What mohair is
Mohair is the fleece of the Angora goat (not the Angora rabbit, whose fiber is called angora). It is long, smooth and lustrous, it takes dye more brilliantly than wool, and it does not felt easily or pill much because the fiber has few of the scales that make wool lock to itself. Kid mohair is the first two shearings of a young goat and the finest grade, around 24 to 30 microns; adult mohair is coarser and goes into upholstery and the older, scratchier fluffy yarns. Everything called mohair on our yarn shelves is kid mohair, nearly always blended with silk, which gives the thin core strand its strength and sheen.
The halo — the cloud of fiber standing off the strand — is the point. A brushed mohair-silk at lace weight weighs 25 g to the ball and looks like a spider's web on the needle, and in the fabric it fills the space between stitches with a haze that softens the color, traps air, and makes a thin fabric warm.
Does it itch?
For some people, yes, and for most, less than they feared. The itch from a coarse wool is the fiber ends prickling the skin; mohair's ends are fewer and smoother, so what you feel is more a tickle from the halo than a scratch, and kid mohair with silk is the gentlest version. Hold a ball against your neck for a minute before deciding. If it does bother you, or if you knit for someone it bothers, the alternative is brushed suri alpaca — Blue Sky Prairie, Plymouth Suri Stratus, Blue Sky Brushed Suri — which gives the same halo from a fiber with no prickle at all, at the cost of a little of mohair's luster and bounce. The last section puts them side by side.
Held, or alone
A mohair-silk lace is nearly always held together with another yarn: one strand of mohair with one of fingering, DK or worsted, knit as if they were one. The merino gives the fabric its structure and the mohair gives it the halo, the warmth and the softened color, and the pair knits like a yarn about one weight heavier than the merino alone. The holding guide has the table of what adds up to what; the short version is that a mohair strand with a fingering makes a light DK, with a DK makes a worsted, and with a worsted makes an aran, each on a needle one or two sizes up from the merino's own.
Knit alone on a US 6 to 8, a lace-weight mohair-silk makes an open, floating fabric — the one-skein mohair scarf, the sheer summer cardigan over a tank — and it is forgiving of uneven tension because the halo hides it. Artyarns Mohair Ombre 2Ply is the one of ours made for that: a two-ply with 620 yards in the skein, dyed in a gradient, enough for a whole shawl alone.
Alone
On a US 6 to 8. Open stitches, and the halo fills the gaps.
Held with a fingering
The merino makes the fabric. The mohair lays a veil over it.
What one strand changes
Gauge. A held mohair adds a little thickness and a lot of bloom, so go up a needle size from the merino's and swatch; the fabric will look loose on the needle and fill in after a wash. Drape. Lighter and loftier than the merino alone, because the mohair adds air rather than weight. Warmth. Much warmer for the weight; a fingering-plus-mohair sweater is as warm as a worsted one. Color. The halo lays a veil over the merino's color, so a bright merino with a matching mohair comes out softer and a contrasting mohair — gray over pink, black over red — comes out as a third color. Yardage. You need the merino's yardage and the same number of yards of mohair, and a 25 g ball is 220 to 310 yards, so a sweater takes three to five balls.
Knitting it
Use smooth needles. Mohair clings to bamboo and wood, and the strand is too fine to push along a grippy needle; addi Turbos or Rockets are the usual choice, and the needle material guide says why. Knit with a light hand and do not pull stitches tight. Count rows with a marker, because you will not see them in the halo. Mark the mohair strand's end when you set the work down, since two held strands come off the needle together.
And the question everyone asks: you can rip it out, but it will fight you. The halo of every stitch is tangled with its neighbors, so pulling the yarn back takes the stitches with it slowly and sometimes tears the fiber. Rip a row at a time, gently, pulling the strand straight back along the row rather than up; if it is badly stuck, put the piece in a bag in the freezer for an hour, which stiffens the fibers and makes them let go. Better still, check the swatch and the pattern before the halo sets in. Most mohair knitters learn to tink back a few stitches and avoid ripping whole inches.
Washing it
Hand wash in cool water with a wool wash, no rubbing — mohair does not felt easily, but the silk core is weak when wet and agitation mats the halo. Press the water out, dry flat, and when it is dry shake it or brush it lightly to lift the halo again. The care guide has the rest. Mohair sheds a little for the first few wears; wearing it over a dark shirt will tell you how much.
The mohair and halo lines we stock
| Fiber | Ball | For | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artyarns Silk Mohair Glitter | 60% kid mohair, 40% silk, with lurex; hand-painted | 25 g, 312 yd | Held or alone; the sparkle is subtle |
| Artyarns Mohair Ombre 2Ply | 60% kid mohair, 40% silk; hand-painted gradient | 86 g, 620 yd | A whole shawl, alone |
| Dream in Color Billy Kid Silk | 70% mohair, 30% silk | 25 g, 225 yd | Held with Jilly or Classy |
| Berroco Aerial | 70% mohair, 30% silk | 25 g, 284 yd | Held with anything; the widest color range |
| Schoppel Wolle Silky Cat | 70% kid mohair, 30% silk | 25 g, 218 yd | Held with Reggae or Edition 3 |
| Blue Sky Fibers Prairie | 53% suri, 47% baby alpaca, brushed | 50 g, 273 yd | The mohair alternative, held |
| Plymouth Suri Stratus | 68% suri alpaca, 32% nylon, brushed | 25 g, 274 yd | The mohair alternative, held |
| Blue Sky Fibers Brushed Suri | 67% baby suri, 22% merino, 11% bamboo, brushed | 50 g, 142 yd | DK halo, alone on a big needle or held |
| Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted and Bulky | 85% wool, 15% mohair, single | 113 g, 190 / 125 yd | Warm hats and mittens; the felting yarn |
| Noro Silk Garden | 45% silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% lambswool | 50 g, 109 yd | Striping scarves and sweaters |
The first five are the ones to hold: a 25 g ball of mohair-silk with a matching or contrasting fingering, DK or worsted. Prairie and Suri Stratus are what we hand to anyone who cannot wear mohair — Suri Stratus with nylon for strength, Prairie all alpaca — and they are held exactly the same way. Brushed Suri is the heavier halo, a DK on its own. Lamb's Pride and Silk Garden are not halo yarns in the same sense; the mohair in them is a minority share that gives a faint fuzz, extra strength and, in Lamb's Pride, the fastest felting on the shelf, as the Brown Sheep guide explains.
Which to buy
A halo on a sweater: a ball of Aerial, Billy Kid Silk or Silky Cat for every 250 yards of the main yarn, in the main yarn's color or a shade darker. A one-skein shawl in mohair alone: Mohair Ombre 2Ply. A little sparkle in a cowl: Silk Mohair Glitter held with a fingering. The same effect for someone mohair itches: Prairie or Suri Stratus. And the shawl guide says how many yards a mohair shawl takes.
