I recently watched you chain ply on an Instagram video. I feel pretty good about my chain plying, but what still gives me trouble is the starting! How do you start chain plying? How do you attach it to your leader? And where do you get your first loop? ~Jenny L.
That’s a great question, Jenny. I struggled with getting started for years before I hit upon a method that is easy and clean and works every time. First, make sure you have a loop at the end of your leader. Because of how I make a leader, I always have a loop and find it helpful for all kinds of reasons. However, if you don’t already have one, just double back the end and tie an overhand knot – now you do!
Ready for the magic? Take the end of your single and double it back on itself so you have about a 4-inch section of two strands. Now stick that doubled-back bit halfway through the loop on your leader. What you have right now is a looped leader with your doubled-back single threaded through it. When you look at it, you should have four strands of your single in front of you: two on each side of your leader – one that is a loop and one that leads to the rest of your single. The side with the loop that doesn’t lead to your single is going to stand in for your first chain-plied loop. Take the half that leads to the rest of your single and treat it like your single by pulling it through the loop in the other half. There you go!
I know it seems like a lot of confusing instructions; if you want to see it in action, check out this video.
~jacey
Want Jillian or Jacey to take a stab at your question? Tell us what you want to know:
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-02-at-7.51.19-AM.png7441672Jacey Faulknerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngJacey Faulkner2025-06-17 09:00:002025-06-12 14:29:59Ask Jacey: How Do I Start a Chain Ply?
In the dark, we find ourselves anew. Have you ever woken in the middle of the night reaching out, maybe for a light on your nightstand, your phone, a pet, your partner? As we reach we rely on our touch, the familiarity of the object in question. I have reached out for my dog, Purl, in the early hours of the morning, sunlight still far away, anticipating the cool wet of her nose or the soft velvet of her underbelly only to find cat whiskers or my spouse’s cotton shirt. Sometimes I turn and take in the soothing fragrance of my love, fast asleep beside me. Sometimes the dark can give surprising and unanticipated delights. Sometimes the night brings us silhouettes undefined. We learn to lean into this when light is simply not an option. I think of Pride in these terms currently. It is not with stupendous, glorious light that I find and celebrate Pride, but I feel it in unknown terms – in the dark. So I found myself curious, as a fiber artist: what would happen if I took my wheel out and spun in the dark? This article explores spinning in the dark as a fiber artist and queer person in unknown times. It is a meditation and an exploration of what we find when we rely on our senses and on the things we know to be true in our instinct and our gut and our deep reliance on the Knowing of ourselves and how that fits into our own small world when the wider world is increasingly dark.
Spinning in the Dark. Where do I begin? Well, it starts with me. If you are anything like me, you may be someone who likes to have a sense of control. Control is comfort, and I can anticipate what the entire process is going to be like and how all of my variables will respond and interact. I have a plan and I am the captain of said plan. And, of course, with this comes the inevitable truth that there are (more often than I care to admit) times where I simply cannot have control. Surrender is a scary thing. Spinning in the Dark is a complex and nuanced practice. Both things I find to be deeply uncomfortable. What happens, however, when the uncomfortable truths of reality are matched with our ability and aptitude? Surely this is the magical, liminal space in which more of us should practice? As much as I find comfort in the black and white binary, Spinning in the Dark is a concept of leaning into this Something. And so I begin.
First up, I need a spinning wheel. This is the easy part and does require some prep in the light. I think of this as another body of the practice. It is grounded, literally, to the floor. I have the legs, known to us spinners as the treadles, and the body, and the head with the bobbin ready to go. It is here, in this moment, that I know the lights must go down. I switch the flip with a breath of courage. I sit down with the wheel in front of me and before any formal experiment begins, I take a moment to arrive. It is dark now. I feel my body’s weight on the couch, hear the cats playing with goodness knows what in the kitchen. Where is Purl, anyway? A ton of thoughts come swimming my way. Right. Grab some fiber from the basket nearby. I feel the roving, not knowing which I grabbed. The basket is full of bits and bobs, long lengths of different roving, and some roving I have yet to spin, a deep green if memory serves me right. I let my hands explore and begin to pre-draft just a bit. I can sense the fiber is perhaps a bit tough to begin with and so the pre-drafting feels like a good idea. I close my eyes and think about the feeling of wool between my fingers. Warm. Bouncy. I have been spinning for so long that this feels pretty normal, pretty familiar. Isn’t it interesting that such a niche concept feels normal? It’s not really something I think about in my daily life, whether I am in the light or dark. It just is. Hm. My queerness is not too different from this. It is simply part of the process of being me. Once the drafting is done, from what I can tell, I feel around for the shaft of the bobbin, making sure (and praying) I kept a leader yarn on there. To my delight, there is one. I feel for the rest of the bobbin, making sure the tensioning is how I want it, and feed the leader through the orifice. This is the moment I will begin my spin. I tend to spin to the left and ply to the right, so I give my wheel a bit of a turn with my hand and off we go. My roving doesn’t quite connect to the leader on the first go. Not enough twist, I suspect. I’m instantly discouraged, knowing that I need to start this process over again already. I am thinking about the article for the blog, thinking about how there are so many disappointments. Damn. You can do this. I self-talk my way through this again. This time I spin a little more, slowly give the leader and roving a pinch to make sure it’s a cohesive and strong join. Join. Connection. This is the part that gets me briefly. This is where all of it begins. It is impossible to have a sturdy yarn without this join. Connection is everything. I feel the goodness of this and also how the void of connection feels so…horrible. So isolating. And what is it about this isolation that feels so damning? And what does it mean to have this isolation as a queer person? For me, there is a loneliness in being different, even within my LGBTQ community, let alone from the powers that be. If only the light were on. And yet…
I start to treadle regularly and it takes a few minutes, but then I find myself listening to the gentle whirl of the wheel of my Ashford Kiwi 2. I have had this wheel for over a decade and it has been with me through so much – college, a marriage, a master’s degree, presidential elections, a divorce, COVID-19 lockdown, getting married again, mothering, moving to two different states, losing my Grampy, health scares, teaching spinning classes – so much life. It is astounding, really, what my wheel has witnessed and survived. And that is really the thing about our spinning that stops me in my tracks. It goes where we go. It spins how and where and when we spin. It is a craft that is unique to us makers because its very concept is to be what we desire. In the dark, I feel the yarn coming out of the orifice. Is it lumpy? Thick and thin? I am overwhelmed with the feel. It feels like my regular default yarn, usually a DK-ish single. Impressed with myself, I carry on. My feet are warm against the treadles. The cats are still doing whatever the heck they are doing. I haven’t a clue how long I have been at it. It could be fifteen minutes. It could be more. I doubt it’s any less.
The soothing motions of spinning remind me of a few things: Even in the dark, I have multitudes of experience. I am more than what any government or administration says I am. I am my past self, my future self, and solidly my present self. It is nearly impossible to not be present when spinning. It requires a certain amount of here and now that is hard to challenge. This is especially true in the Dark. Even without light, especially without light, I see this brightly. No amount of light or dark changes who I am even if the motions feel uncomfortable, new, or challenged. I trust myself to know the steps and surrender to the changes at hand. So too, in this time of darkness in the world, we must know ourselves and continue to make and push forward, knowing that we have more control than perhaps we thought at first. And the control we don’t have? We surrender and adapt. We make changes where we can and make beauty and connect where we are able.
This is the conclusion of Spinning in the Dark and the conclusion is perhaps sweeter than any dawn. It is the inevitable truth that is available to us in any time and in any circumstance: we are here and will forever be making our own truth. Onward with our draft and introducing twist to our material – crafting authenticity at all hours of day and night.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_8848-scaled.jpeg25601920Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-06-12 09:00:002025-06-11 14:39:46Spinning in the Dark
Got something to say about silk? We sure hope so because we’re planning a big silk – sericulture – issue for Autumn 2026, and we want you to share your tips, experiences, techniques, and anything else you love about working with this amazing fiber.
Do you spin silk by itself? What methods have you found work best for spinning silk? What about the differences between spinning different kinds of silk, such as Bombyx or Muga? What about spinning silk from different preparations, such as silk hankies, bricks, laps, caps, or directly from the cocoon?
Silk is frequently blended with other fibers, so we want to hear all about blending. Which fibers do you find work well with silk (including protein and plant fibers)? How does the percentage of silk in the blend affect the final yarn/project? Does silk strength have an impact when blended with delicate fibers? Do you have tips for spinning a silk blend to make sure the silk stays blended and doesn’t separate from the other fibers during spinning?
What kind of fiber prep do you do for silk? What tools do you use: combs, hand cards, drum carder, blending board? What about cutting silk as part of fiber prep? How do you create mawata (silk hankies)? How do you card silk to avoid neps and noils? Or when might you want to use neps and noils in your yarn?
Silk has such a vast, rich history. Can you tell us about the development of silk or explore the history of the Silk Road? What about all the military uses for this material, such as parachutes during World War II? Silk features in various folktales as well, and we’d love you to share some of those stories.
What about experimenting with silk? How can you make sure to get the drape and sheen silk is typically known for in your yarn and project? What about minimizing wear and abrasion? Is it about prep, drafting, twist, adding plies? How about silk’s durability, such as using it as a replacement for nylon in socks? What about warmth as a property of silk? What about shrinkage? How much twist does silk need? How can you make silk elastic? We have so many questions and can’t wait to see the explorations you come up with.
What about dyeing silk and any special considerations when dyeing it alone or as a blend? What are the vulnerabilities silk might have, such as damage from exposure to sunlight? What type and weight of spindles work best for spinning silk? Do you have experience raising silkworms?
What about weaving with silk? Does it make a difference if it is used as the weft or the warp? What about using it with another fiber? Do you have a weaving pattern you’d like to design using silk? What about knitting or crochet? Wouldn’t you love to design a gorgeous pure silk shawl? How about using a blend, such as silk and cotton, for a top or vest? What other design ideas do you have to feature silk?
Proposals are due by September 1, 2025. You’ll hear back from us in October 2025, and final articles are due March 1, 2026.
We reached out to Clemes & Clemes to see how the tariffs are impacting business for a tool manufacturer.
For over half a century, we have worked hard to source locally and domestically when possible. Forging long-lasting relationships with local suppliers tends to keep costs down and quality up – being able to walk right into a supplier’s office when there is an issue is always a plus.
As an example, we recently brought the manufacture of the electrical enclosures for our drum carders in house. We used to buy stock electrical cans, but during Covid, the manufacturer moved production from Georgia to Mexico. The quality of the cans became so erratic that they were no longer usable to us, so we designed and now have electrical enclosures laser cut and bent to our exact specifications just ten minutes from our shop. After we assemble them, they are powder coated by another company just a couple miles down the road. Not only did we take back control of the quality, we also lowered our overall costs as the enclosures now come ready to use without laborious modifications.
There are, of course, many parts that are not reshore-able (reshoring being the opposite of offshoring). Nuts, bolts, screws – most hardware – have not been made in the U.S. for quite some time now, with China being the main supplier. Likewise, carding cloth for the textile industry is no longer made here. Thankfully, we have good sources in Europe that we have worked with for decades, who manufacture specifically for us and to our specifications.
So, from a supply side, I don’t see a huge impact on our business from tariffs at the moment. If the little bit of hardware that we use of Chinese origin doubled in price, it would likely have a minimal effect on our pricing overall, and our other imports come from regions which – as of yet – are not under heavy tariffs.
The bigger impact we are concerned about is actually consumer confidence. The on, off, on again nature of the tariff negotiation process can have a paralyzing effect on purchases – especially for big-ticket items. We see this every four years with the presidential election cycle – in March or April of an election year, things start to slow down, with sales down to a trickle by the first week in November. But a week later – no matter who wins – consumers once again have certainty and again feel confident to make purchasing decisions. Richard Nixon was president when my father started our family’s business; we have seen this cycle time and again.
The concern with this tariff business is that there is no real end in sight; no date that we can point to and expect consumer confidence to flip from low to high. That really puts the onus on us as a company to instill confidence in customers making a purchase from us. Being industry leaders in quality for more than half a century is certainly helpful in that aspect. And while we have offered payment plans on big-ticket items for almost a decade, we recently started offering short-term payment plans on smaller items. For instance, $140 for a Lock Pop may seem like a stretch at the moment for someone, but $35 per month over four months will give them a little more in their monthly budget while still affording a tool that they will own for the rest of their life.
So, while tariffs at the moment are making life interesting, we are taking them in stride as the next challenge for our business to overcome. We’ve survived everything from the stagflation of the 1970s to multiple “once in a lifetime” recessions in the last 20 years. For us – at the moment – the way through is by maintaining world-class quality, working on keeping prices down whenever we can, and making our products as accessible as possible.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fiber-10-scaled.jpg19282560Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-05-29 09:00:002025-05-28 15:04:26Clemes & Clemes on the Impact on Our Tool Manufacturers
While the Plants issue of PLY is already in the works (and it looks like another great one!) we are looking for quality related posts for the blog! Did you have an idea you didn’t submit? Or did you miss the submission window?
The blog process is much simpler than the magazine process (which involves contracts and samples sent in, photographs, tech editing, etc.) Instead, you’ll need to send your own photos, and your post will go through a copy edit but no other part of the magazine article process. If your blog submission is accepted and published, we’ll send you a $50 honorarium via PayPal.
Please submit your blog post proposal by July 11, 2025. If your post proposal is accepted, we’ll need your words and photos by September 1, 2025. We’ll be posting the Plant posts on the blog in September, October, or November 2025.
Find the mood board below!
PLY Autumn 2025 – Plants (Blog posts)
If it grows in the earth and you can spin it, we want it!
Let’s look at growing and preparation, blending and dyeing, drafting and plying, finishing and projects! We would love for you to contribute your knowledge, experiments, and projects.
Which plant fibers are easiest to spin for someone new to the world of cellulose? How do they compare and relate to fibers spinners are more familiar with? Why would you choose plants over other fibers? Can you compare and contrast plant fibers, identifying what they are wonderful for and the ways they can be spun? Are some plant fibers better than other plant fibers for certain things?
What do you know about plant fibers that have to go through a manufacturing process, like bamboo? How does it affect the environment, the spin, the finished yarn?
What preparations work the best for plant fibers? What should a spinner look for in a commercial preparation? Which dyes and methods work the best for you? Can you use natural dyes with plant fibers? What happens when you dye a cellulose/wool blend? Talk to us about the tools for plants: which are the same as wool, which are for plants only? Can you use blending boards? Handcards? Combs? What is the benefit of blending these fibers with protein fibers? What is the best percentage of plant and wool, and what are the best plants and breeds to use together?
Tell us about using spindles, charkhas, walking wheels, e-spinners, and treadle wheels. Are there ones that work and don’t work with these fibers? Do cellulose fibers have to be worsted drafted? Can you spin them woolen? What happens if you do? How much twist is enough, and how much is too much? What tips do you have for plying plant fibers, the number of plies, the twist angle? How do you get a smooth chain ply with plants? What about different ply structures? Can you use these fibers in textured yarns?
Tell us about the methods you use to finish plant fibers. How do you make sure the twist is set? Do you belong to a fibershed that includes cotton or flax, and can you tell us how you are working toward their sustainable future? Do you make and use cordage from plants in your garden or on your travels? Can you teach us how and what you make with it?
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PLY_Blog.png383719Meagan Condonhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngMeagan Condon2025-05-27 09:00:002025-05-26 10:33:43Call for Blog Submissions: Plants
Time to ramp up for tonight’s PLY Spinners Guild Third Thursday foundational spin-in!
Here’s a tip to tide you over until the spin-in starts! This is something I’ve observed time and again during my years of teaching spinners.
When we first begin spinning with a short forward draw, many of us struggle to get a thin, even yarn. Much like a toddler who needs to master the chunky crayons before they can move on to the pencils, new spinners will spin lumpy, bumpy, chunky yarn until they master the fine motor control needed to get those lovely, even singles. Then comes the second part of this problem.
Once spinners master the thin, even single… it becomes really difficult for them to spin a thick yarn again. It is a skill they have to learn all over again and is often a shock when they realize they’ve lost the ability.
To work toward getting that thicker yarn again, pay attention to what each of your hands is doing as your spin. One hand manages the fiber supply (the fiber hand), while the other hand forms a pinch point and controls the twist (the working hand).
When you spin a fine single, you might notice that your pinch point stays near the very tips of the fibers and draws only a few fibers at a time into the twisted yarn. While not always the case, you might also notice that your fiber hand holds the fiber supply with a somewhat firm pressure.
To get a thicker yarn, move your pinch point deeper into the drafting triangle so that you are drawing up more fibers into the twist zone. To complement this new motion, your fiber hand should have a very loose grip on your fiber. If you hold your supply tightly, fewer fibers can be drawn into the twist zone.
Test this out at the spin-in, tonight! Make sure that you have joined the guild to get the Zoom link!
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hand_graphic_2.png748997Meagan Condonhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngMeagan Condon2025-05-15 14:37:162025-05-15 14:37:18Third Thursdays Guild Tip
I am having the worst time parallel drafting! My fibers don’t draft well, there’s clumping, and one color frequently falls away. Can you give me some tips to make it easier?
~Tess (and others) in Jillian’s class at Maryland Sheep and Wool
Hi Tess,
Parallel drafting may be my favorite color spinning technique, but it was super awkward for me when I first started. I felt like I was trying to spin with my toes!
Here are my tips to create an even marl in your singles so you can have wonderfully speckled and blended colors in your ply. I hope one or all of them work for you to make parallel drafting easier!
Fiber
It helps when you are first learning to parallel draft to use fibers that are close in staple length. Corriedale and Falkland or Merino and Polwarth are great places to start, and when those feel comfy, move to combos like Corriedale and BFL or Merino and Merino/silk. Keep practicing and you’ll get to the point where you can parallel draft almost any fibers together.
Preparing Your Fibers
This may be the most important tip: use less fiber than you want to. Not what you want to hear, I know, but it makes such a difference.
I measure my fiber with my fingers. I use two-fingers’ width of fiber, after it’s been fully fluffed.
I open my fibers horizontally and measure the strips of fiber to use. If I am drafting two braids or two solid colors together, I use a finger’s width of each color; if I’m using a natural color and a braid, I use 2/3 of my two-finger’s width of the braid and 1/3 of the natural color.
It’s easy to try to parallel draft without opening your fibers all the way, but that leads to less-than-smooth drafting and clumping.
After I open and strip my fibers, I hold them side by side and pre-draft them together. I slowly, vertically attenuate them, which helps the fibers grab onto each other before drafting at the wheel even begins.
You can do it just with your hands, or you can pull them through a diz, using a handcard or comb to hold your fibers.
Tension and speed
One of the rudest things to say to a spinner is “slow down.” We want to get our yarn done fast so we can bask in its gorgeousness and get on to our next yarn. But if you slow down overall while you are learning to parallel draft, it makes a huge difference. Slowing down helps you draft more easily and keeps both fibers together.
Once you feel like you have the technique down, you can move back to Speed Racer mode.
Finding a way to equally tension the pieces of fiber will help keep one fiber from falling away while you are drafting. I’ve found that putting a finger from my fiber (back) hand in between the two strips of fiber allows me to tension them equally, change the tension between the two if one strip feels fatter, and notice quickly if one strip falls away.
Want Jillian or Jacey to take a stab at your question? Tell us what you want to know:
In the nineteenth century, the Genesee County area in upstate New York had many individuals spinning wool and flax to provide textiles for their families and for the barter system that provided many goods and services. Spinning was done on great wheels and saxony wheels that many pioneers brought with them across the state from the New England states. The main purpose was for clothing and to supply linens for their daily lives. Nearly every household was spinning for garments and weaving for textiles.
Upstate New York saw many heritage breeds of sheep, which were the main source of their spinning fiber–producing animals. Many farms in upstate New York also had many acres of flax growing. There were approximately 46 thousand acres of flax produced by families in upstate New York. That process was labor intensive to get linen for clothing and bedding.
In 1985 a small group of like-minded individuals formed the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild. They had the tenacity and skill to develop their craft. The guild mission statement was to preserve the ancient art of handspinning and to educate themselves and the public on the history and skill of spinning fibers into yarn. Their skills expanded not only to spinning but to weaving, crochet, and knitting. In reality, it birthed a generation that used fibers for many arts and crafts today.
The spinning guild became the launching ground for many to become modern sheep farmers and mill owners to process wool. They educated many to work in textiles and in local museums to preserve that history. I, like many others, are the products of those wonderful individuals who formed the guild and educated their members in spinning, weaving, and the skills necessary to be successful spinners of wool, flax, and other fibers.
The early years of the guild saw many natural-colored sheep wool and fibers. The dawn of color and dyeing fibers brought many skills to spinning. Many spinners saw the creations of colorwork sweaters, garments, blankets, and many socks and shawls. This led into indie dyers and the frenzy of color in the hands of skilled spinners.
In 1995 the guild created The Finger Lakes Fiber Festival held at the local fairgrounds. This yearly festival ran for 25 years, eventually growing to offer over 80 venders and to attract thousands of people. This festival included many opportunities for demonstrations and educational classes. We have since scaled back and now offer The Shepherd’s Wool Market, which is a smaller event. We continue to offer demonstrations and educational classes to support our mission statement.
Our guild programs have been focused on the skills needed to be successful at individual endeavors, teaching skills in drafting techniques, fiber preparation, spinning wheel maintenance, and use of color. We have incorporated a sheep breed study that has delved into the breeds available and their uses for different textiles. We are gradually building our knowledge on the use of color, especially how to manipulate color at the spinning wheel with braids and the use of stash wool with parallel drafting techniques. We continue to strive and provide education for our members and the public. Occasionally our monthly meeting will consist of us sitting and spinning as a group with no agenda.
The Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild continues to this day, recently celebrating its 40th anniversary. We continue to be like-minded individuals preserving this ancient art of handspinning. Modern day spinning provides many guild members yards of yarn. Spinning provides a sense of pleasure, joy, therapy, and self care to the modern spinner, our guild members among them.
The challenge that the guild faces is bringing this craft to the next generation. We are using our collective experiences to encourage and refresh the guild’s presence in the next generation.
Ron Tyler, a retired nurse, is president of the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild. He has been spinning for close to 20 years and is an avid collector of antique spinning wheels. He is also a historical interpreter in textiles at a local museum with an expertise in the history of flax.
Are you part of a fiber guild with a great history or a guild that is doing truly innovative work? We want to know about you!
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Genesee-Valley-Handspinners-Guild.png8591152Guest Bloggerhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngGuest Blogger2025-04-24 09:00:002025-04-21 21:04:24Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild: Preserving the Ancient Art of Handspinning
I love the smell of old books. It is a smell that goes nicely with the smell of fresh fleece and hot coffee. My perfect afternoon would probably involve pivoting between scouring a fleece, one small bag at a time, and curling up in the living room next to a stack of old non-fiction books.
There seems to be a lot of crossover between book people and fiber people. It is part of why I spend so much time researching fiber arts. I love to play with fiber, but I am always looking for deeper meaning about how and why it behaves the way it does.
Right now, thanks to my local library, Sheep and Man by Michael L Ryder, an 856-page tome – and I do mean tome – published in the UK in 1983, sits half-read on my nightstand. Published more than 40 years ago, this book is touted by some to be the definitive work on the history of the domestication of sheep – which is interesting, considering it isn’t in publication and used copies are so rare they go for more than my car payment.
Version 1.0.0
Definitive is a dangerous word, to me. It gives us the illusion that knowledge is finite and unchanging, neither of which is true. New science comes along and answers questions we didn’t have answers for, which changes our understanding of things we thought we knew. In the handspinning community, we are particularly at risk of thinking that the knowledge and history of the craft never changes. It worked 500 years ago, so it should work the same way today.
The truth is, as soon as something is published, it is outdated. As a general rule, I approach any text older than 10 years with this fact tucked neatly in the back of my mind, and as I read, I question just about every fact that I don’t already have a clear understanding of (and even some facts which I do).
For example, Ryder points out that the proteins in sheep and goat wool are different, which indicates they likely diverged evolutionarily before they were domesticated. This made me curious – did more current microscopy and DNA analysis support this? So I set my book down, picked up my tablet, and began to research the difference between goat and sheep hair proteins.
In my further research, I learned that wool and cashmere are primarily made from keratin, the same protein our hair and nails are made from. However, they contained different keratin-associated proteins (KRTAPs) and the arrangement and amount of these additional proteins was different.
In fact, KRTAPs not only differed between ruminant species but also proved to be a determining factor in how fine, strong, and flexible a fiber is within a breed of sheep or goats.
This gave me additional information in support of what Ryder said four decades ago. Ryder didn’t have all the answers, though it would have been easy for me to just accept his word on the matter. After all, he was the expert! That said, his voice wasn’t able to give me the full picture of how goat and sheep hair differed. What it gave me was the right questions to ask.
An hour and a half diversion from my book, a fresh cup of coffee, and 4 tablespoons of wool wash later, and I can finally move to the next paragraph, page 19. I’ve got a long afternoon ahead of me.
References
Li S, Xi Q, Zhao F, Wang J, He Z, Hu J, Liu X, Luo Y.“A highly polymorphic caprine keratin-associated protein gene identified and its effect on cashmere traits.” J Anim Sci. 2021 Sep 1;99(9):skab233. doi: 10.1093/jas/skab233. PMID: 34370022; PMCID: PMC8442941.
Ryder, M. L. (2007). Sheep & Man. Duckworth.
Zhang C, Qin Q, Liu Z, Xu X, Lan M, Xie Y, Wang Z, Li J, Liu Z. “Identification of the key proteins associated with different hair types in sheep and goats.” Front Genet. 2022 Sep 23;13:993192. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.993192. PMID: 36212123; PMCID: PMC9539809.
Zhanzhao, Chen & Cao, Jian & Zhao, Fang & He, Zhaohua & Sun, Hongxian & Wang, Jiqing & Liu, Xiu & Li, Shaobin. (2023). “Identification of the Keratin-Associated Protein 22-2 Gene in the Capra hircus and Association of Its Variation with Cashmere Traits.” Animals. 13. 2806. 10.3390/ani13172806.
https://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/51YWM3NBZVL-1.jpg500370Meagan Condonhttps://plymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/plylogo-condensed-pnk-300x164.pngMeagan Condon2025-04-22 09:00:002025-04-21 21:34:55By the Books: Using Older Texts to Inform Our Modern Understanding of Fiber
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Other cookies
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:
