I did take wool and mohair to a mill and have them card and I'd go pick up the rovings. Usually 1 pound each...We had one ewe for the wool as mohair has no memory and you usually have 15-20% wool before making anything with it.
I use to get natural dyes from a catalog I had and would dye the mohair and wool, some rovings were multi-colored and some just one color...it was fun and I sure did enjoy it...also sold the best locks to doll artists for their wigs.. The doll customers brought in lot more money that the spinners....hand sorting about 500 pounds of mohair to get the best locks for dolls cost them the money for time spent. and since I was a producer I sold cheaper than most other sellers.
Always thought getting a couple of cashmere goats would be interesting. some of the farmers started to cross breed the 2 and called them cashgora's...hoping to get more production from the cashmere cross's....others cross bred with other breeds of goats hoping to get color mohair, but pure, un crossed mohair is always white with one mutation called champagne...If they cross bred back enough you could get a goat that looked like an angora but had color. Most were not successful. but there is fun in the trying....
Pygora (pygmy/angora cross) is popular around here. I bought 3 batches of the roving, 1 white and 2 multi dyed. I’ve spun the two dyed lots and it was lovely. Haven’t done the white yet.
When I first started to spin, I couldn’t master the drafting/pedaling either. So I spent a year just plying another spinners stuff for her because she hates plying. Then one day I got to fooling around with some pretty roving and suddenly I could spin.
I have five wheels now and I can tell you that Louet is the most idiot proof and most easily adjusted. All of three of my daughters can spin (youngest is now 13). They are all pretty much self taught and I think they learned young because I let them play with my wheels and always had a box of colorful mill waste roving to practice with.
I’ve always been a relaxed mother when it comes to sharing my toys, how else will they learn if they aren’t allowed to make messes and use stuff?
Although they aren’t allowed to play with my new cell phone. How will I learn to program it if they do it for me?