Alpaca Notes: What Constitutes a Good Fleece For You?

There are two fleece types in Alpaca: Suri and Huacaya. Although Suri is the genetically dominant fleece type, it is the least common. Most breeders have Huacaya herds.

Want to know what to look for when buying or assessing a fleece for hand spinning? The notes below apply to both fleece types.

VM (Vegetable Matter)
This is the top of the list because it will make or break you. Any fleece, no matter how lovely, that is full of VM is not worth the money or the effort to prepare it. Take on a high VM fleece only if you have a husband willing to pick it while he watches the footy, or you plan to comb it on wool combs, which will remove most of the VM.

Handle
This one is tactile and needs your hands. If it has a lovely soft, silky handle it will have the potential to spin a lovely soft silky yarn. Remember alpacas love to roll and dust and grit affect handle. If possible wash a sample before purchase or choosing a fleece for a project.

Length
Length is not critical, depending on the type of spinning you are planning. If it’s a lovely soft, but short cria tip, it will spin up to a lovely soft yarn, for a beanie if spun in woollen fashion and long draw. Try to avoid overgrown fleece, as it’s difficult to prepare. Anything longer than 5" will present challenges. You can consider cutting Suri locks in half if you have the patience and the fleece is otherwise outstanding. When looking at the length, assess whether the length is even across the fleece. Lots of second cuts affect the length, and the quality of the carded fleece.

In Suri fleeces the length of the fibres varies WITHIN the lock. It has to if the tip is thinner than the butt of the lock. So when combing you will find that there is considerable waste. If it’s not full of VM, this fleece can be used in as a blend, or carded itself to create a silky soft airy suri yarn.

Lustre
Alpaca can display lustre. A lustrous fleece will be visually appealing and add depth to your yarn. Once again dust and grime will cloud lustre. One way to assess it is wrap a lock around your finger and move it under light. Avoid chalky dull fleece—you will be disappointed with the result.

Character
Now here is a contentious issue. In hand spinning this is personal preference. A Huacaya fleece with outstanding crimp and defined staples is a pleasure to the eye, but once it’s prepared will perform just as well as a fleece showing a less defined crimp, and poor staple structure. With all other factors being equal, that’s that. A fleece with more organised fibres (ie with crimp and in staples), will display its lustre and style better than an average fleece, but expect to pay more.

From the commercial spinner’s point of view the question of crimp is controversial, and I think it boils down to some applications desire crimp and others don’t. Breeders all have their own barrow to push here so if you see a nice fleece that’s not necessarily crimpy, go for it.

In Suri, the breeders are aiming for tight locking right up to the skin. Most Suri that you will come across only goes half way up and then becomes a dense matt. I have found that the dense Matts need to be ripped into locks before preparing. The highly defined locks are nearly as difficult to prepare as they can felt into dread locks. It depends on the quality of the animal.

Cria fleece that’s about 12 months growth is a good choice, also the so-called F1 fleeces (progeny from a suri over a huacaya) are often less defined in the lock structure, and have the added bonus of colours.

Hand spinners need something in-between, and I suggest using neck fibre to start with (or all the time!). It isn’t as long as the saddle has a slightly different lock structure and doesn’t get subjected to the abuse the saddle gets when the animal rolls.

With Suri reject any fleece on the other points as well. Don’t settle for second best as it’s going to take a long time to prepare.

Tippy Fleeces
Tip damage in alpaca fleeces can be a problem. Fleeces that are uneven in length within the staple are particularly susceptible to muddy and often rotten tips. The fleece usually has long whispy tips and some breeders point it out as highly medullated. Maybe so, but it usually indicates an older animal’s fleece, or one with a low primary to secondary fibre ratio. This is something that will be bred out over time.

Tip damage is caused by the dust in the fleece being washed down to the tip with rain. The tips harden, become fragile and simply break off. Test a fleece that has hard tips, by giving the tips a tug. If they pull off, consider negotiating a discount for the extra work of removing those tips before carding. With combing expect more waste than normal.

Cria fleeces are prone to this, as the length within the staple varies a lot as the secondary fibres come through during the course of growing the first fleece.

Both Suri and Huacaya can be commercially carded, giving you batts of alpaca clouds (you hope). This is fine if that’s the effect you want in the yarn. I personally feel that Suri lends itself to smooth worsted spinning, so sample a fleece using both spinning methods before committing a whole fleece to the carders.

If you plan to send a fleece to a carder, pick over the fleece very carefully, removing all second cuts, any hairy bits, all clover seeds (these disintegrate in the carding process and are distributed throughout the finished product), and as much VM as possible. Most carders want the fleece washed before they will card it, or charge extra for washing. We use and recommend Unicorn Power Scour and Rinse for washing Alpaca fleece and this can be purchased in our online shop.

Heather Dunn
Phone: (02) 6337 5774

Shop online at www.braesidealpacas.com.au