Why Hand Spun Angora Yarn for Knitting is a Treat!

You know ... you can serve store–brand bread, bakery bread, or homemade bread fresh out of the oven. Likewise, you can knit with commercially spun yarns, more specialized mill spun yarn, or handspun yarn. All of these have their right place, but given my choice, I know which delights the palate!

If you have never knit with handspun yarn, you need to try some and expect a real treat.

What is the difference between handspun and commercially spun yarn?

Handspun yarn flows through your hands and feels alive. The warmth and ability to breathe inherent in natural fibers that are not machine spun, becomes apparent with the first stitch, and you know the finished garment will be cherished for generations. Handspun is like fine, aged wine from the winemaker's reserve, an original oil painting, a bouquet of fresh flowers. It's just sumptuous! Once you use handspun, you will want only to use materials produced with the same care and creative energy that you use in your knitting.

What can you do with handspun yarn?

Anything! You can hand knit with it, you can machine knit with it, you can crochet, weave, needlepoint, embroider—whatever you can dream, you can do with handspun yarn.

Handspun yarn can be customized to choice of fiber, color, thickness (size) and blend. Given the amount of hours and skill that goes into knitting and the amount of delight expected for the wearing, I look for the ideal yarn to make the garment truly special. With all the options that are open to the handspinner and the feel of the resulting yarn, the final garment can be made exactly to your specifications and be a truly wonderful work of art! You owe yourself this treat!!

Handspun yarn can come in whatever thickness or fiber or color you desire. Because you can customize yarn to exactly what you want, the possibilities are endless.

Incidentally, I have heard a comment from several places (including a well–known art school), that handspun yarn isn't strong enough to be used as warp for weaving! A friend of mine has a favorite expression that fits; "That's a bunch of hooey!" I've never had a handspun warp thread break! Handspun can be done as tightly as you need for warp or as lofty as you could ever imagine for weft. The natural dyes work wonderfully for hand–painted warps, as well as for solids or variegated blends. So, weavers, your possibilities, too, are endless!

If you are a knitter, weaver, or a fiber artist, the thought of making your own yarn may have come to mind at one time or another. Making your own yarn gives you full creative control of your fiber projects by selecting the fiber, blending different fibers together, dyeing the fiber, and spinning unique textures. Handspun yarn can also be very interesting and more beautiful that commercial yarn.

By Loreto Marquez

Viña del Mar, Chile, February 1999

If you wish to try some of our 100% angora yarn, please go to our Home Page and buy our sample of enough yarn to knit a nice trim on any knit. Available for US$6.00 in medium/bulky weight yarns, and US$10.00 upon special request by e-mail for fine weight yarns; s&h free worldwide.

Until now, you may have thought that handspinning your own yarn is expensive or too time consuming. But actually spinning fibers into yarn is a skill that is easily learned, its fun, and very relaxing. If you wish to buy some angora fibers for handspinning or a fiber sample please visit our Handspinner-s page. To help you discover the joy of handspinning we have included a few very good books in our ONLINE BOOK STORE.

Use our secure order to place your order using your credit card.