Camel
The Camel grows 2 different kinds of fiber. One is the very strong and course guard hair but underneath this is the downy undercoat. This is the fiber that we use to spin our exotic Handspun Camel Yarns.
The camel’s pure undercoat is very soft, gathered when camels molt in the warmer seasons. A camel can produce around 5 pounds of hair a year which can be collected by a number of methods including combing and manual collection during the moulting season in late spring.
After Collection the fiber must be sorted and de-haired then washed to remove any dander, dirt or vegetable mater from the fibres.
Camel’s down is a fibre that supplies warmth without added weight. The hair contains thermostatic properties which can protect and insulate the camel from the extreme cold conditions as well as keeping them cool in the desert. The same properties and characteristics are transferred when making fabrics knit from camel fiber.
Care: Your camel garment or yarn should be hand washed in lukewarm to cold water with a gentle wool wash such as “Soak”. Gently squeeze out excess moisture, roll in a towel to release more moisture and lay flat to dry away from direct heat and sun.
2 Comments
Sandy
I was given a camel hair mid-thigh length knit coat. It is too small, so I would like to take the side seams apart and add to the coat, as well as add to the neckline. (The coat was made to go with a large cowl neck dress.) The color of my coat is a little lighter than your picture, but I don’t think it would matter. Can you give me an idea of how much I should buy to make this coat work for me?
NancyElizabeth
Hi Sandy, Sounds gorgeous and I am sure that it will look terrific altered as well. This is going to be a little difficult to figure out but we could start with an approximate square inches of knitting to be added. Do you know how wide and how long each added piece would be. if so get a close approximation of the square inches of knitted fabric that will be added. There is probably a way to calculate how many yards of a certain gauge would be needed as the other factor would be the thickness of the yarn. How many sts per inch is the current knitting, or the knitting you will be adding? You may wish to continue this conversation by email? nancy at nancyelizabethdesigns.com. you might even want to order an ounce or 2 just to do some swatches with and to get a better look at the colour matching etc. I can always do more to match or make the next one thicker/thiner. You may wish to send a picture.
cheers, Nancy