The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Lingon on October 25, 2018, 08:29:23 pm
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I have absolutely no idea what the correct word for it is, neither did translate. But I need a goats fur (?) and have tried to buy it here in Sweden, with no luck. So I thought I should check with you guys if anyone has a goat with long coarse fur in need of an haircut? The thing is that I am planning to knit a pair of raggsockor (traditional swedish socks) and the yarn you can buy no longer has goatswool in it, they have changed it to nylon. ::)
How much would you want for it or do you want something sent to you from Sweden instead? Homemade knäckebröd perhaps?
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/J%C3%A4mtget_Sk%C3%A5nes_djurpark_01.jpg/1024px-J%C3%A4mtget_Sk%C3%A5nes_djurpark_01.jpg)
By Calle Eklund/Vivo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42018690
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This sort of goats used to be brushed to get their CASHMERE. Angora goats are shorn, like sheep, to get their MOHAIR.
The COARSE OUTER hair could be used for things like ropes and maybe rugs?
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This sort of goats used to be brushed to get their CASHMERE. Angora goats are shorn, like sheep, to get their MOHAIR.
The COARSE OUTER hair could be used for things like ropes and maybe rugs?
We do have cashmere and angora here to, but that is not the type of fiber I'm looking for. The traditional raggsockor, was itchy and coarse, like the hair on a Australian terrier, a scottish deerhound, a irish wolfhound etc. It is what makes them durable.
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We put mohair in our sock blends to give them durability. Kid mohair tends to be relatively soft, adult mohair can be much as you describe ;)
You might turn up some other answers and suggestions if you post in Goats. There is also a group Goat Devoted on Ravelry, and there's Facebook group called something like Goaty Friends, I think.
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We put mohair in our sock blends to give them durability. Kid mohair tends to be relatively soft, adult mohair can be much as you describe ;)
You might turn up some other answers and suggestions if you post in Goats. There is also a group Goat Devoted on Ravelry, and there's Facebook group called something like Goaty Friends, I think.
Mohair is not strong enough. I'm sure it is in your country, but what you call a "blizzard with drifts" we call frost. ;) Living here on a smallholding tears on clothes, I move around far more than you do. Have you ever walked through 135 cm of snow?
Don't take this wrong, i'm not patronizing you, i'm just explaining the differances. :)
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No, I get it, which is why I suggested you look in goaty groups for more input than we've been able to give you.
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<<<Have you ever walked through 135 cm of snow?>>>
Well, yes. I've also climbed over and fallen through 8' (2.6m) drifts to get feed to, or to dig out, my animals. We don't often get as much snow as other countries, being a maritime climate, but sometimes when the wind comes from Siberia, then picks up a chunk of the ocean, we do get some snow, very wet and heavy and difficult to clear. We probably go on about it more than other countries, and the press builds up a light dusting into a major fall, because we get such varied weather that we love to talk about it - it's different every day, and often within one day. Then when it is really cold, we do need the warmest clothing.
Sorry I can't help with goat hair. I use Hebridean sheep's fleece, which is double, for boot socks, as the inner layer provides warmth and the outer, hair layer provides strength, but I'm sure it doesn't have quite the warming qualities of goat.
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I have angora goats and understand that kid and young goat fleece wouldn't be strong enough but the mohair from my old doe is much stronger.
About 4 inches long I think. If you think it might be suitable I can send a photo later when I can get to it in the shed.