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Learn to Spin Kit
Click on the pictures to get a bigger view (it will open in a new window).| Description | Price | |
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The kit contains:
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15 € |
The sheep breed varies with available stock, but I only choose fibre that's not too difficult to spin (no double-coated breeds, no super-fine or extremely short or long fibre). I'll try to accomodate colour preferences as far as possible - let me know what you want and whether you are willing to wait for it.
People often ask me: "What can I make out of this wool". Well, I'd rather consider it training material - your first yarns will probably not be of a quality you'll want to use for knitting or weaving. However, if you happen to have need of a potholder, there's certainly enough wool - and felting your knitting (in the washing machine, with a load of laundry) will hide irregularities in the yarn (choose your needle size according the thinner bits of the yarn to avoid holes). If you are a quick learner, you might also have enough wool for a pair of handwarmers - or any other small project. But really, the important thing is having fun while acquiring a new skill - don't worry about the yarn you produce! If you don't have any sheep near by, you can always buy more wool from me - or somebody else.
Order by e-mailAngora
My rabbits are groomed regularly, so there is a constant supply of angora in different colours. Click on the pictures to get a detailed view (it will open in a new window):
| Description | Price | |
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White French Angora - there's some guard hair which will cause the typical Angora halo. Fibre length is approx. 4 to 8 cm. | 6 €/100 g |
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"beige" - Bambi's hair and that of her children, which is a mixture of white hairs on the belly, fawn on the back and a small amount of grey in between - the overall effect is beige. With guard hair. Fibre length is approx. 4 to 8 cm.
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8 €/100 g |
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"Black" - which is actually various shades of grey, from nearly black to light grey. The hair comes from Blacky, the dwarf stud buck, and his and Blache's babies. There's very little guard hair and fibre length is approx. 3 to 6 cm. | 8 €/100 g |
| "grey" - the hair of Scotty and his daughter Griselda. A lighter grey than that of the above "black" rabbits. | 8 €/100 g |
Minimum quantity to buy is 25 g. Maximum depends on availability - let me know how much you need and I'll get back to you.
I want to emphasize that my rabbits are never plucked till they are naked. I only take out the loose hair - with a comb when they are not shedding large quantities of hair, with my hands when they do. I am only selling these hand-plucked, straight and reasonably long fibres.
Order by e-mailMohair
Mohair from young adult animals (Charlie and Lucy). Legally it's not kid mohair, but it's still very soft.
Here you see the available batts which risk changing quickly as I have a constant need of mohair for my own projects) - if you want something else, please let me know.
| Description | Price | |
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Natural white. In stock: 100 g, larger amounts approx. 1 week lead time. | 5 €/100 g |
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Light yellow (mixed with white to get a more interesting colour). In stock: 175 g - I can't repeat this exact colour, but more pale yellow is possible. | 6 €/100 g |
Wool
Wool of Vendéen sheep (France's most popular meat breed) is a down-type wool, rather fine (soft enough for next to skin wear), rather short-stapled and with a lot of crimp. The crimp holds on to vegetable matter, you might therefore find some in the batts (even though I do my best to take it all out). Suffolk wool is of the same type.
Landes De Bretagne is a local endangered breed that has never been selected for wool quality. It is therefore very variable from one individual to the next. Generally there is less crimp and the fibres are coarser than Vendéen, which makes the wool easier to process but not so nice to wear.
The breed Thônes et Marthod comes from the Alps and used to be selected for meat, mild and wool production. They have a double-coated fleece with slight luster in the guard hairs. Wool quality varies from one animal to the next: My Toni has a very soft fleece even in the second year, Clint's gets coarser every month and Martha's is already pretty coarse but has this beautiful grey colour.
If in doubt - regarding quality or exact colour - please order a sample (0.50€ + shipping).
Price: 1 €/25 g (= 4 €/100 g) - all colours and qualities.
Order by e-mail
Blends
I make custom blends according to your wishes from the fibres I have. Some favourites of mine are:
- 80 % wool, 20 % angora. A mixture of dyed wool and white angora gives a lovely heathered effect: 6 €/100 g
- 70 % down-type wool, 30 % mohair (or slightly more or less). Mohair adds luster, wool facilitates spinning and knitting. Carded batts in heathered shades: 5 €/100 g
General Information
My dyeing is done with chemical dyes after washing the fibre and before carding it. Generally I mix several shades of one colour (or even different colours) during carding which makes for semi-solid batts and consequently, slightly variegated yarns.
I card on a Louet Junior/Roving carder which is half the standard width. Consequently the batts (25 g) are thicker, longer and narrower than batts from other drumcarders. For spinning this is great, for felting it is less than perfect. By the way, contrary to a common misconception drumcarded fibres are mostly parallel. However, there's a mixture of long and short fibres and there is the occasional noil or nep (little clumps of fibre) - if you want to spin a smooth worsted yarn, this is not the preparation for you. My batts will give you a slightly textured yarn, even if you are an experienced spinner.
Page updated: 13 December 2011