Image Details: ‘ull mohair’ by AnnaKika, via Flickr

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Intro

It’s another mohair heavy episode today where we talk about different yarns which contain mohair. There really is something for everyone in terms of taste, spin, weigh and price point, along with some unusual blends to consider.

In news, we bid a fond farewell to the iMake podcast. Martine was the reason I started podcasting and without her help and encouragement, this podcast simply wouldn’t exist.

Also, check out issue 53 of Knit Now, where the podcast is featured in its very own column!

Enablers’ Corner

Allow me to enable you to Little Grey Girl, purveyor of fine project bags and stitch markers for those who prefer a more classic take on the knitting frippery. I love my microphone stitch markers and find them snag-free due to being on ‘o’ rings that have been soldered for a smooth finish, as opposed to those available on mini-keyrings.

Yellow Trees Small Project Bag. Image Copyright Little Grey Girl

Mohair Yarns

As promised last week, there’s a range of mohair yarns for you to go and check out, from commercial to single farm producers, all sorts of spins, blends and weights giving you plenty of options.

Whistlebare Yarns are based in Northumberland and spin 4ply, DK and Aran weight yarns at £14.50/100g from fleece from their own flock of Angora goats and Wensleydale sheep (which belong to Alice’s sons). The blend is a 60/40 mohair/Wensleydale and there is an 80/20 being prototyped at the moment. All the yarn is hand dyed on the farm. Alice will be coming on to the show as a guest expert to answer your mohair questions, so please send them in via email or comment below.

Adele’s Mohair is the place to go to get a wide variety of South African mohair. You can also find it in the US under the brand ‘Be Sweet’. Adele’s do brushed mohair, bouclé yarns and ‘magic balls’ which are very art yarn.

Habu do a 40% silk, 60% mohair blend called Silk Mohair Kusa, which comes in at £9.25 per 18g ball for 168m. This yarn is naturally dyed and more along the lines of the fluffy mohair yarn.

Next up, we have a couple from Rowan: Fine Art, which is a 45% wool, 25% polyamide, 20% mohair and 10% silk blend at 400m/100g. Retailing at £14.99 per skein, this yarn is hand painted in a co-oprative in rural South Africa. It’s a very smooth spin, quite like you would get for a standard sock yarn.

Also, there’s Rowan Cocoon, and 80/20 wool/mohair blend, which is a chunky weight roving at 115m/100g. At £8.49 per ball, I think it’s an affordable way to try a mohair yarn; you’ll get a hat out of that yardage (I recommend Lapsang by Clare Devine).

Now we have the marmite of the knitting world: Noro. I’m suggesting you give Silk Garden at £5.99 per 50g/100m a bash at 45% silk, 45% merino ad 10% wool. If you don’t like uneven yarn or crazy gradients, you may wish to give Noro a miss.

If small producers are your bag, you’ll be pleased to hear I have pulled a few of those out (along with Whistlebare, mentioned above) to tickle your fancy. First, there’s New Forest Mohair who have a 4ply and DK weight pure kid mohair yarn, as well as a lace weight 90% kid mohair, 10% english merino blend. They also supply fibre, with this and the yarns being available undyed as well as dyed.

Crookabeck Farm produce a couple of more unusual blends, both aran weight and £12.50/100g. Light Hardwick and mohair is a 50/50 blend, or you can check out the 50/50 Swaledale/mohair.

Twitter was forthcoming in the chatter and knowledge following last week’s episode and here are a couple of suggestions from mohair aficionados there:

Green Mountain Spinnery is one for the US listener. It’s a sock yarn at 365m per 100g and is a blend of 50% Targhee and 50% mohair. It retails at US $29.95

Explorer Mohair Tweed DK from Great British Yarns is a 70% wool and 30% mohair at 100m/50g per £5.25 ball. This has a tweedy nep texture, which adds an extra dimension to the knit.

Blacker Yarns have a range of mohair content yarns, albeit fewer seem to be available than previously from them. Cornish Tin has mohair included (I think this has all sold out now) but you could check out their Hebridean/Mohair 50/50 at £5.40 per 50g/175m.

Wrap-Up

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That’s all from me this week. As always, thank you for listening. Feedback is always appreciated, and you can email me or message me via Ravelry or social media. If you enjoyed listening today, please consider leaving an iTunes review, to help others find the podcast too. Happy crafting!