I am so thankful that the Tour De Fleece is happening. For those of you who don't know, the Tour de Fleece is a parallel event to the Tour de France, and challenges hand spinners to spin together with the cyclists. This years Tour de France has been postponed, but the Tour de Fleece is on schedule! If you want to learn more, check out the Ravelry group.
In preparation for it, I decided to prep some alpaca fiber for spinning. I am fortunate to have fiber from various sources at home. Animals whose fiber was not long when they are shorn requires a different type of prep. I have some that is only 1 inch long, for some reason. This animal was not raised for fiber use, at least not this year.
Here is a photo of the results to keep you reading...
I have drum carded alpaca it before but did not love the results. When my friend was at my house for a distanced fiber fun day last month, she brought her combs. I've always been fascinated with those mean looking Viking combs. I had a chance to try them out at John C Campbell long ago. So, I tried them out on the alpaca. It's a good match...at least for me.
I have been lucky to get fiber for free. Some people keep alpacas as pets and aren't interested in the selling the fiber once the animals are shorn.
First, fiber is washed. Some fiber is dirtier than others. And, there are varying amounts of vegetable matter ("VM") in the fleece. That sounds bad but it just refers to straw! Unlike prepping sheep's wool, you don't need to worry about lanolin.
I wash in the kitchen sink (I don't have a sink in my garage or else I'd do that) with a 5 gallon bucket. I put a fair amount of fiber in the sink (1/2 lb maybe) and fill with warm water. Then I add about a tbsp. of blue Dove. I let it sit a few minutes, maybe swish it around a couple of times. Then I drain. Add more warm water, and let sit a bit, swish, and drain. I do this until the rinse water comes out clean, perhaps 4 or 5 rinses. It then goes into a strainer for dripping.
You can see in the photo below a fair amount of VM in it, although the dirt is pretty much gone.
I squeeze it out; it then it is spread onto a sweater rack for drying. Drying in sunshine is best as it is faster than indoors.
Once it's dry, the combing starts. Combing is fairly time consuming. There is a fair amount of waste involved, i.e. the shorter fibers go either in the trash or into the pile of fiber for stuffing hand knit stuffed animals. But it give you wonderful combed "top" for spinning. Combing is also great because it removes a lot of the VM; it falls onto the floor or into my lap. There is extra vacuuming involved. Here is a before and after photo. These are "double pitch" combs with 2 rows of teeth. but the main thing is...safety first. When I'm not using the combs, they are put away and stored between fat flat foam sheets.
How is it done ? Here's a good youtube video. I think everyone's technique is a little different.
And here are some different colors in beautiful puffs of combed top and the resulting yarns.
My yarn is double plied and pretty hefty, probably a heavy worsted weight.
In preparation for it, I decided to prep some alpaca fiber for spinning. I am fortunate to have fiber from various sources at home. Animals whose fiber was not long when they are shorn requires a different type of prep. I have some that is only 1 inch long, for some reason. This animal was not raised for fiber use, at least not this year.
Here is a photo of the results to keep you reading...
I have drum carded alpaca it before but did not love the results. When my friend was at my house for a distanced fiber fun day last month, she brought her combs. I've always been fascinated with those mean looking Viking combs. I had a chance to try them out at John C Campbell long ago. So, I tried them out on the alpaca. It's a good match...at least for me.
I have been lucky to get fiber for free. Some people keep alpacas as pets and aren't interested in the selling the fiber once the animals are shorn.
First, fiber is washed. Some fiber is dirtier than others. And, there are varying amounts of vegetable matter ("VM") in the fleece. That sounds bad but it just refers to straw! Unlike prepping sheep's wool, you don't need to worry about lanolin.
I wash in the kitchen sink (I don't have a sink in my garage or else I'd do that) with a 5 gallon bucket. I put a fair amount of fiber in the sink (1/2 lb maybe) and fill with warm water. Then I add about a tbsp. of blue Dove. I let it sit a few minutes, maybe swish it around a couple of times. Then I drain. Add more warm water, and let sit a bit, swish, and drain. I do this until the rinse water comes out clean, perhaps 4 or 5 rinses. It then goes into a strainer for dripping.
You can see in the photo below a fair amount of VM in it, although the dirt is pretty much gone.
I squeeze it out; it then it is spread onto a sweater rack for drying. Drying in sunshine is best as it is faster than indoors.
Once it's dry, the combing starts. Combing is fairly time consuming. There is a fair amount of waste involved, i.e. the shorter fibers go either in the trash or into the pile of fiber for stuffing hand knit stuffed animals. But it give you wonderful combed "top" for spinning. Combing is also great because it removes a lot of the VM; it falls onto the floor or into my lap. There is extra vacuuming involved. Here is a before and after photo. These are "double pitch" combs with 2 rows of teeth. but the main thing is...safety first. When I'm not using the combs, they are put away and stored between fat flat foam sheets.
How is it done ? Here's a good youtube video. I think everyone's technique is a little different.
And here are some different colors in beautiful puffs of combed top and the resulting yarns.
My yarn is double plied and pretty hefty, probably a heavy worsted weight.
