01.13.07
Hair today, cloth tomorrow.
Visiting a yarn shop for me is like visiting a candy store to a child. I could spend hours looking at all the yarns. There are so many different types and colors. I particularly like the natural fibers and often wonder where they came from, what did the animal look like that grew this fiber? For fun, I did a search on what some of the animals look like from where we get our weaving, knitting and crocheting fibers. These animals are soooo adorable! Take a look!
Since I recently finished up a project using some alpaca fibers, I checked out what an alpaca looks like. Are they not completely adorable?! Eeee, hee, hee! According to the ladies at the yarn shop, alpaca fibers are five times warmer than wool. According to Katarina Buss, author of Big Book of Knitting, you can get about 2 lbs. of fiber from an alpaca every 2 years. These animals are originally from South America.
Merino wool is another fiber I’ve worked with. Coincidentally, my friend Helen, who lives in Australia, happened to visit their Big Merino facility where they raise merino sheep for wool. Here’s a picture Helen sent to me of that place shaped like a big merino. (Thanks Helen!) Notice the windows down below at the bottom right corner. It looks like that’s the entrance to the building. The next picture is of what real merino sheep look like.
They look a lot like the building, huh?
I have not worked with angora yet, but apparently, there are angora goats and angora rabbits. I got a kick out of these rabbits! Here are a couple pictures on the right. Take a look. . . How can they see with all that fur? LOL The one on the top reminds me of an ewok from Star Wars. Angora fur has a very high moisture absorption capacity. It can absorb twice as much moisture as virgin wool, and four times as much as cotton without feeling wet. The picture below is of angora goats. 
There’s also wool from Shetland sheep, which look like this. 
Cashmere comes from goats like this pictured below. Cashmere are not shorn. Their hair is combed out when they lose their coats in the spring. A cashmere goat only gives about 100 grams (less than 1/4 lb) of fiber a year. That’s one reason why cashmere is so expensive!
How about mohair? They come from these precious little animals:
We also get fibers from llamas such as these pictured below:
There are many other animals from which fibers are used such as camels and even some dogs! Interestingly, camel hair cannot be dyed, so in order to have colored camel hair, it has to be mixed with other fibers for color. I found a neat website which has information of animal breeds like sheep and goats, etc. http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/ You can pick an animal in the bar at the top of that page to view the different breeds. I think this is a fun thing for the young kids to see (and adults like me!) It’s times like these when I wish I had a daughter who was interested in knitting and other crafts like me. . . But anyhow. . . maybe one day I’ll have a grand daughter to share these things with. Here’s another interesting site where they actually spin yarn out of your pet’s fur! The place is called VIP Fibers. I have never thought of using cat and dog hairs for clothing! Incredible. . . ha! What will they think of next? I love it!
Marlakins 
