On to May...

Right. Time to update the old blog. It's been languishing the past, oh, 4 months. Now that I am officially selling handspun yarn, handknit items, and soon--carded batts of fiber, I think it's time to dust off the blog.

About three months ago I purchased two adorable French Angora bunnies. A silver-gray doe (Nuit Noire), and a light cream-color buck, Primo Torto. Over the past months I've noticed that they have developed personalities. Nuit (I call her New-ee) is a bit timid, but will always come right up to the door to say hi to me. Torto is very gregarious. He hops right up to the door before I even unlatch it, and insists that I rub his nose/head before anything else occurs. They are about 3/4 through their first fiber shedding, and I've been combing it versus shearing it. As a handspinner, I find sheared bunny fiber tends to have coarse ends where cut. Combing or brushing ensures a better spinning fiber.

French Angora bunnies are smaller than the English/Giant breeds, and therefore have less yearly fiber yield. However, I think I'm going to get at least one, as the fiber yield can be anywhere from 1-3 lbs per year--which is 2-3x more than FA yield.

I finally got new yarns and some knitted hats on my etsy site. Even made 2 sales in the past week! I'm very excited, as I hope this leads to Vtknitboy on Etsy becoming a larger part of my life.

Will try to post more often, as I will be listing yarn, knitwear, and batts (to spin) later!

Cheers!

Alpaca Bunny Smackdown...the results!

First, I'm on Etsy! (My handspun yarn is finally available for you to purchase!) Etsy is a wonderful site where people can buy or sell items that have some aspect of handmade to the products. I'm mostly interested in spinning fiber (to buy and to sell), and I have a lot of items to list. Right now I have four items listed, with about 100+ to go! Please visit me at Vtknitboy on Etsy! -->click here.

Smackdown '09
I'm not sure how to start this post. I woke up one morning to see a bunch of tweets on my tweetdeck (a free program that makes following lots of people on Twitter easier) mentioning me, @vtknitboy! It seems that two of my tweeps (twitter friends, ala "peeps" = online friends) were kind of having a little online back and forth about which fiber was softer: alpaca or angora bunny (can be confusing--prior name for mohair goat was angora goat).

I'm like, ut oh! They wanted me to be an objective judge and help them decide which one was softer. Yikes! The pressure! The conflict! The tension mounted.

The participants and their owners:
Kathryn in Colorado (@alpacamundo on twitter) raises alpacas. Lynn in Ohio (@sheepmama on twitter) raises angora bunnies. They decided to send each other, and me, 1/4 oz of fiber from one of their animals. The task was to spin it (and perhaps knit a swatch with it) and come to a conclusion as to which was softer. I noted that Kathryn's blog had a post about the smackdown where she used the term "better". To me, this was beyond what the purpose of the smackdown was, because the term could include everything from fiber strength, usage, wearability, etc. In my mind, I am just judging these two fibers based on softness. And, before I hear rumblings from the "losing" side, the results here are just for these fiber samples--they are not blanket statements about the entire breed of angora bunnies or alpacas!

Lynn (bunny sample) sent a lovely 1/4 oz of Nougat, a gorgeous chocolate agouti. Dark brown tips fade to caramel with a steel stripe and silver roots. Nougat is a Satin angora. Lynn's blog is here -->blog.

Kathryn sent a sample of Kocoa Moon. Kocoa is a lovely medium brown alpaca. Info and pics are on this blog: click here. Kathryn's blog is here.

Another involved party is @alpacafarmgirl, also known as Katy. Katy raises alpacas in Alabama and I have been lucky to receive some of the finest fleece from her 'pacas. Very nice. She has been involved in this smackdown by organizing little yarn/fiber giveaways all week! You can read about her and enter the contest for a free skein of alpaca yarn here.

So, we have lovely fiber, lovely people. Based on this test, and softness alone, the winner is...

Before I get to that, here are some pics of the fiber, spinning, skeined and a knit swatch.

Alpaca pre-washing. Washed, air dried & lightly carded. Spinning sample.

Bunny precarding (no washing). Lightly carded on handcarder. Spinning sample.

Alpaca spun sample (top), Bunny sample (bottom). Same. One strand of each.

Knit sample 'paca on bottom, bunny top. Close-up of 'paca. Close-up of 'paca w/ bunny halo.

Close-up of bunny. Closer close-up. Sample wraps per inch, showing bunny halo.

Comments:

Technically, from a micron count perspective, angora bunny wool is softer than alpaca.The alpaca sampled was Huacaya, which runs from 14-27 microns; with Royal alpaca 14-20.9, and Strong being 27.7. Angora bunnies rate a 13. I pulled this info from the Internet, so if you, the reader, has more updated information, please pass it on to me. Now, had the sample been Suri alpaca, things might be different. They rate 10-15.

Micron Count:
Vicuna 6-10, Suri alpaca 10-15, qiviut 11-13, angora bunny 13, Huacaya royal 14-20.9, cashmere 15-19, yak down 15-19, Quanaco 16-18, merino sheep 17-23 (but i saw one reference of 12-20), Baby Huacaya 21-22.9, Strong Huacaya 27.

So, as you see, micron count varies quite a bit in alpaca breeds, but I am under the impression that bunnies are pretty consistent. I am not sure which section of Huacaya this sample was from.

As an aside, I'm not an expert on either of these breeds, so please let me know if any of this information is inaccurate or needs updating.

Notes:
Bunny wool needs LOTS of twist to it! It's so dang slippery, even a slightly over-plied sample can slide right out of the twist! I highly recommend really overplying the singles, then ply with about 20% more twist than you think you need. Really. I plied this sample maybe 10% overplied and it ended up relaxing to about 20-30% less twist in the ply. I ended up adding more twist to the sample later on.

More twist and the spinning technique will affect how much the angora yarn will halo. My sample has a good 1/2" halo already! Now, I did spin both sample supported longdraw, which means that it's lighter and airier than shortdraw spun, which would be tighter and more fiber ends would be caught up in the twist. I prefer longdraw because I feel for the most part that the yarn is bouncier, lighter and has more character--but that's just one perspective.

Angora yarn ended up at 22-24 WPI (wraps per inch=see the photo of the bunny yarn wrapped around the yarn needle.), the alpaca 22 WPI. The beauty of both of these fibers is that they can be spun even thinner than this without losing softness.

Alpaca is much stronger than angora. Possibly 3-4 times more. So from a usage perspective, blending some angora with alpaca would be lovely, and I'd add in 20% merino or other soft wool to give the resulting yarn more elasticity and stretch.

One aspect of this particular alpaca sample was it had a lot of VM (vegetation matter) in it; ie., lots of pieces of hay, etc. I don't have a drum carder, so it took a lot of effort to remove as much of the VM as I could. This affected the softness factor somewhat.

I did learn through the 'paca grapevine, that breeders are now focusing on getting more elasticity in the fiber through breeding. Sometimes garments made from 100% alpaca yarn can "grow" on you. However, this can be reduced by utilizing stitch patterns that break up the vertical lines. For example, a basketweave stitch, or a ribbed stitch would pull the garment back to the original shape better.

So, the result...

Angora "wins" by a hare! However, both fibers could be worn against the skin if needed. One plus is both fibers are incredibly warm, anywhere from 2-6 times warmer than wool. (But seriously, once you get past twice as warm, I couldn't tell the difference.) Both fibers are absolutely divine! A little angora goes a long way. One would need only 10% to feel the softness of the angora, and would easily contribute more warmth. I would love a garment made from 60% alpaca, 20% angora, and 20% merino. That would be ideal for socks. For me, a sweater would only need 20% angora, 80% soft wool to make it incredibly warmer than a wool sweater, and with either fiber, a lightweight sweater made out of sockweight yarn would be far warmer than a heavy wool sweater.

As far as the sample/smackdown, these are just my observations, feelings, and reaction.

I would like to thank Lynn (@sheepmama) and Kathryn (@alpacamundo) for thinking this up, and Katy (@alpacafarmgirl) for promoting it on her blog, and organizing the giveaway contests!

Cheers to all! And a special thanks to Kocoa Moon and Nougat! You guys (gals) rock!

Vtknitboy (Chris)

A Peaceful Cold...belated happy new year's!

I'm finally taking some time to sit down and get a blog post written! So sorry for the two month delay--I meant to, I meant to! Lol.

In December, J and I visited his family in Orlando, which was delightful, and we also took a couple of days off to visit some friends who recently moved from Chicago to Ft. Myers. It was a lovely, but short, trip. I managed to do okay with the migraines--kept them at bay by taking a pill 4 out of 5 days.

In Orlando, we stayed at Ben (J's nephew) and Emily's (Ben's wife) beautiful house! This is the second time we were lucky and blessed to be able to stay with them.

They are a lovely couple and we both enjoy spending time with them. Here they are opening up the socks I made for them. Their dog, Kaylee May (or Kayleigh?) is a Wheaton Terrier, and THE sweetest dog you will ever meet! That is the dog Barack should get for Sasha and Malia! ; )

I will do a longer post in the next couple of days, with more Holiday pics and pics of the coast.

As always, click on the pics to enlarge them!

Then, it was back to a nice cold and snowy Vermont! My, we've had so much snow this winter, and I am quite sure that it's been colder this winter than last. Many, many nights with sub-zero temperatures. Down to -15 to -25 F on several nights! Luckily, we have a nice soapstone woodstove that helped keep the cold from seeping in.

I've been working on handspun, handknit swatches of alpaca and alpaca blends with wool, and some merino wool with tencel. Pics later about that! In the meantime, I've been working on Herbert Niebling's 'Lyra' using Grignasco merino/silk lace, and finished a couple pairs of socks. Here's a link to a site with lots of beautiful finished Lyras!

Mr. Niebling designed amazing doilies for German knitters I think in the '20s and '30s. They are now being translated into English and Italian. He has quite a following among Ravelry'ers. They are very addictive to do! Here is a pic of my almost finished one. My version has not been stretched and blocked yet.

Socks: I made a pair in dark blue angora, and one in a lovely blood-red yarn Kenny gifted me. Pics follow. For you knitters out there, the red cabled socks have: Judy's magic cast-on, I used the Magic Loop Method, a ribbed sole, expansion stitch triangular gusset in seed stitch, short-row heel, reinforced heel flap, and split cable at the ankle. It (I have just one done right now) fits wonderfully!

Congrats to Kenny, my knitter friend from Houston! He designed a scarf pattern, and it was published in Interweave Knits! Visit his blog for the same pics in the magazine. Click here --> Boiknitblog.

So go out and buy a copy if you don't subscribe, and/or visit his blog and send your warm wishes!

More later, keep in touch! I'm on Twitter, as Vtknitboy, and Facebook as Chris French from Jericho, Vermont. Friend and Follow me! Mwah!

Chris

RU Plurking?

Blame Jason on this one, really. Seems I'm having a midlife crisis or something. Like I really need yet another techno thingy in my life! I mean, i just starting blogging about three months ago. I was talking to Jason (of Jason Knits) in Cali last night, and he asked me if I had heard about Plurk yet. Well, I had just heard about Twitter about a month ago--now I gotta plurk?

After seeing a news story last night about using Twitter for feedback on customer service, I decided that now everyone will be using it so I'll pass up on that. Like, I had bypassed both Facebook and Myspace (too adolescent for me I guess), and Twitter is going to be Uber popular now (probably be bought up by Coke or Uni or some huge mega global conglomerate thing), that I should jump in on the Plurk bandwagon. So, I'm Vtknitboy on plurk. There you go!