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Love..........mohairwords by Marie WallinContinuing our series of interesting fibrefacts, this season the spot light is onMOHAIR. This truly wonderful, versatileand luxurious fibre is an importantcomponent in many of our beautiful Rowanyarns including: Kidsilk Haze, Cocoon, KidClassic and the new Fine Art.MOHAIR is the lustrous long and strong hair of the Angoragoat. Used alone or in blends, this soft and hard wearing fibreimparts its unique characteristics to a wide variety of end usesbut is mainly used in fashion garments, textiles and knittingand weaving yarns.HISTORY Believed to have originated in the Himalayas, theAngora goat was first domesticated in Turkey, where the nameAngora was derived from Ankara, the province where the goatsthrived. Heavily protected from export with an export banuntil the 19th century, the first Angora goats were importedinto the South Africa in 1838 and into the United States in1849. They came to the UK in 1881 when animals wereimported from South Africa by the Duke of Wellington.TODAY the major producers of mohair fibre are South Africa,Texas in the US and Australia. However there are small pocketsof Angora goats being bred for their mohair in numerouscountries throughout the world. Over the years the climate andgeography of these very different areas, together with thedifferent breeding programmes adopted by each country, haveled to very different characteristics of the mohair fibre produced.QUALITY American fleeces tend to be dense with a long01