Pygora is a fibre most knitters have never handled, produced in small quantities by a small number of people, and worth knowing about if you ever get the chance to work with it.
What the animal is
The Pygora is a cross between a Pygmy goat and an Angora goat. It grows a very soft undercoat over the winter – related in character to cashmere – and that undercoat is the fibre.
Only a handful of people actually work with it, largely because the yield per animal is small and the processing is labour-intensive. Most Pygora yarn comes from smallholders who raise the goats, shear them, and spin the fibre themselves.
How it behaves
It is very warm – considerably warmer than sheep’s wool for the same weight. That single property should shape how you use it.
It suits a fine spin. The fibre is short and soft, and it is at its best spun fine rather than into a heavy yarn.
It has a halo. Like other goat fibres it blooms slightly with wear, softening the stitch definition over time.
What to make with it
Given the warmth, an open airy knit is the right choice. A sweater in Pygora worked at a dense gauge will be too hot to wear indoors; the same sweater in a lace or loose stitch pattern is comfortable and still warm.
That also stretches a small quantity of an expensive fibre a long way, which matters when the yarn is hand-spun and sold in small amounts.
Shawls, scarves, cowls and light cardigans all suit it. So does holding it alongside a plain wool to add softness and warmth to a larger project without needing much of it.
Working with hand-spun
Hand-spun yarn is not perfectly uniform, and that is the point of it – the slight variation in thickness is what gives the finished fabric its character.
It does mean gauge is less predictable than with a mill-spun yarn, so swatch and expect to adjust. Buy all you need at once; a hand-spinner cannot reproduce a batch exactly.
Care
Treat it as a fine animal fibre. Hand wash cool, do not agitate, press the water out in a towel and dry flat. It will felt if you are careless with heat and friction, and a felted Pygora shawl is not recoverable.
Store it clean and folded, with cedar or lavender nearby. Fine goat fibres are exactly what moths look for.
