Fiber arts have been an integral part of our society for centuries consisting of beauty and function. Tapestries were woven depicting family trees and historic events. Knitted designs represented clans and geographic locations. Crocheted designs adorned tables at special feasts. The arts were passed down from mother to daughter. Today, fiber arts continue to be practiced and enjoyed by designers, those who hand knit, crochet, weave and spin commercially and by the hobbyist as well.

Preparing Alpaca Fiber for Hand Spinning

To Wash Or Not To Wash

Many people spin alpaca unwashed. There is no lanolin or other grease in the fleece, but alpacas do love their dustbaths, so the fleece may be more or less dusty depending on the individual it came from. Any vegetation should be loose and drop out while you’re processing it. Some spinners find that spinning unwashed alpaca is easier than spinning it washed as the dust “grabs” a little and makes the silky fibers less slippery. The washing takes place after the fiber is spun, as part of setting the twist. To wash a fleece, put it in a large colander or a mesh lingerie bag (don’t do more than about half a pound at a time unless you’ve got a very large container for it and a lot of water in your sink), fill your sink with tepid water and immerse the fleece for a few minutes. Pull it out of the water, drain it, and immerse it in fresh water with a little dish detergent or shampoo added. Let it soak for about half an hour, then dunk it in as many rinse-waters as required to clear the dirt and soap. Keep the water tepid and avoid agitating the fiber. Alpaca doesn’t felt as readily as most sheep’s wool, but it *will* felt quite nicely under the right conditions.Lay the fleece out on a screen, if possible, to dry. It should still have most of it’s lock structure intact.

Teasing
Soft, light alpaca can be spun straight from the fleece by teasing the fibers apart into a fluffy mass and spinning a woollen-style yarn. The fibers will align themselves somewhat as you’re drafting them, but a lot of air spaces will remain, making a lofty, elastic yarn.

Flick-Combing
Take a lock or two in your left hand, holding the butt-end firmly in your fingers. With a flick-comb or dog brush, “flick” the free ends of the lock, opening them up and removing vegetation and dust at the same time. Turn the lock around and repeat the procedure on the butt-end. Keep your flicked locks oriented the same way, as they spin differently from the butt-end and the tip-end. Spinning tip-end first will result in a smoother yarn than spinning butt-end first. Carding Alpaca is a fine fiber, and requires fine-clothed carders. Handcards for fine wools and downy fiber (120 points per inch or more) are appropriate, and in drum carders look for “fine cloth” “fur cloth” or “exotic cloth”. Take care not to overcard alpaca; like any fine fiber it will tangle and nap if overworked. Keep rolags fairly thin and airy to maximize the “woollenness” of your finished yarn.

Combing
Longer fibered fleeces are wonderful to comb for worsted preparations (the luster and silky drape of alpaca are best highlighted in a worsted-style yarn). There are many types of combs available; if you already own combs, try them with alpaca. If you’re shopping for combs, test-drive as many types as you can. Most combs work well with alpaca and the type you use is a matter of personal choice.

Spinning Prepared Alpaca Fiber

Alpaca has an undeserved reputation as a fiber that is “difficult” to spin. Well-prepared alpaca spins as easily, quickly and smoothly as any other longer-staple, lustrous fiber. Many people prefer it to other fibers because it is so easy to spin an even, beautiful yarn from alpaca. There are two types of commercially prepared spinning preparations commonly available, combed top and what is generally referred to as roving. Top is a combed sliver with fibers running parallel, which lends itself well to worsted-style spinning. Commercially prepared alpaca top can be quite dense and requires a little work before spinning. The top should be split into convenient lengths and then torn apart lengthwise into thinner strips (about as thick as your thumb) or drafted by hand to a similar thickness. A good top should be easy to spin, with the fibers moving smoothly out of your drafting hand to the point of twist. Roving is a woolen preparation with fibers run through a carding machine, which aligns the fibers somewhat, but not to the same extent as combing does (and carding does not remove inconsistent fibers as combing does). Carding makes an airier, less dense preparation than combing, and the roving may not require splitting into strips or much in the way of drafting out prior to spinning. If you’re spinning a roving and find that it is not drafting smoothly, pre-drafting should solve the problem. Rolags you’ve carded yourself can be attenuated by hand and spun for a woolen-style yarn. You can also make a worsted-style roving on your hand card: starting at one end of the carded fiber mass that is still on the card, pull it off through a diz, working your way along the card from one side to the other. A carded batt can be separated into strips lengthwise, or pulled apart across the batt into several sections to be rolled into “rolags”.

Determine what the average length of the fiber in your top or roving is, and remember that your hands shouldn’t be closer together than about one and a half times that length while drafting, otherwise you won’t be able to draw the fiber out to spin. The photo shows a comfortable hand position for a roving made of 5 – 6″ staple. Alpaca lends itself to various spinning methods, and can be spun thick or thin. For a thin yarn, worsted-style spinning works best, and for a thick yarn, choose a woolen method of spinning, or the density of the yarn may be much heavier than you were hoping for. Because of the silkiness of alpaca, give it a little more twist than you would most sheep’s wool, so that it doesn’t drift apart. Keep the drawing-in tension on your wheel as light as possible (increase it only if the yarn is kinking up before it goes through the orifice). If you’re drafting and treadling rhythmically and the yarn is moving smoothly onto the bobbin, you’re likely to have the right amount of twist for the diameter or yarn and length of fiber that you’re spinning. 

Stop and check occasionally to make sure you’re not overtwisting — the yarn should be sleek and soft, ready to ply on itself a bit loosely. If the yarn has a lot of bristly-looking ends sticking out of it and it is wiry and plies together hard and tight, it’s overspun. Even a lace-weight yarn, which requires more twist because of its fineness, shouldn’t feel harsh, just firm. Alpaca yarn can be either bulky or fine, but will have the characteristic “drape” and luster that make spinning the yarn such a pleasure.