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New Yarn Run   For members attending the Annual Meeting, bring your wool with you and save on shipping costs to Michigan. At least two Midwest members will be there and can transport your fiber back to Zeilingers for you. If you are new to our yarn co-op, please read the article on this page. IAGARB YARN CO-OP By Leslie Samson    Five pounds of prime angora wool equals five pounds of yarn. In 2004, three members of IAGARB, myself, Sue Wiley and Gail Smith, participated in a test run of yarn. This run was a blend of 65% Angora, 5% Bombyx Silk and 30% Merino wool. We started with a total fiber weight of 51 pounds. Our finished weight was 50 pounds. This is an outstanding result, as I have usually lost up to 20 percent in past runs of my own fiber. The yarn was returned to us on cones. We opted not to pay for the additional price charged to put the yarn into skeins. We learned that this was not a good decision for hand knitters. Skeining is labor intensive and boring. After washing, there was a roughly 9% loss due to the release of necessary spinning oils. Our next run was a two-part experiment. First of all we increased the content of angora to 85%. The silk was left out. Merino wool made up the 15% balance. © International Association of German Angora Rabbit Breeders, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the IAGARB website with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Predictably, the 85% yarn was fuzzier than the 65%. It was also whiter due to the higher content of naturally bright white angora. We did experience a slightly higher loss during processing but it was still an excellent return. We were very pleased as was the staff at the mill. They said that it was the most beautiful yarn that they had ever made. The 85% yarn was made as a fingering weight. The versatility of this yarn was much appreciated. For our members and their markets in milder climates, the lightweight yarn is very wearable on a cool California night. For those members who do experience an extended and significant winter, the yarn can be used as is or it can be doubled for extra warmth. The second part of the experiment was also a success. There is a normal "grief factor" associated with any co-operative venture, which falls on the heads of those to volunteer to do the actual work. Not only do the volunteers invest their time, they frequently find themselves digging into their own pockets for incidental expenses. It is because of this grief factor that many co-ops fail. The volunteers become weary and unwilling to continue. Sue Wiley and I have agreed to verify the quality and grading of the wool and transport of the wool from Sue's house to the spinnery an hour north. Beyond that, we wished to identify other ways to contend with details of a cooperative venture. Once the yarn is finished, it must be divided, boxed and shipped. Additionally there was the issue of how to pay for the spinning and additional fibers used. IAGARB does not have the financial cushion to advance this money to the participating members plus all other associated costs like shipping materials and postage. Even if all of the shipping costs could be estimated, there would still be a tangle of refunds to sort out because of percentages of spinning loss. Distribution of the yarn had the potential to become a major headache for IAGARB, Sue and myself. We would not only be working for free but accumulating unrecoverable petty expenses. That was not an attractive prospect. In order to be viable in the long term, a venture like this needs to be designed to work independently of a couple of volunteers. Therefore - I made special arrangements with the mill to handle shipping and direct payment from the participants. The owners agreed but were also concerned about the grief factor. This was an experiment for them as well. It worked. The participants paid the mill directly. The mill divided and shipped the yarn directly. We made it easy for them and they made it easy for us. OBJECTIVES OF THE IAGARB YARN CO-OP The co-op will create an opportunity for its members to send their prime angora wool out, pool their fiber and receive millspun yarn back. By working together, we can turn our wool into high-quality product less expensively and more frequently than most of us would be able to do individually. German Angora wool mill processes beautifully. There is little breakage during spinning and the wool's natural crimp lends an attractive liveliness to the finished yarn. The people who participate also want to ensure that everyone is contributing the same good grade of wool. The co-op is a benefit available to members of IAGARB. We want to make a yarn of consistent quality. We would like to work towards eventual name brand recognition for superior product. Pooling our resources is the first step. It will probably take a couple of years for us to establish some sort of rhythm to this venture. When the membership is ready, we need to look at combining our efforts for promotion and marketing. Once we have made our yarn, we can consider making other items like socks. The mill we are working with has just installed a sock making operation. It will take them a little time to work out the bugs. By the time they are ready, we should also be ready to consider that possible product. The yarn co-op will also be an important incentive for timely wool removal. This will help to protect the health of our rabbits. The importance of wool records will be enhanced as we each look towards fulfilling the wool weight requirements to join the next yarn run. REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION 1. The Co-op is open to IAGARB members only. 2. The Co-op will accept only adult, prime German Angora fiber. (See Grading) 3. Participating members will send their fiber in 5-pound lots. 4. Participating members will send a valid credit card number with their fiber. 1. The Co-op is open to IAGARB members only. The Co-op is one of the benefits enjoyed by our membership. It is available to German Angora producers who wish to participate in the creation of millspun German Angora yarn. 2. The Co-op will accept only adult, prime German Angora fiber. (See Grading) If we, as a co-operative group cannot produce an excellent yarn - then there is no point in proceeding. German Angora fiber mills very well. The rabbits have been specifically selected to produce fiber with a texture that is resistant to breakage during processing. If we all begin with the same quality of adult prime German Angora fiber, then it is reasonable to expect that we will all enjoy the same quality of finished yarn. Fiber which has not been sorted, properly graded, or is too short, matted, stained, found to be too fine (young or other angora) will be returned at the participating member's expense. 3. Participating members will send their fiber in 5-pound lots. In order to simplify the fair division of the yarn run, everyone needs to send in fiber in equal increments of 5 pounds. If you have more fiber than 5 pounds then you are enthusiastically welcomed to send in 10 or 15 pounds. Because we will be adding wool and silk to the run, those fibers will affect the finished weight of the returned yarn. Some percentage of milling loss is expected but we won't know what that is until we have the finished weight. These variable factors make it necessary to base to final division on percentages. If everyone sends in fiber in equal increments, portioning will be much easier. Do not send 7.46 pounds of fiber and expect that someone will be willing to weigh out your part of the yarn run. I'm Math allergic. Sue loves numbers but is very busy. The mill is proceeding with us with the understanding that we will Keep It Simple. If you do send 7.46 pounds of fiber, 5 pounds will be added to the yarn run and 2.46 pounds will be returned as unprocessed fiber. If you wish you combine your German Angora wool with another IAGARB member - that is fine. You and your friend can divide up your yarn. Please send only one credit card number with that wool. Kindly verify the weight of your fiber on an accurate scale. This is very important. Everyone's wool will be reweighed at the mill. If your wool comes to 5.5 pounds - that's easy for us to solve because we can remove some and send it back to you. If, however, your wool comes to 4.5 pounds - we will have a dilemma. Do we hold up the entire run waiting for you to send in 8 ounces or do we send all your wool back to you? Making sure that your wool is properly weighed is vital to the smooth operation of the yarn run. I verify my wool weight at my local post office. They always have great scales in this weight range. I take in two identical boxes. One is empty and the other is packed with my wool. Once I have the actual weight of my container, I can verify the weight of the wool in the box. If no one else is waiting in line, I can add or subtract fiber to make the desired weight. 4. Participating members will send a valid credit card number with their fiber. Zeilingers Woolen Mill will charge your credit card directly for the other fibers used, processing the yarn, shipping and handling. Please fill out TWO copies of the enclose form. The price will be about $15.00 to $16.00 per pound of finished weight. This includes picking, carding, spinning and plying. It also includes the addition of extra materials like wool and silk. It does not include skeining. Skeining is available at a cost of $2.75 a pound for 2 ounce skeins. When washed the skeins do not weigh precisely 2 ounces. They are in the 56 to 64 gram range but it is still better than skeining them by hand. Skeining at the mill is definitely worth it. Shipping costs are extra. Grading Different grading systems are used for different end purposes. The wool grading system described in the IAGARB standard is a good foundation. We will be using it for the yarn co-cp with a couple of small modifications. Please refer to it on the IAGARB website. The objective of the co-op is to create a yarn of outstanding quality. It is also important that everyone contribute the same high grade of fiber. Good stuff in - good stuff out. Angora wool is measured by the length of the underwool staple. In any lock of angora, these fibers make up the bulk of the wool. Guard hairs and awn hairs stand above the underwool. They are longer. We will not be using awn or guard hairs to measure the wool length. 1. The most desirable angora for this purpose will have a staple length of 3 to 3.5 inches. This is also the length usually available at the end of a 90 day shearing period. The adult (more than 9 months old), albino, German wool should be clean, white and free-falling. 2. Also acceptable will be wool at least 3 inches long that is very slightly webbed. Normally this would not be considered prime in a rabbit registration test, but the spinning cards will comb out the fibers. Fiber with a very slight urine discoloration will also be allowed since the yarn will be washed after spinning. Wool with a 2.5 to 3 inch staple will be allowed. Fiber less than 3 inches should be no more than 10 % of your overall contribution. Extra long fiber is acceptable to a point. Angora wool more than 4.5 inches will not be allowed as it has a tendency to become caught in the commercial carders and stays on the machinery and not in the yarn. Fiber that will not be accepted - Fiber that is clearly not German in its texture will be returned. Fiber that is too fine or too young is not acceptable. Too short - less than 2.5 inches. Too long - more than 4.5 inches. Too webby - if it is starting to become a matt, if it cannot be very easily separated by hand, it is too webby. Any matted fiber will not be accepted. Fiber with anything more than slight discoloration from any source will not be allowed. Fiber with vegetable contamination is not allowed. Dander in a coat is indicative of mite activity. Where there are mites, there is usually fiber damage. Fibers weakened by mite feeding have a greater tendency to break. The dander itself is not a problem, as the spinnery will clean out all of that. The problem is with weak fibers that will break during processing and will increase the level of loss to fly. Therefore, fiber with obvious dander will not be allowed. Any indication of moth infestation or damage will be cause to return all of the wool from that participant. Shipping your wool Once you have sorted your wool, please pack it inside a plastic bag to protect your dry fiber from any possible water damage during shipping. Pack the bag in a good cardboard box. You do not need to lay the wool in tidy rows or separate the layers with tissue paper. Please include two copies of the participation form inside the box. It would be a good idea to insure your shipment - but that's up to you. Send your wool to: Sue Wiley 18490 Bethel Church Road, Manchester, Michigan 48158 Ship your wool so that it arrives before current deadline. All of the wool will be checked to verify grading and weight. Normal Processing Losses The first step in processing our fiber into yarn is picking. This is done with a picking machine that evenly blends all of our materials together. The Picker blows the blended fibers into an enclosed space. It is gathered up from there and transferred to the carding hopper. From there it moves up the spike apron and onto the actual carding machine to be blended further as the fibers are combed and oriented into proper alignment for condensing and spinning. The carding machine is about the size of a small bus and is made up of a series of huge carding drums that work together to comb the fiber. Compared to home carding units, the drums move very rapidly. All of this movement affects the surrounding air creating currents. Because angora is so light, it can be easily thrown off the drums and carried away by the air moving around the carder. This floating fiber is called "fly." Of all of the natural fibers processed in spinneries, angora is the worst for creating fly. The flying fibers are a nuisance in the spinnery. They land on everything - including the employees and do not end up in the final yarn. Because the mill bases its price on finished yarn weight, and because cleaning up a fine frosting of angora in the mill is a pain, it is absolutely in the best interest of the mill to control the fly as much as possible. In the past, I have expected a normal processing loss of 20 to 25 percent. No one deliberately takes the fiber. It is not sold or stolen. It simply has escaped processing bit by bit through the different stages. It ends up on the floor, in the garbage, in the trees outside and in the employees' lunch. These losses are simply part and parcel of the process. As angora producers, we need to recognize that 1. It is normal. 2. Worse for angora than any other natural fiber. 3. Absolutely part of our cost of production and must be included in our pricing considerations. Our number one concern with the first test run was how Zeilinger's would handle the angora fly. What percentage of loss would result from their processing? How skillful would they be reducing losses? Frankly, we were amazed. We began with a total of 51 pounds of fiber and got back a total of 50 pounds of yarn, including spinning oil. After washing, the spinning oils, and natural oils and dirt carried on angora fiber accounted for a weight loss of just under 9%. With a total processing loss of under 10%, we were very impressed and eagerly began discussions for the next run. The next run is a blend with an increased percentage of angora and a decreased percentage of merino. Since the merino helps to hold the angora in place during carding and condensing, we should probably expect a processing loss of more than 10%. We simply will not know until the yarn is finished. This is why we cannot say 5 pounds of angora fiber in will equal X number of pounds of finished yarn back. This same unknown factor accounts for why we need to standardize what we can in this cooperative venture with 5 pound lots for accurate final division. Yarn Return The turn around for our test run was about a month and a half. For a mill, this was much faster than normally anticipated. We are hoping for a four month or better turn around period but that will depend upon the other commitments the mill must serve before working on our fiber. We will keep you updated on the IAGARB chat list. When your yarn comes back to you, it will be on cones or in skeins if you have ordered them. It will not look much like the fluffy sample included in this newsletter. The yarn will look like skinny, grayish string. Have faith. Wind your yarn off on a niddy-noddy or skein winder. Tie the skein loosely in four places to keep it from tangling. Wash the skein in very hot but not boiling water with whatever detergent you like. We find that any sort of liquid laundry soap works well. Detergent is necessary to remove the grayish spinning oil. Rinse out the soap. Many people feel that a final cold water rinse to shock the yarn gives it more stability in the eventual garment. Squeeze out excess water but do not wring the yarn. Because the spin cycles on washing machines vary considerably from make to make, we do not recommend that method for removing excess moisture. You are, of course, free to experiment at our own risk. Salad spinners always do a good job of gently removing water, albeit in small batches. Dry yarn flat. When the yarn was spun, it was under tension. Washing relives that tension, causing the yarn to rebound. Rebound significantly shortens the length of your yardage. All of this is normal and expected. After the yarn is dry, you will be relieved to see that it has plumped up considerably and has developed the characteristic angora nap. The nap will continue to grow as you work with the yarn and wear it. Enjoy! Download wool co-op form Anticipated Questions Can I include English angora wool in my shipment? No. Why not? English angoras have been deliberately selected over many years to produce a wool that is finer in diameter than German wool. This finer wool is more subject to breakage, pilling and particulate fly than German wool. This is not my opinion. This comes from a consensus of experience of commercial spinnery owners and operators. Increased fly would result in a larger percentage of processing loss that would have to be shared by everyone. German angoras have been selected to produce a texture that is compatible with machine processing. Additionally, they grow a coat of synchronized length. It is unusual for Germans to produce double or triple coat growth. Those that do, are considered uncharacteristic and undesirable because the additional coats are shorter and will increase the percentage of losses to fly. What about French or Satin angora wool? No, thank you. Textures will be too variable. We are aiming for a consistent product. Only German Angora wool will be accepted for IAGARB yarn. What about German crosses or hybrid wool? This is admittedly a gray area and is why Sue Wiley and myself will be verifying consistency of texture and grading. If we feel that a portion of a 5 pound shipment is not characteristic of German texture, that wool will be removed. By doing so, the overall weight of that 5 pound lot will be affected and may cause the entire shipment from that person to be disallowed. Why only adult German wool? Typically the wool coat from Germans less than 9 months is too fine in diameter to withstand the rigors of machine processing. Wool shorn from a 6 month old rabbit will include growth from 3 and 4 month old follicles. While we have concerns for reducing processing losses, we must also look at the qualities of the finished product. IAGARB is aiming for a yarn that will stand up to the day to day abrasion that comes from garment wear. Extra fine fibers have a tendency to pill, break, shed or even felt during normal usage. What about plucked wool? Why would you do that? Germans are bred to be shorn. Since all of their wool coat grows at the same time, they will not release their wool in the same way that breeds selected for plucking will. Plucking will injure them and result in significant metabolic stresses due to entire coat loss. If you have plucked wool, it should not have come from a German. If it has not come from a German - then it will not be included in the yarn run. By the way - cut fiber ends look different from plucked ends and are easy to find. What about wool with a longer staple length than 4 inches? No. There are several reasons. Any natural fibers with a length in excess of 4 to 5 inches, tend to become caught on the carding teeth and remain on the machinery. As such, they do not contribute to the finished yarn and increase the percentage of loss. Again, this loss must be shared by all of the participating members. Extra length is a disadvantage in commercial spinning. Extra length also means that there are fewer fiber ends in the finished yarn. Since it is the ends which pop out of the spun yarn to create the desirable angora halo - longer fibers are counterproductive. Part of the IAGARB agenda for running a yarn co-op is to offer a significant incentive to its membership to shear every 90 days. The wool length produced by the average German angora is the perfect length for commercial processing. What about colored wool? This matter is currently under discussion. Please refer to the article: "Naturally Colored Angora for Millspun Yarns." One of the reasons that white yarn is the commercial industry standard, is because it can be dyed any color from muted shades to bright, true colors. A tolerance range of textural consistency is an issue, upon which the membership must agree. It may take a few years before the texture of colored angoras becomes as consistent as it is with the albino animals. In the meantime, the membership must decide what is acceptable. Is there a difference between albino angora and white angora? Possibly, yes. There are some white angoras that are actually dilute chinchillas. It is not uncommon for wool from these angoras to produce some "smutting" or grayish fibers in their coats during cold weather. Smutty fibers are not desirable in a white yarn run.