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Carpal Tunnel
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of words!
as some of you know--i have turned into a knitting feind of late.. and every once in a while, knitting and word nerding overlap.
a few years ago i posted a bunch of words about fibers/weaves and textiles.. and their orgins, (which no one much seemed interested in) but that doesn't deter me now from trying again.
the knitting word of the day is: MOHAIR
Main Entry: mo·hair
Pronunciation: 'mO-"har, -"her
Function: noun
Etymology: modification of obsolete Italian mocaiarro, from Arabic mukhayyar, literally, choice
: a fabric or yarn made wholly or in part of the long silky hair of the Angora goat; also : this hair
(green= merriman webster on line dictionary)
i thought this was an interesting word.. the italian--mocaiarro-- is this related to caira (heart?love?) and to cardiac (of the heart?) and if so, is it because of the arabic mukhayyar--does anyone know if the kyayyar of mukhayyar is also a work for the heart? (choice seems so bland!)
secondly-- you'll notice, MOHAIR is the fiber for the angora goat. Angora is another fiber entirely--from a whole different species-just to confuse you! and Angora (whether applied to the goat or the fiber) is a coruption of yet another arabic word!
any guess which word?
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to the AHD4 the Arabic root is hyr (with a concave up curved line under the h) meaning to choose. http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/S154.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Angora (whether applied to the goat or the fiber) is a coruption of yet another arabic word!
any guess which word? Ankara?
For what it's worth, Helen, your teaching that socks can have clocks made enough impression that it has stayed with me all this time.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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yes, Jackie.. the goats that produce mohair are originally from what is now Turkey.
but angora fiber is from a rabbit.
rabbits are one of the last animals domesticated, and agora rabbits, like domesticated sheep, don't naturally molt. they need to be sheared (or rather in the case of rabbits, 'combed' ) to remove excess fur. in the case of angora's, its 4 times a year.
angora (rabbit) and mohair are both extremely fine fibers. (and so to is cashmere 'wool' from another goat) and spin up into very soft fibers.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Has anybody ever tried spinning/knitting cat hair, she said brushing herself off? If so, I could provide them with a quantity of orange and black...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Mohair, cashmere and angora are quite distinct words, each with its own unique referent. In the lexicon of Nordstom, however, they may all be synonymously translated "expensive."
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Carpal Tunnel
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mohair is the least expensive--because its less like to cause an alergic reaction, and because its warmer than sheeps wool, for many years, mohair herders recieved a stippend from the (US) government, since mohair was considered a vital resourse.
the government planned to drop it (since they now see war in more tropical (i.e. mid east) to be more likely than wars in arctic areas (i.e a cold war with USSR 'turning hot) and the military need for lightweight, warm garment has decreased.(i remember reading about the fight, but i don't remember reading about the outcome!-so who knows, maybe it is still subsidized)
and yes, pet hair can be spun.
in the americas, there were very few domesticated animals (actually in the world there are very few!)
in S.america, the llama, alpaca and the vicuna, both were herded primarly for their fleese. but in N.America no sheep or other fleesed animals were domesticated.
tradition weavers such as the navaho, used cotton and wool from sheep that had been killed for their meat.
after the arrival of the spanish, the navaho kept old world domesticated sheep for weaving.
in the Pacific North West, a species of dog (a domesticated animal) was breed specifically for its soft white underbelly hair, that was combed (like angora rabbits are) and the fiber was spun into special ritual garments
N.American made fibers from plant material, (hemp, cotton, pineapple, bark) but primerally relied on skins for clothing.
wool (fiber from members of certain ruminates, specifically sheep and goats) is a special fiber. (different than Hair) its easier to spin, mostly water proof, but once you get it wet, it still retains most of insulating properties, its burn resistant, its naturaly stretchy, it easily felts and it takes dye easily--in someways, it is a miracle fiber!
other animal fibers, (llama/alpaca/vicuna, camel, rabbit, silk) each have some of these properties but lack many of them.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Reading of troy’s piece and twisting the thread heading led me to an article you can find in full here:
http://www.cctv.com/program/Nature&Science/20040826/101274.shtml
This is a series of slightly edited extracts. It tells how the Chinese developed a means of extracting naturally coloured silk from silkworms. After reading the article I am still not clear on whether they were reworking from first principles something already done in Japan or inventing something completely new. Maybe someone knows the answer to that?
“Raising silkworms has a several thousand-year history. Those lovely worms have spun snow-white natural silk. In September 2002, inside a laboratory in Hefei, the silkworms raised by researchers spun natural silk in colours, from simple white to all the colours of a rainbow. This meant the complicated traditional silk printing and dyeing process was done biologically inside the silkworms. If this technique is popularized, the traditional silk industry will have a revolution and there will be a saving in raw materials and water pollution.
In September 2001, Fan Jiuge, the chief of the institute, was sent to Japan for a survey. There, for the first time, he saw domestic silkworms spinning natural silk in colours. The cause of it, he learnt, was a dye in the feedstuff for the creature. It seemed a simple practice, but proved very difficult.
Few people ever give a thought to the question, why silkworms take green leaves but spin white silk? The answer is in a biological membrane between the gland and digestion system. The dense membrane is able to withhold dye molecules from passing.
A vehicle was needed to bring the dye into their glands. After much research, Fan believed dye molecules were too big in size.
Fan decided to make a “bridge” with a chemical radical. One end of it served as a hook for silk, and another was the stuff easily penetrating into the glands. When the radical got in, it brought the dye along. (If you understand that, good luck!)
On July 27, 2002, their silkworms began to make red cocoons. The silk didn’t fade. This meant the dye had entered the interior of the silk. Fading had been a big problem in silk printing and dyeing. Dye had been unable to penetrate and left the colour unstable.
Yellow and blue cocoons were made after red ones. The three basic colours were done.
On September 7, 2002, purple cocoons were made, the first colour through mixing dyes. This test proved that dyes from different colours could make a new one inside silkworms.
Raising silkworms in China has entered a new era.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Cool! silk is extraordinary when i comes to dyes-- there are several dyes that change color (silk dyed blue, eventally 'fades' to pink!)
most silk isn't realy dyed, but more like painted.. the color sits on the surface of the fiber normally, --where as wool, like human hair absorbs dye color-- and since stronger 'fixatives' (mordants) can be used in the dye process, colors are less likely to fade or oxidize (as hair dye does)
Cotton is a fiber that also come in colors.. naturally cotton can be close to pure white, or cream, (yellowish) or tan, or blue, or green! soft 'faded tan, blue and green, but the fades looking color never fades-because it is part of the cotton fiber itself. natural color cottons were the rage a few years ago, now they are sort of specialty item.
(silk is a remarkable fiber.. if i get a chance, i'll look up the years old thread on silk --or someone else can for me)
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