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.
THE REMOVAL OF THE COAT and THAT Video !
Firstly I should say with all the press recently due to the PETA video the majority of
us and indeed Angora Fibre Farmers clip the coat off the rabbit with no harm
whatsoever to the rabbit. Fibre plucking, as in the video below, is done when the
coat is in moult.. a bit like when your dog leaves hair all over the house, the coat
loosens from the skin and can be easily removed by drawing the coat. The hand
plucking if done correctly (not like the PETA video of India/China, it looks more
like India to me) does not hurt the animal in the slightest.. mine usually carry on
eating when I pull from them. Not all Angoras moult heavily in one go however so
clipping is the usual process. I can only really hand pluck my chocolate line and a
couple of my white Angoras, the rest are clipped with a pair of small scissors.
Here a Chocolate Angora is hand plucked whilst in moult. The hair comes away
from the animal without any pressure, a bit like when your dog moults and drops
hair all over the house. If done properly the rabbits dont even seem to notice. The
majority of Angoras are clipped however as they dont all moult so readily.
Interestingly the Chinese replied to the now infamous PETA video with this video.
The handling might appear a little rough to Western eyes, but I guess its on a par
to the way sheep are sheared. The rabbits are in lovely condition and are clean. No
doubt many Angoras do suffer in farming conditions as do many other types of
animal but here you can see that not all Chinese Angoras are horrifically tortured .

A clipped Angora is like a Spring Lamb often leaping about in glee, they certainly
appreciate being free of their coats when it is warm enough.

Here my own Holly has been clipped with scissors and is enjoying her Spring Lamb
moment
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. Many times warmer than
lambs wool a jumper made from 100% Angora wool would only be wearable in
the coldest weather.

Guard Hair
Undercoat

There are three types of fibre on the rabbit. The guard hair 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 its 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 rabbits 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.

German Fibre show

There has been much debate in the past as to which coat is best for maximum fibre
production, 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 quantity and quality of fibre
production 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 doesnt matt so easily
(matted wool is wasted wool) but has a silky yet wool like texture, good to spin,
good to wear.
Below is the very first jumper I had made from my own Angora Wool.

1930s photo of Angora spinning. (no its not me!)

Making stuff !
I thought it would be fun to document my attempts at making things with the
immense amount of fibre that my Angoras produce. After all, thats why Angoras
exist ! to create luxurious Angora Fibre . I have to admit I have thrown tons of the
stuff away. I hear you spinners shrieking ! Looking at the price of a few grams of
Angora spinning Fibre on Ebay, I should really go into business !
A new project for 2014.
Ive had this Art Batt sitting around forever , Ive decided to blend it with some
white Angora. Not sure what it will become yet .

Art Batt made from dyed Merino wool.

Here with White carded Angora.

On the Drum Carder

The blended fibre all ready for the Spinning Wheel.

On the Bobbin.. cant believe how much it takes to fill a bobbin.. now on the second one.

Hmm well I think my spinning is a bit rusty.. Plied the yarn but its about the most lumpy bumpy yarn I think
I have made so far
I think the blend was a little hit and miss and it was grossly overspun in singles. Oh
well its on to the next stop with this and then I have some Alpaca I might use to blend the next batch.

I didnt have much yarn from the lumpy bumpy batch so I chose a small project. My very first attempt at
crochet and Amigurumi. I learned from a video on youtube. What will it be?

Below was my very first attempt to make something 100% Angora

First Clip your bunny !

I use my Drum Carder to card the fibres making them all lie in one direction and smoothing the fibre ready
for spinning.

Here you can see the carded fibre in Gold, White, Smoke and Chocolate ready for spinning.

The fibre is then spun on the wheel. This is my old wheel, my current wheel is the Ashford Joy,

The yarn is plied using all the colours of Angora.

You can see all the colours combined in this 2 ply.

I taught myself to knit from videos on youtube, This is the finished product :)

The shawl won best beginner item and 2nd best in show at the National Angora Stock show at the London in
2008/

GERMAN ANGORA WOOL

Our Beautifully Soft Angora Wool

2010 Samson Angora

All Angora fiber from all Angora rabbits is comprised of 4 fiber types: Guard hair,
Guard awn hair, Awn underwool and Underwool. The notion that one kind of
angora carries 3 fiber types and others carry only two fiber types can not be
supported by evidence.

It is easy to confirm the presence of all of the fiber types. All you will need is a
magnifying glass and a sheet of dark paper. Just look.
With the exception of the Rex rabbit, the coats of all short-haired rabbits are made
up of these same fiber types. As the angora coat is a mutation of short-haired
rabbit fur, it follows that they would be comprised of the same architectural
elements. The 4 fiber types are the basic components of many mammalian furs.
People marvel at the exceptional wool yields of German angoras. Their feed to
wool ratio is extraordinary. Why does their wool production out-perform other
angoras? The answer can again be found in the basic structure of fur.
Awn underwool and underwool fibers, which make up the bulk of any angora coat,
arise from clusters with a common follicle root. The more fibers in a cluster, the
greater the coat density of the angora rabbit. This is a natural adaptation that
allows fur bearing animals to adjust the thickness of their coats in response to the
seasons and changes in temperature.

2010 Samson Angora

At the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Leslie Samson and Susan Wiley
examined samples of all types of angora from across North America. In addition to
photographing all 4 fiber types in all angora wools, they observed wool clusters in
the coats of both long and short-haired rabbits.
Under a microscope they noted that clusters of 2 to 6 underwool fibers were
common in angoras that produced 500 grams or less of wool in a year. Counts of

greater than 20 fibers per cluster were present in plucked samples of high
production German angoras.
Angora rabbits have a long history in Germany. By 1920, the protocol for
production testing was established at the Institute for Small Animal Breeding of the
Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg.
Since that time, the wool performance of Angora rabbits in Germany has been
weighed and recorded. Breeding selection has been based on quantified criteria
and a specific goal setting program.
Under this system, Angora wool was regarded foremost as a textile material.
Attention focused on coat characteristics such as texture, suitability for machine
processing and resistance to shedding, pilling and felting during wear.
By 1935, annual production of a single rabbit in Germany increased to an average
of 422 grams or almost 1 pound a year. Today, certified shearing totals in excess of
2000 grams per annum are not uncommon in Europe and North America. By
continually resetting production goals to greater and greater overall performance
expectations, Angora breeders select animals with the highest number of fibers per
cluster.
The IAGARB Standard for Angora allows for a total of 45 points for wool: density,
length, uniformity and texture. It calls for coats with substance and a soft, silky
texture. Crimped wool is desirable as it creates a lively yarn. The remaining 55
points in the Standard are awarded for body type and condition.

2010 Samson Angora

The ideal wool coat for a German Angora rabbit should require no grooming during
its 90 day shearing interval. The wool should remain free falling and without
matting. In order to select breeding stock with these characteristics, shorn wool is
graded and those weights are subject to an adjustment that takes into consideration
the percentage of useable wool produced.
The standard from Germany includes a valuable feature. No rabbit is allowed to
earn a score of 100 points. Breeders are encouraged to constantly improve their
rabbits. Selection toward the ideal never stops moving forward.