In early June, my cousin was on a hike near Breckenridge, CO. She and her son found this Rocky Mountain Goat fiber strewn across some branches and wondered if I would be interested in playing with it.
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| 1 1/8 ounces raw Rocky Mountain Goat Fiber |
My first reaction was H*** Yes, Hand it over! But I restrained myself until I knew what she wanted to do with it. We finally connected in July and I spent a few hours each weekend working on it over the summer when I could.
I did an initial skirt where I removed the twigs and most of the guard hair.
The guard hair is quite coarse.
The down is on the left and guard hair and twigs on the right. I was expecting to pull more guard hair out, but this was only the first pass.
I gave it a good bath and a few changes of water, then hung to dry for a few days.
After the initial skirt and bath, the fleece is down to 3/4 ounce and oh-so-white.
Now I'm in the middle of opening up the fibers and doing a more detailed pick with a retractable dog brush. I'm about half finished.
The second picture is the opened fiber. It's so soft.
It will most likely be next spring before I'm finished, but I've been wanting to share it for quite some time. :-)
I hope you are having a terrific Fiber Arts Friday. Please be certain to check into what everyone else has been up to over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.
12 comments:
How cool!
This is so cool, I'm very excited about this project! I love that it was found/gathered fiber. I'm looking forward to more pictures!!!
Discovered fiber on a hike? Love that!
This is a quite a cleaning-up process. I'm very intrigued with it.
You are way more patient than I am. It totally would have ended up as a birds nest in my possession. LOVE how clean it's becoming though.
Dumb question, what does it mean "open up the fiber"? The last picture looks like a puff of cloud, I can just imagine how nice to work with this yarn.
@Vivian - exactly. The result is a cloud with almost no vegetable matter or guard hair.
I'm thinking I will spin directly from the cloud, but I'm not sure. The fiber hasn't told me what it wants to be yet.
@WWG - you would know the gold that's in there the instant you put your hands on it. And knowing what you did for my Batts of Wonder, I suspect you would have the patience. :-)
@VdV - it's quite rare to find more than a small clump, so I have been relishing the small amount of time I've had with the fiber so far. It really is quite amazing. :-D
@Pinkundine and Melissa - I know!! I'm so crazy excited about this fiber. I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about it.
This is amazing! What a fun project...can't wait to see it when you finish it.
Now I'm picturing the goats rubbing against the fence, giggling, thinking of the humans coming along to collect it all.
What an exciting find! I can't wait to see what you do with it!
It looks lovely and has a great story behind it. Looking forward to hearing more about it
It's looking good. Getting the veg out and picking certainly did it a world of good. Looking forward to seeing the finished fiber. Happy Fiber Arts weekend to you!
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