If you have visited Withers Wool you have probably interacted with our affectionate Angora goats. We started with the Angora goats in 2002 and have been breeding them since then with the focus on soft mohair, hardiness and an even disposition. The Angora goat is thought to originate from the mountains of Tibet, reaching Turkey in the 1500s, and came to the United States in 1849. Mohair is a unique fiber and this email will describe its characteristics and uses.
Mohair is composed mostly of keratin, a protein in the hair, wool, horns and skin of all mammals, but mohair's special properties are unique to the Angora goat. While it has scales like wool, they are not fully developed, thus mohair feels different from wool. Since mohair does have scales, it can felt – although not as quickly or as well as a wool such as merino. (We have a popular blog post – from many years ago – that discusses felting with mohair: https://www.witherswool.com/blog/2008/10/felting-with-mohair.html )
Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with a high sheen. Mohair takes dye exceptionally well and it feels warm in winter due to excellent insulating properties, while moisture-wicking keeps it cool in summer. It is durable, flame-resistant and crease-resistant. Mohair is often blended with wool both to take advantage of its unique characteristics and blending mohair with the more heavily scaled wool helps the smooth mohair fibers hold their shape and stick together when spun into yarn.
Mohair is classed according to its texture and fineness, length, style and character, and general appearance. The three general classifications of mohair are kid, young adult/yearling, and adult. The finest hair is obtained from kids; as the Angora goat ages, the hair becomes stronger. Technically, an older Angora goat could produce kid mohair but normally only the first (and perhaps second) cut will be classified as kid mohair, the second and/or third cut (and occasionally the fourth) classified as young adult/yearling and the rest classified as adult. The Angora goats are sheared approximately every 6 months. (I shear them in May, so they go thru the summer with only a light coat, and shear them again in November.)
A favorite fiber blend at Withers Wool is merino and mohair, more specifically 70% merino and 30% mohair. Merino and mohair is a great combination; merino wool is next-to-skin comfortable and offers good warmth, reasonable strength, elasticity, and luster. Mohair is lightweight, warm and insulating, has nice drape and is hard wearing. Blended together the merino mohair mixture provides a roving (or yarn) that is soft and light yet strong, hard-wearing and moisture-wicking. A kid mohair-merino blend produces a roving/yarn with the above characteristics and that is exceptionally soft - probably some of the softest, finest fiber you will ever feel. And while the mohair merino blend is our most common blend, we have both pure mohair roving and (hand-spun) mohair yarn. Mohair roving is exceptionally easy to draft and produces a soft lustrous yarn with a characteristic fuzzy look due to the nature of mohair.
Withers Wool also has a variety of dyed and natural mohair locks. The best of the long, curly fibers from the Angora Goats (i.e. their locks) are set aside, instead of being carded and blended into roving or batts. Mohair locks have many uses, including: being used for doll hair; spun directly into a hand-spun art yarn as a lock; embellishments in felting; and inserted into weaving, knitting and crocheting for special effects.
Mohair Locks
Washed Mohair Fleece