The incredible Angora Fibre

Apart from the obvious beauty of the Angora Rabbit as a pet and exhibition animal the Angora Rabbit is of course prized for its luxurious Fibre.  Angora Wool is in fact produced by the Angora Rabbit.   Angora Goats produce Mohair.  A lot of people have never heard of Wool producing rabbits so assume that Angora is produced by a  goat or some kind of sheep.  

Angora fibre is fairly unique in the fact that is such a fine fibre but is actually hollow.  This makes it one of the warmest fibres to wear. Three times warmer than lamb's wool  a  jumper made from 100% Angora wool would only be wearable in the coldest weather !  It is a feature that makes Angora ideal for luxury thermal underwear.

"is that all mine?"

There are three types of fibre on the rabbit.  The guard hair (pic. 1) is the longer coarser hair that would normally be part of  the top coat of the fur rabbit.  It gives the coat its structure and helps prevent the coat from matting. It is just one chamber thick.  On a show Angora these are highly prized as the "Tips", a veil like halo that surrounds the rabbit.  these tips are fairly fragile and are easily lost with heavy grooming, it is quite an art to present an adult with it's tips intact !

The second and third fibres are thicker Pic 2.  The first being two or three chambers thick  would also be part of the rabbits top coat in a fur rabbit and the 3rd being the thicker woolier fibre that would normally be the undercoat of a fur rabbit used to keep the rabbit warm.  This third coat is several chambers thick and therefore is very absorbent.  A normal rabbit's top coat prevents rain soaking this wooly layer and so even a wet rabbit can stay warm and dry next to the skin.  An Angora however is a sponge !! and should NEVER be allowed to get wet.  The ratios between these types of fibre gives us the different textures and densities that we see on our Angoras.  If the coat has more of the third type of fibre the rabbit has a woolier thicker feeling coat.  If the rabbit has more guard hair and 2nd fibre the coat is more silky.  The French Angora has a predominance of the Guard and 2nd. Fibres, the coat being silkier and less dense.The English should have more of the 3rd. Fibre giving it a denser warmer coat that stands away from the rabbit.  There has been much debate in the past as to which is best, predominantly for use in spinning,   it is a debate that continues to this day. I have some old yearbooks dating back to 1934 when this debate was even more important as people were trying to produce a commercially viable product from their Angoras. 

The Germans seem to have taken this solely as their priority and still do today.  Their rabbits are judged predominantly on how much useable fibre their animals produce.  Their coats are a good mix of all three fibres which produces a coat that doesn't matt so easily (matted wool is wasted wool) but has a silky yet wool like texture, good to spin, good to wear. 

So we see how the Angora coat is made up and how the ratios and diameters of the three fibres effects the type of coat we are working with.  What then can it be used for?

Below is the very first jumper I had made from my own Angora Wool.

It is 50% Angora from my Smoke Angoras and 50% naturally died Merino Wool.. part spun by me and knitted by a friend Doreen Spiers.  It is amazing to wear very light and VERY warm !

One of my babies, Don's Paninaro went to live with Sally Lee.

Don's Paninaro ("Cloud")

Little teddy spun from Cloud's Wool.

Sally offers a great service, she will spin your pet's fur, Angoras or other pets, and knit a little teddy as a keepsake.  If you would like more details please contact her sally.petsinaspin@virgin.net

Coming soon - Spinning - Felting - Angora Products

taken from a 1930's Angora Year book. (no its not me !)