Card Angora Fiber
If you have angora fiber that you'd like to make use of, here is a quick demonstration of how to hand card it yourself.
Steps
- Obtain some hand carder brushes. Look for hand carders that have fine needles and carding cloth.
- Take a clump of angora fiber. Don't take too much; judge how much is good to handle by the size of your carders and your own ability.
- Commence with the first pass. Start on the bottom of one carder brush. Gradually add the angora fiber to the base of one carder brush and build up the amount.
- Continue moving it across. Fill in the rest of the hand carder brush.
- Take the other carder. Start at the bottom and begin passing across the carded fiber from the first carder to the second carder. You will be transferring the angora fiber completely onto the other carder.
- Line up the fibers. As you are transferring the fiber from one carder to the other, the goal is to really line up the fibers together, in straight rows. Make sure that they are all parallel to each other.
- Continue with the second pass. You should pass the angora fiber between the carders at least three times. When you have a good quality fiber to start with, three times should be sufficient; lesser quality fiber may require more passing.
- Check the length of the fibers. Once you start getting close to finishing the carding, check the length of the small fibers. They should be at least 3" / {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in length. That makes the yarn easier to spin, more uniform and better overall.
- Prepare for removal from the carder brush. Once the fiber is the right length, and very smooth, it is ready to remove from the carder brush for use.
- Lay down the carder brush.
- Have the fiber facing up.
- Take the bottom fiber (opposite to handle side of the carder brush) and roll the fiber off in the direction of the handle.
- Put the carded fiber to one side. Repeat as many times with new clumps of fiber as needed to complete your project.
- Start spinning. When you've made enough to fill your bobbins, commence spinning your yarn.
Tips
- As you go through carding, look for vegetable matter, such as hay or prickles and for any dirt particles. Remove anything that you don't want in the yarn.
- Note that in general, the higher the amount of needles (points/metal teeth) in the hand carder brush, the finer the resulting yarn.
Things You'll Need
- Hand carder brushes
- Angora fiber (angora rabbit fur)
