mygoldendoe - deer, rabbits, &more(?)

[Latestarter]

@luvmypets is just getting started and just got her spinning wheel. I don't know if she's watching this thread or not. I believe @norseofcourse is a spinner as well. She actually competed in the fiber competition at a show this past year and won an (some?) award(s)! Sorry if I got all that wrong... I have no idea on this subject.

 

[Kaye]

Amazing

 

[norseofcourse]

Very nice!!! I'm still a beginning spinner and knitter, hope to have more time for it soon. Why do you hate your work? It's lovely.

And thanks to LS for the mention, yes a couple of my fleeces won last year at the fiber show. They also have competitions for spun yarn, so I have a goal as I keep practicing spinning.

 

[Hens and Roos]

very nice, we are slowly learning how to spin fiber- we are working with fiber from our French angora rabbits and mixing it with some merino fiber....not a lot done

 

[mygoldendoe]

Very nice!!! I'm still a beginning spinner and knitter, hope to have more time for it soon. Why do you hate your work? It's lovely.

And thanks to LS for the mention, yes a couple of my fleeces won last year at the fiber show. They also have competitions for spun yarn, so I have a goal as I keep practicing spinning.

I hate my work just based off something ppl I looked up too had said to me over period of time when I was younger. I'm still second guess everything I do when using those mediums.
Thats amazing you get to participate and even win in those type things. My lil town doesn't have that kind of stuff. Everything fun to do, craft stores or major shopping or fancy eating is all 45min (in two directions) o r 2hours away (in the other two directions.) We do have 2 fair type events and trade days that I can sit and spin but I've never entered anything (Iv had artwork stolen when I tried to enter things the school sponsored before so i never wanted to chance anything crocheted/knitted or spun being stolen at an even more public event they hold twice a year)

 

[mygoldendoe]

very nice, we are slowly learning how to spin fiber- we are working with fiber from our French angora rabbits and mixing it with some merino fiber....not a lot done

Iv seen a video of a lady on YouTube who let her angora get about 6inches before harvesting it. which I guess works if she keeps it inside but I couldn't do that. Another lady I watched on YouTube keeps her angora outdoors but just goes out with her wheel and chair. She'll sit in her chair with the rabbit in her lap and just pull out loose hairs to spin. I then searched more and I seriously didn't know how popular spinning straight from the rabbit was.
It's made me have even more consideration for getting atleast one angora or some type of fiber rabbit. I don't get to spin much with my kids being so young so harvesting whatever hair I can would still keep me from driving the 2hrs to the fiber store. Only problem is locally we only have meat mutts. I don't mind to drive to pick up a fiber rabbit but i think it'll be a long wait before I find a fiber rabbit at pet price on Craigslist or Facebook. I don't want to invest too much in case I can't keep up with upkeep and just either resell or eat it..
I thought I found a good one couple hrs away at pet price but when I asked if it was calm when clipping nails she said she didn't know how so wasn't sure. It raised red flags bc with over 24 rabbits she didn't cut nails and having such upkeep with the angoras I didn't think it'd be good to buy from her..How long have u kept angoras? What do u think about their upkeep? Have u had strictly one type of angora or have you kept other types? If you kept other than just one angora type do you prefer a specific for a beginner? Or specific for production?

 

[Kaye]

How does one go about learning this skill?? From scratch. I would love to learn to spin...

 

[Hens and Roos]

Iv seen a video of a lady on YouTube who let her angora get about 6inches before harvesting it. which I guess works if she keeps it inside but I couldn't do that. Another lady I watched on YouTube keeps her angora outdoors but just goes out with her wheel and chair. She'll sit in her chair with the rabbit in her lap and just pull out loose hairs to spin. I then searched more and I seriously didn't know how popular spinning straight from the rabbit was.
It's made me have even more consideration for getting atleast one angora or some type of fiber rabbit. I don't get to spin much with my kids being so young so harvesting whatever hair I can would still keep me from driving the 2hrs to the fiber store. Only problem is locally we only have meat mutts. I don't mind to drive to pick up a fiber rabbit but i think it'll be a long wait before I find a fiber rabbit at pet price on Craigslist or Facebook. I don't want to invest too much in case I can't keep up with upkeep and just either resell or eat it..
I thought I found a good one couple hrs away at pet price but when I asked if it was calm when clipping nails she said she didn't know how so wasn't sure. It raised red flags bc with over 24 rabbits she didn't cut nails and having such upkeep with the angoras I didn't think it'd be good to buy from her..How long have u kept angoras? What do u think about their upkeep? Have u had strictly one type of angora or have you kept other types? If you kept other than just one angora type do you prefer a specific for a beginner? Or specific for production?

We have had French Angora for 3 years now, we went with them because they don't have fiber on the face/feet and they can be brushed out to get the fiber. We felt they would be the easiest of the types to start with. We find that they shed coat about every 90 days so at a minimum they would need to be brushed out then. We try hard to brush everyone at least every other week as some coats start getting tangled quicker than others. My DD(17) helps me the most but my DS(11) also helps as both of them are in the rabbit project for 4-H. As with anything some of the rabbits are better at keeping themselves clean compared to others. We have a couple bucks who lay under their water bottles and therefore get matted quicker.... We house ours on wire so that the coats stay cleaner/free of hay. We have a hair dryer that can blow cooler air and we use this to help blow out the coat of hay pieces before brushing/combing. We have several brushes/combs that we used- I like a cat slicker brush and DD likes several of the combs we have(for dog grooming). This past summer we were given a Satin Angora-basically similar to the French Angora as far as no fur on face/legs but its coat has a sheen to it. If their coat is not groomed out on a regular basis it will start to mat....at the time we got the Satin Angora we were also given a French Angora-she was pretty matted and so we carefully shaved her coat down and she has re-grown a beautiful coat! Each rabbit's coat is different in texture and amount of fiber it will produce- we have a few rabbits with thinner coats, some with medium coats and 1 that has a thick coat and we brush out a lot of fiber from him.

 

[mygoldendoe]

I learned on a support spindle (think mini version of a navajo spindle) that I made. I literally sharpened the fat end of a chop stick and glued heavy metal washer to it. Worked great! U can also make a navajo spindle with a sharpened dowel rod and one of those wooden circular plaques they sell in same craft section at Walmart as the dowels. Navajo ones are 24-28inches and u roll it against ur leg to start the twist. Both are super portable. Some like French ones have a hook on the top but I don't like those,,iv taught a couple ppl to use them and just recently taught someone over Facebook video call lol. You just let the weight of the spindle move the tip and that tip spinning in a circle is what sets the twist to make it into yarn. You know it's good balanced yarn when u let go and it doesn't unravel. There is a video of a lady talking about balanced yarn from fiber that's good if I can find it. I have an extra support Spindle that I made (the mate to the chopstick set) and some fiber I can mail you if u seriously want to try it @Kaye
Here's a support Spindle:

Here's a navajo spindle:

 

[mygoldendoe]

@Hens and Roos I have one day a week that gives an hr of free time from kids. I can make it two days if I try to do it during kids nap times but those are never guaranteed that they'll sleep at same time or that I can get my 3yo to take one..
Do u think once a week grooming would be too little? (Just Incase they won't nap together or long enough to groom during the week? My 8mo already has cry fit in his playpin the entire time I'm doing feedings in the morning.)
Unless they don't mind to be groomed at night, then I wound have time 2-3 times a week to groom. If u considered both French and satin, would there be a hands down pick over the other? Or do their upkeep fair about the same?