Produced by
Patti Moreno
Contributor to:
How to Card Angora Fiber for Spinning and Knitting
This is simple and ultimately rewarding. You will see that I have a basket full of that gorgeous hair that I sheared from my angora rabbit. I am working with it by the handful only. I am working with two hand carders (brushes). The first time I run the wool over the carder to make sure the fibers are lining up. Then once the whole handful is on one carder, I use the other to transfer the fibers from one to the other. It is important to make at least three passes from one brush to the other. We do this to make sure the fiber has no vegetable matter, dirt, flecks of matter, etc…You just want the fibers to be as clean and pure as possible. Once you have transferred the fibers from one card to the other at least three times, I did it four times; the last hairs that are left on the empty card will not be used. It is best for the hairs to be at least 3” long – any hairs less than that will not work as well as I spin into yarn. All of the hair that is left on the other card, you are now ready to take it off of the brush and roll it up into a rollag.
Watch carefully, as I lay the brush flat and manually roll it off of the brush toward the handle side of the hand carder. Once it is rolled off, you may lay it aside.
Once you begin spinning your yarn, you will only need about two bobbins full for a baby hat. In the next video I spin my angora rollags into yarn. Stay tuned!
