Thank you for your interest in COLINTON AUSTRALIAN ANGORAS.
ORIGINS:
CAA imports the finest quality 100% Australian Mohair for the manufacture of its natural colored, undyed yarns. CAA imports the raw staple, and all processing is sourced in the USA. We do not operate a processing mill.
MOHAIR is the fleece produced from the Angora Goat.
ANGORA is the fleece produced from the Angora Rabbit.
Australian Mohair has many fine qualities that date back
to the origins of the distribution of fine quality fleece
goats from Turkey. Market demand grew with the
industrialization of textile mills and Europe requiring fine
quality fibers for fabric. Beyond Europe, exports were
primarily to South Africa, Texas (USA) and Australia in the
1850’s in order to increase numbers to meet this market.
South Africa: The foundation herds were Boar Goats; a short haired, stocky animal with pendulous ears and a tendency to fine hairs. Government support for industry was already well established for the Boar herds at that time.
Texas USA: The foundation herds were Spanish Goats; a taller, dark and wiry coated animal.
Australia: The foundation herds were Saanan Goats (a dairybreed) brought in from Great Britain with colonization. These are stocky, fine-haired livestock. Stud quality genetics were imported from South African herds in the 1980’s resulting in absolute refinement of the Australian Angora.
After industry development and many generations later, Australian herds produce a high quality fleece at commercial levels. The dry, short winter season reduces stress as goats have very little body fat. They are ruminant (4 stomached) animals and require a diet of browse (scrub, leaves, weeds and grasses) similar to deer in order to produce fine micron. A protein rich diet will increase micron reducing the overall quality of the fleece.
YARN ATTRIBUTES
Smooth, highly lustrous natural quality characteristic resulting from widely spaced microscopic platelets of each strand - providing a greater uninterrupted surface area to reflect light.
The fine handle is the cool, silky quality of mohair as it does not cling together in direct opposition to wool that has many ‘hooks’ along each strand.
Mohair can be spun into yarn without the additional blending of wool because of the strength, firmness and overall length of fibers.
Natural resistance to felting or shrinking. Though good results are obtained with warm water, Mohair can be washed in hot water.
Wicking quality of mohair promotes beautiful, even absorption of dyes.
UNIQUE QUALITIES
The ‘halo’ quality which adds to the luxury of the yarn is also responsible for the yarn to suffer from shedding. This is one reason for blending with wool.
Excessive handling of the yarn can result in separation of the twist and possible breakage.
Other luxury fibers such as cashmere, alpaca, vicuna, quiviet, angora (rabbit), and possum all suffer from shedding, and some fibers cannot be spun without the addition of the binding quality of the cuticle layer of wool.
Mohair readily absorbs moisture from handling or humid climate conditions that will fluctuate the overall weight.
MOHAIR YARN USEFUL TIPS
Cones are supplied from the mill and contain the conditioning oil utilized in the spinning process. Yarn may be worked directly straight off the cone or from skeins, and the garment washed and blocked on completion. We have obtained excellent finishing results utilizing Unicorn Fibre Wash and Fibre Rinse Products with our Mohair yarn.
We are happy to wind off skeins (and wash) to your specification.
Our skeins are always based on yardage as with the Oregon climate, weight can fluctuate due to the wicking quality of mohair!
The finished knitted garment's stitches may appear uneven; however, washing and blocking will usually remedy this appearance.
Garments (or yarn skeins) may be washed in warm to hot water utilizing a mild liquid soap (we recommend Unicorn Fibre Wash and Fibre Rinse products) with minimal agitation. Lay flat or use garment rack to air dry. Garment rack in dryer also works very well when garment is confined in a mesh laundry bag, using delicate cycle.
CAA Mohair yarns are available only through your specialized local retail outlet.
Enjoy working with this unique textile product in knitting, crochet, needle art, woven (and dyed - if you want to go there!) handcrafted projects!
