Spinning Curly Fiber

Article by Bunny Reveglia

Horses have always been a big part of my life. When Curlies entered my horse world, I was so surprised to learn that some had spun their curly

hair coats into yarn. Since I had taken a spinning course years ago, I decided to try spinning again with Curly fiber. It was fun and I was delighted with fuzzy halo the Curly fiber gave to the blended yarn.  I was hooked on spinning Curly fiber and I experimented with every fiber I could get my hands on.

Curlies shed their curly winter coat in the spring and it can easily be harvested with a comb or brush and saved in a shopping bag. The next

stage is cleaning out the veggies which is easily done by just pulling apart the fibers and most of the debris falls out of the fiber.

Washing Curly fiber is easier than wool. Just fill a pail with hot water, put in enough Dawn dish detergent to make soapy, put fiber in pail and soak. I soak it about 15 min, pull out fiber and squeeze out excess soap/water and place in pail of warm clean water. Repeat the rinse process until fiber is clean, usually 2 or 3 times. To dry lay fiber on old towel on drying rack, turn occasionally.

Blending Curly fiber with other fibers works best for a nice yarn. When

spinning Curly alone, I have found the fiber to be too fragile, so a blend of wool, mohair, alpaca, llama or even cotton and silk works best for me. One of my favorites is an alpaca/wool/Curly blend. I also have blended many fibers together with Curly for some interesting results.

Curly yarn has been used to make just about anything one wishes to try. Hats, mittens, socks, purses, rugs and more. It crochets, knits and weaves beautifully.

The Curly comes in all fiber types, from fine to coarse. The finest is best for next to skin, the coarsest best for rugs. The length of fibers also varies from horse to horse. The curliness of the fiber varies from horse to horse as well. This year the International Curly Horse Organization will be conducting fiber tests on many Curly horse samples so a better idea of average micro count will be known along with staple length. From my own experience most Curlies have a staple of length of 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches, some will be shorter and some longer, but that is an average.  Curly horses are also hypoallergenic, so is the fiber. So if anyone is fiber sensitive, Curly fiber maybe a good choice for them to spin.

The history of the Curly horse is somewhat vague at best. We do know the Curly was found originally in the Mustang herds of the west. Also they were a prized mount of the Crow and Sioux Indian. They were considered sacred and were reserved for the chiefs and medicine men.

Curly horses are generally very intelligent, calm, sturdy horses that have few health issues. They are the clowns of the herd and love to entertain their owners. Every owner has a Curly story to share. What makes them so unique is you can also wear then in a hat or socks or mittens. Curlies give a lot to their human owners.

They are truly unique being the fiber horse of the world.

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