Mohair vs Merino

Different animals, different purposes

Merino comes from merino sheep and is wool in the ordinary sense - crimped, elastic, and the fiber the standard weight system is effectively built around. Mohair comes from the angora goat, has almost no crimp, and is long, smooth and lustrous, which is what produces the halo.

Halo, and why people want it

The halo is the cloud of fine fibers standing away from the spun core. It is why a mohair sweater looks lit from within and why it blurs everything underneath it.

• It hides stitch definition, which is a feature for plain stockinette and a problem for cables.
• It hides uneven tension, which makes mohair unexpectedly forgiving for a lace-weight yarn.
• It makes the fabric warmer than the weight suggests, because the halo traps air.
• It sheds, onto everything dark you own.
• It is effectively permanent. You cannot undo mohair easily - the halo felts the stitches to each other, which is why frogging it is a known misery.

The held-together technique

The commonest way to use mohair is not to knit it alone. You hold one strand of mohair-silk together with one strand of another yarn and knit them as one.

1. Held with a fingering or DK yarn, it adds halo and warmth without much thickness.
2. Held with itself, doubled, it makes a light fabric with a strong halo.
3. It changes gauge, so swatch the combination rather than either yarn alone.
4. It is the standard way to soften a scratchy wool, because the halo sits between the wool and your skin.
5. It makes frogging worse, because now two yarns are felted together.

Where merino wins

Almost everywhere that is not about halo. Merino is springy, so ribbing grips and a garment holds its shape. It takes dye beautifully, shows cables and texture crisply, comes in every weight from lace to bulky, and the superwash versions machine wash - which is why it is the default answer for a sweater.

Merino vs regular wool covers how it compares to ordinary sheep wool, and superwash vs non-superwash the treatment question.

Which to buy for what

The practical warnings

• Mohair sheds and the fibers travel. If you knit in bed, expect to find it in the bed.
• Mohair is close to unfrogging. Be more certain of your gauge than usual before committing.
• Mohair can feel prickly to some people despite being soft - the halo is made of fiber ends and some skins object. What makes yarn itchy covers why.
• Merino pills more than coarser wools, because the fibers are fine and short - see why yarn pills.
• Both are hand wash unless the merino is explicitly superwash.