Thursday 16 May 2013

Hand spun Alpaca

I was given some raw Alpaca fleece by a friend and I have finally got around to processing and spinning it. I skirted the fleece (removed leaves and other Debris) and washed it using treseme shampoo and warm water: the fleece was put in an underwear laundry bag and  soaked for 30 minutes in soapy water, then transferred to clean water of a similar temperature for a further 30 minutes, this rinsing process was repeated twice more. I dried the fleece on a clothes maiden laden with tea towels, the fleece took about 48 hours to dry.

Once dried I used hand carders to align the fibres to form a rolag. I spun a thin yarn (worsted style) with an s twist and plied with a z twist. I am really pleased with the result! Finally a relatively even thickness! I can't wait to knit with it. I am thinking of making a shawl. Here are some pictures.

Fleece:


Plied yarn on the bobbin

Yarn on the niddy noddy:

Washed and ready to knit!






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