Mohair

We get about 6 to 7 pounds of raw mohair from each goat.   The goats, of course, live out in the pasture and they get d-i-r-t-y.  I find all kinds of crazy stuff in the hair everyday!  I am constantly rubbing them down and picking out grass and hay off their heads and out of their fleece.  Worse than kids!  Now, I am new to ALL OF THIS.  So I watched some YouTube videos and learned a whole bunch of stuff.  I also took a spinning class from Hill Country Weavers in Austin, Texas and learned a whole bunch about spinning, fiber and washing mohair.  A shout out to Kennedy at Hill Country Weavers.  She is a rock star teacher!  Anywho...this is how I wash mohair.

Start off with hot water!  Now, I do this all outside because I don't want to heat up our bus and I use buckets and small amounts of water because we are on 100% rainwater.  I don't let the sink just run to warm the water up or for rinsing.  So this is my resourceful way of washing mohair.

 This is 1 pound piles of unwashed mohair.

I took all the yucky stuff out.  The pizzle, vegetable matter and all the other crazy stuff I find!  I know one day a little green man is going to jump out at me and say, "Thank you!  I have been in there for six months!"  Just kidding.

Here is a close up of the unwashed mohair.

This time I tried washing the mohair in the these laundry bags.  I think it went well.

Since my water is so hot, I add a bit of water to the bucket just to make sure it is not boiling hot.

So I have a bucket, Dawn dish soap, my mohair, some gloves, a spoon and...is that a goat?

Yes!  Here comes Nosey.  She just can't stand it.

I love this photo!  Look at her curls!  She wanted to sniff the camera.

               Here they come!  I guess she was thirsty. Glad that is nice clean, cool water!

The kids got the soap in the water and now they are having fun!  I think they were pretending it was ice cream.  I wish.

Dropped the mohair in the super hot, soapy water and I let it sit.  I try really hard not to mess with it.  Kennedy told me to walk away!  

I decided to switch back and forth between hot soapy water buckets/bowls just to get it out of the yuck water.

Crazy how dirty the water gets!  I keep washing it until the water is transparent.  Maybe 5 times?

Keep going...

This looks better.

In it goes for a rinse...finally.

She's back!

Oh my!  Is that not the cutest?  We call her Smiley.

Smiley is s-l-o-w-l-y warming up to us.

Drying time! 

I press all the water out and then let it hang for an afternoon.  Once it isn't soaking wet, I take it out of the bag and carefully separate it out and let it completely dry in front of a fan or in the sunshine, usually takes 2 or so days.

That's it!  Here is some clean mohair ready for spinning!

Isn't it beautiful?  This fleece is from Mo, our buck.  He makes awesome locks because he is awesome.  

If you are interested in buying some mohair from me, 

email me at candiandy@hotmail.com.

 I sell washed mohair for $35 a pound or $8 an ounce.