Have You Handspun Alpaca Before?

Alpaca fibre is light, lustrous, resists pilling, and warm. Good quality Alpaca has no prickle factor, and produces a luxurious garment, with excellent drape. It comes in 22 natural shades and has one of the few true blacks amongst animal fibres. Alpaca also blends well with other fibres and can be dyed. Wool and silk with alpaca make excellent blends.

To Spin Alpaca
It’s quite easy spinning especially if carded into batts and also drawn out into slivers or combed into tops. Tops will give a smooth glossy worsted yarn and the batts and slivers a soft light woollen yarn.

With Slivers, pull a length of sliver apart into sections and attenuate (gently pull into a longer sliver), and then spin. With Tops break into manageable lengths, strip these down into thinner lengths (by splitting lengthwise), then spin from one end to the other. A backward draft is often easier to control the fibre for a more even yarn. With batts, unroll the batt, divide into sections and attenuate gently, then spin semi-woollen or woollen style. The fibre lends itself to long or semi long draw, when carded into rolags, creating a lofty and soft yarn.

Use minimum bobbin tension; just enough to wind your yarn onto the bobbin. Being a slippery fibre, a higher tension will lead to yarn breakage and frustration.

Twist depends on micron (similar to sheep wool), and fibre length. If the fibre length is especially long, it can have minimal twist to create a lofty, bulky yarn. However with suri, extra twist is required, similar to spinning silk.

When spinning from raw fleece, choose a fleece that has definite lock structure, and a nice crimp. It should have a soft handle, but remember that these animals love rolling in the dust, and the handle of the fleece could be affected by dirt. Raw fleece can be spun from the locks by flick carding or combing out the tips, or you could drum or hand card the fleece. I recommend that you wash raw fleece first before spinning to reduce wear and tear on all your precious spinning equipment. I use and recommend Unicorn Power Scour, and Rinse for raw fleece and the Unicorn Fibre Wash for yarn and finished garments.

Remember that Alpaca has very low elasticity, so don’t be afraid to blend it with wool (70/30), of similar micron (merino tops are ideal), to provide elasticity. Alternatively, choose an elastic knitting stitch (other that stocking stitch), when making up.

Washing
See my notes on washing fleece using Unicorn Power Scour and follow these instructions for a very clean fleece to spin from. When washing yarn, I recommend the Fibre Wash if it has been scoured before spinning, followed by the antistatic pH buffered rinse, to condition your yarn. Remember that alpaca can stretch up to 20% without recovering so don’t wring your garment or yarn. I spin out then dry flat in the shade.

Enjoy!

Heather Dunn
Phone: (02) 6337 5774

Shop online at www.braesidealpacas.com.au