Mohair Yarn

Mohair, kid mohair, and the halo you are actually buying

Mohair comes from the angora goat, and the thing that makes it worth its price is the halo — the fine fibres that stand away from the yarn core and blur the stitches into a soft cloud. Two yarns can both say mohair and behave nothing alike, and the word to look for is kid. Kid mohair is the first clip from a young goat, finer and softer, and it is what makes Rowan Kidsilk Haze the reference point for weightless lace shawls that weigh under 100g finished.

Lace-weight mohair-silk

The classic construction is a fine mohair spun alongside silk. Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Rowan Kidsilk Haze Colour, Rowan Colours by Kaffe Fassett Kidsilk Haze, Lana Grossa Silkhair, Austermann Kid Silk, Cascade Yarns Kid Seta and Rico Essentials Super Kid Mohair Loves Silk all live here. The silk adds strength and drape and stops the mohair collapsing; the mohair adds the halo and the warmth. These are the yarns for stoles, wedding shawls, and for the currently ubiquitous sheer mohair cardigan knitted at a deliberately loose gauge on 4–5mm needles.

They are also the yarns most often held double with something else. A strand of Kidsilk Haze carried alongside a plain 4-ply completely changes the fabric — it fuzzes the surface, adds warmth without weight, and lets you shift the colour without changing the base yarn. If you are working that way, our 4-ply yarn and lace weight yarn pages are the places to find the partner strand.

Brushed and fuller mohair blends

Not all mohair is a whisper. Debbie Bliss Angel and Debbie Bliss Nell, Berroco Aerial and Aerial Color, MODE at Rowan Mohair Soft and Wool and the Gang Take Care Mohair sit at DK and heavier, brushed for a plush surface you can knit at a normal gauge. Rowan Kid Classic and Stylecraft Grace Aran blend mohair into wool for jumpers that keep some halo but hold their shape. Valley Yarns Southampton is the value option for larger brushed projects. Rowan Tweed Haze and Tahki Yarns Donegal Tweed Fine use mohair for texture rather than fluff.

Noro's mohair-containing yarns — Silk Garden, Silk Garden Solo, Silk Garden Sock, Akari — are their own category: long colour repeats where the halo softens the transition between shades instead of hiding the stitches. ITO Sensai is at the opposite extreme, a gossamer Japanese mohair for the finest work we stock.

Working with it

Mohair is unforgiving of mistakes and there is no polite way around it: the halo locks the stitches together, so tinking back six rows of Kidsilk Haze is genuinely difficult. Two habits help. Use a lifeline — thread a length of smooth cotton through a whole row every ten rows, so a disaster only costs you ten rows. And if you do need to rip back, put the work in the freezer for an hour first; the fibres release far more willingly cold.

Choose needles a size or two larger than the yardage suggests. Mohair lace wants air; knitted tight it turns dense and itchy rather than airy and warm. Block wet and pin generously — mohair opens up dramatically and a swatch that looks like a dishcloth will bloom into lace.

Itch, and who it suits

Mohair's guard hairs are what some people react to. Kid mohair blends are markedly softer, and a mohair-silk held against the neck is usually fine where a coarse adult mohair is not, but it is worth being honest about this before committing to a mohair jumper for a child. For next-to-skin softness without the halo, merino or cashmere yarn are the straightforward alternatives, and Rowan Kid Classic is a reasonable middle ground.

Where to go next

Ready to make something? our mohair knitting patterns round-up picks the best of them. Similar halo fibres: alpaca and cashmere; mohair is often blended with acrylic or silk. Heavier mohair sits in chunky yarn, finer in lace weight.