Angora spinning fiber supply

I have decided to part with some of my angora stash, it keeps growing, funny that – with app. 12 breeding rabbits what can you expect!

The fiber can be purchased at £3 pr 50 g, contact me for details.

Today I managed to get some good pictures of my angora rabbit fiber, showing the colours I have in my stash.

top: red and white, bottom: brown and black

My own rabbits are black and white, but sometimes I can get good fibers in other colours from other breeders, so always ask, and I will be happy to send you pictures of what is available.

Remember that colours vary on individual animals, so there will be lighter and darker versions of what you see here.

Here are some close-ups:

red and brown angora

These are both the traditional Danish (German) angora type, called type 1 from now on.

Type 1 angora

This is also the type 1 angora, white and black.

type 2 angora

This is the new type 2 angora, that I am going to concentrate on in the future.

The grey is a pure type 2, the white is type1/type2 crossbred.

Compare this with the picture above, and notice the lack of guard hairs!

And what is all this about type 1 and type 2???

Well, when angora rabbits got their first boom in Denmark around WWII, the fashion demanded a quite fluffy look to the angora garments, and the standards for judging the rabbits was set after the demands of the yarn producers, of course.

There has been several ups and downs in angora breeding since then, but the original standards remain the same. A lot of serious work has been done by breeders who has done a lifetime worth of improving the breed, so today the rabbits yield lots more.

The angora fur has two different types of hairs, the thin, soft undercoat, and the long straight guard hairs. It is the guard hairs that makes angora products look fluffy, and the undercoat that is responsible for the felting ability.

According to the standards angoras should have 5-10% guard hairs, the more the better. This is to prevent felting in the finished yarn, however, it makes you look like a candyfloss when wearing an angora garment.

All registered breeding animals has to be judged by these rules, and this is the official Danish angora that I name Type1.

Now, Nette, a friend of mine has for a number of years run a breeding program of her own, to produce angoras without guard hairs (or as little as possible), and she has come a long way with that project. This has only been possible because she has bred the angoras for herself and her spinning and knitting, and have never had the rabbits judged by authorized judges.

The result is that garments made of her angora does not look like candyfloss – it is warm and soft like all angora, but much more to my personal liking.

So I have got my new breeding animals from her, and plan to continue her brilliant work, by crossing her angoras with my selected Danish and Danish/satin crossbreds. First generation is looking very promising!

This is the Type 2 angora, and what I will be producing in the future, if all goes well, in black and white.

You can see some of Nette’s angora knitwear here:

http://lapinette.dk/Angora.htm

I will try to find more pictures of Type 1 versus Type 2 fiber, yarn and garment, to show the difference.

Hmm…perhaps I should do some controlled experiments, making for instance one mitten of type 1, and one of type 2, use them together and see how they differ? Or find some volunteers to do it?

However, I still have type 1 animals, and some type 1 wool in my stash, and that is the wool I may be able to get from other breeders.

I GOT MOTORIZED!!!

TODAY was a big day – I got motorized in more ways than one!

First came my new wheels, courtesy of the local health care center…

Nøvs and I went for a long tour in the lovely autumn sunshine!
It is a completely new feeling to be independant – it’s so good I can’t describe it!

But there was more – when we came back the courier was there delivering a parcel from UK – it is the motor for my knitting machines, that I have searched for so long, that finally arrived, safe and sound too! Well done Fed-ex, for delivering within 24 hours across the channel!

We have now unpacked the beast, but will have to wait mounting it – I need to replace the machines in the workshop to make room for it. I’ll report on that later!

I have this thing about motorizing my equipment – sometimes because I don’t have the physics to use them as they are, sometimes it is just to make it more effiecient.
May I present the first prototype of the ultimate electric spinner:

Version 1.01 is on the make, destined for future production – and no, I don’t take pre-orders!

It will be presented here, when ready, I expect it will take another year, at least.

The point of this spinner is, that it has to be convenient for all sorts of fibers/ thicknesses of yarn – so you can spin superfine angora as well as relatively chunky wool, and NOT experience the trouble of the spinner yanking the fiber from your hands…
The system is complete, now we need to find/make the parts seen from an economic/production point of wiew….

Next on the list is my drum carder, by the way…

News from the rabbits: so far we have had no sign of the rabbit plague that is spreading in DK at the moment – my garden is completely isolated, no visitors allowed in any circomstances!

The other day I was shearing Frankie (he got blue eyes), my fine Satin angora male – and for the first time I succeded getting the sheen of the fibers on the photo:

He is big and strong, so I look forward to next years breeding.

The end result of this years litters of satin/angora crossbreds are three white ones, one very good femal and to quite good males – they all have the properties I aimed for, satin fur but angora size and yield, or at least getting there.
I have decided to keep to the whites, as the sheen shows better here.
So if anyone out there has a white satin angora mail and/or female, I will need fresh blood one day…

The rest of the litters? well, for the crossbreds, they just died – so I believe the survivors has the needed vitality to carry on…..

The Danish angoras went well, I sold quite a few, and the rest is in the freezer or at least waiting to go – I have 5 black males that I took aside for production, but I have had to realize that we have too many to care for during winter, carrying water etc., so have to give up some.
If any of you would like one, please do say! They are easy to tame and very friendly…

And yes, we do eat our bunnies! our animals are here for production, we like to eat meat from animals that has had a good life. Rabbit meat is lean and low on kolesterol, taste like turkey but has a much finer fiber strukture.
The trick to this is not giving them names – only the ones we will keep are named!

Rabbits, part one

I have promised you to show and tell about my rabbits, so here goes chapter one.

For a few years I have had a few Danish angoras at the time, I call them so as I am not sure what category to put them under – German, French or…… but I can tell you they weigh about 4 – 4,5 kilo as adults, and yield up to 500 g wool per shearing, which is every three months.
The coloured ones make considerably less, mine does about 200 g pr shearing, which I think is normal.

Here is three typical Danish angoras:

I have three of those, first Lucy III, a black female and this years supermom – she has produced 19 babies within 32 days, breastfed them all and STILL managed to keep up her own weight! 3 weeks after giving birth to the last litter, she was shorn and weighed – 4.1 kilo. Not much wool though – it had mostly been used for nesting…

Here she is, with some of the little ones, who by the way are for sale….

Last year I heard about Satin angoras for the first time, I got curious and wanted to see what that was all about, and as I found a breeder in Germany not too far away from me, I sent for some samples – and I was completely sold!
The wool is quite different in structure, it reminds me more of cashmere – and it has sheen!

Here you see the samples i spun:

It is difficult to see the sheen on this picture, unfortunately.

This lovely fiber is quite different to work with, easier to spin, not flying around so much – I just had to have some of those rabbits…..

So I asked Helke http://www.koppelnet.de/ to sell me some breeding animals, and this February it all finally was possible to visit her and bring home a selection of rabbits.

My plan is to crossbreed them with the danish angoras, hoping to increase the size and yield but maintain the satin hair structure and sheen.

Interesting to see what happens!

Here you see Grethe, a copper female who just gave birth to 5 little ones, sired by Sofus, my Danish white:

And here is a peep into her wool:

Here you see the little ones – the whites has a silken sheen, can’t wait to see them grow up!

They are 3 days old.

I’ll round up this first chapter with a picture of our “rabbit hill”, taken today – Lucy and her many little ones (now 16) is having a great time in there!