drawing the fibers out long enough maybe so that they don't bind well. My best to you and hubbby and the critters Lisa


Lisa, There are probably some good threads still on here about drop spindling. My guess is that you need to add more twist when spinning. Some fibers need more, and some less. Longer fibers can get away with less, generaglly, and shorter fibers need more, but the amount of crimp plays in there, too. You can also ply it. I haven't used the Navaho ply method much, but it works pretty good off a drop spindle. There are tutorials online for that method.

You may want to keep a notebook, with a sample, of what you spin. I wish I had. I do keep a dyers notebook, sorta. You saw how I did that, when we looked up the dyed fibers I swapped you, to see what was what.

When we get back together to do the plant nursery, we can do a bit of spindling, too, and get anything left to figure out...figured out!

Meg


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## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

Marchwind said:


> I have to agree with the angora too, I miss my bunnies and spinning their fibers. I still have a few baggies full around here and I try to save it for when I need comforting. I especially like to spin it fairly bulky then plying it with a wool single. As for sheep's wool I would have to say my favorite to spin is Polworth. I'm also really liking this Romney it drafts so nicely. My favorite fleece by far is from a BL ram they I used to get every year from a friend, she sold him though :Bawling: His fleece is similar to the Romney in how it drafts but it is a much longer staple.


Okay Marchy, I've never spun Polworth. Never seen it, either. Swap you some angora for some........

Meg


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## Nellie (Oct 18, 2006)

All I've spun so far is a little bit of cashmere (that was fun!) and jacob wool and llama. I just like feeling it.. you know? I went to the OFFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival) last summer and just *touched* everything, I couldn't help it! LOL It was nice to be around other ladies doing the same thing!


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## Oceanrose (Mar 25, 2005)

My fave is Keeshond (dog) followed by BFL, then Cormo, and then California Red. Love the feeling of those 3 breeds.

My least fave has to be Llama. I don't mind alpaca at all, but llama just doesn't do much for me.

I'm going to order some cashmere in bulk soon, and some silk bulk to try to blend out. So many fibers, so little time


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

I like Llama and Alpaca and whatever this "soft white roving" is a got off ebay.

But my least favorite was /is Cheveotte . When I first was learning to spin I bought 3 lbs of it off ebay because it was real cheap and no one else bid on it. It's extremely short and curly. Tightly curly. I just can't seem to make a decent yarn from it at all. More like elastic.

I'm undecided about Lincoln. It came out like baling twine. Stiff and course. However I knit a hat from it and it's softened up a lot with wear and is nice and warm. I think it would make good sweaters if worn over the top of other things.

Just got some Angora from Minikin in exchange for some art work. Haven't tried spinning it yet.

This spring, when she blows her coat I'm going to pluck our Siberean Husky just to see how it spins up. I saw some pictures of items knitted from husky and other dog hair but can't say I liked them much. It just seems such a waste when I see how much of it she looses. Could almost fill a trash bag I'm sure. 

Pauline


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## carellama (Nov 12, 2007)

Ladies---I am listening. I just sent 18 pounds of llama,various colors, to Quail hill to be carded. I called Georgia yesterday to have her add merino and silk to a smokey grey/brown color. Corriedale to a couple of lighter colors that I sent. Merino to my true black, reddish brown colors. I told her what you said because basicly all I have spun in my 2 years of experience is llama. Georgia helped me and I can't wait to spin it!!!!! Anyone else want to try some when I get it back? Stay warm Val


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Well, I have been a fan of Ramboullet for years. And then I got MegWool (Romney) and I fell in love with that. And _then_ donsgal sent me some Shetland and I fell in love with _that_..... I know have several fleeces of both (and only a partial of Ramb)

Did pick up a nice looking Lincoln fleece. And the Wensley/Churro fleece is sooooooooo yummy feeling and looking, but haven't worked it up yet (I'm being selfish and keeping it all for myself, bwahahahaha)

Least favorite? Hmmmm. Ummmmm. Do I have to choose a least? They all have pros and cons. I suppose llama because it's such a pain in the rear to separate and even though it's soft as all get-out, there's still something I just can't warm up to much. (Although, to be fair, the bag I got was full of seconds and a lot more work than it should have been. The owner had told the shearer to just do a down-and-dirty "farm shear" and not worry about the 'pretty' factor.  )


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Meg I'm sending you a PM :baby04:


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