Spinning

Types of Alpaca
Alpacas are from the camelid family. They look similar to Llamas but are smaller in size. There are two breeds of alpacas -Huacaya and Suri.

Suri - wool locks can be long and curly or straight fibers that are silky, very fine and very soft. There is a wide variety in the color of the fiber such as, white, fawn, reddish brown, gray, dark brown, and black. Suri Alpaca fiber is ideal for making soft loftier yarns for knitting. It can also be used for felting.

Huacaya - (pronounced wuh-kai-ya) wool is denser than the Suri alpaca. It is soft and very easy to spin. This is the most common breed of alpaca found in the U.S. and Canada.

SKIRTING ALPACA

Once the fleece is removed, it needs to be “skirted,” or picked clean. The object of skirting is to remove anything you don’t want in your finished yarn, including vegetation, dung and inferior wool. The initial skirting can be done on the barn floor as soon as the fleece is removed, but out of the way of the next alpaca being shorn. Simply pull away any fleece that is obviously stained, soiled with manure or matted with plant material. Save what you remove to mulch the garden.

The next stage of skirting is best done on a table made of wire netting. Commercial skirting tables with built-in scales are available from specialty shops, but making one yourself is simple and instructions are readily available on the Internet. Basically, you want to support the wire mesh at hip height for ease of viewing and cleaning of the fleece. Wire with 1- by 2-inch rectangular openings works well, as does chicken wire. The mesh allows short pieces of wool, dirt, seeds and hay to fall through to the floor, leaving the more desirable wool for spinning.

Directions for Skirting

CLEANING ALPACA

It is not necessary to clean alpaca before spinning, because the fiber does not have grease in it. Some spinners find it easier to spin without washing it first. But if you have a really dirty fleece and want to clean it, follow these steps.

1. Pick out all of the vegetable matter by hand.

2. Fill a sink or dishpan with lukewarm water and a mild detergent.

3. Gently press the fiber down into the water without agitating it.

4. Let the fiber soak for 10-15 minutes.

5. Gently lift the fiber out of the water and squeeze the excess water out with your hands. (Do not wring the water out).

6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 depending on how dirty the fiber is.

7. Spread the fiber onto a towel and roll it to absorb excess water.

8. Spread the fiber into the open air to dry. It is best to dry the fiber on a screen so that the air can circulate underneath.

9. Store the alpaca in a paper bag, cardboard box, or a plastic bag with holes in it. (Storing alpaca in a garbage or trash bag will cause moisture to build up inside the bag and the fiber will felt.

More Directions for Washing

PREPARING ALPACA FOR HANDSPINNING

Yarn is spun in one of two ways: “woolen” or “worsted.” Woolen yarns are comprised of short and long fibers mixed together in a process called “carding.” When spun, this jumble produces a fuzzy, soft and lofty yarn that traps a lot of air. If you want a smooth, strong yarn, you need to spin by the worsted method. “Combing” prepares fleece for worsted spinning by arranging the fibers parallel to one another.

Carding Alpaca

"Card is the heart of the spinning mill" and "Well carded is half spun" are two proverbs of the experts and identify the importance of carding in the spinning process. The purpose of carding is to open the locks into individual fibers, eliminate dust and short fibers, eliminate any remaining vegetable matter, align fibers, blend fibers, form slivers and rovings.

Fibers of 2- to 4-inch staple are usually carded and spun by the woolen method. A pair of hand carders, wooden paddles with fine wire teeth on one side, is used to open and separate the mass of fleece. The fleece is initially pulled across one of the carders and catches on the teeth. The other carder is brushed across the fleece several times until the fibers start to straighten out and separate. When the wool is evenly distributed between the two carders, it is transferred back to the first one. The process needs to be repeated about three or four times to straighten and fluff all the fibers. The wool is then rolled up and taken off the carder. For alpaca, It is best to use handcarders with fine teeth. Handcarded alpaca will spin into a soft fluffy woollen yarn for knitting. This “rolag” of wool is now ready to be spun.

Combing Alpaca

Fleece longer than four inches in staple is difficult to card, so it is combed. Wool combs have rows of thick tines instead of teeth and are more expensive than carders. The process also requires a bit more skill. A lock of fleece is pulled onto the tines of one of the Combs and the other is stroked down the lock to separate the fibers. One begins at the tips of the lock and works back, much like combing long, tangled hair. The wool is removed from the combs with a “diz”--a round, concave tool with a hole in the center through which the fibers are pulled. When fleece is combed, the finished product is known as “wool top” or “roving.”

Since combing aligns the long wool fibers parallel to each other and separates out any short bits, the wool top is easy to spin, and the resulting worsted yarn is quite smooth and lustrous. One can also spin fleece with a long staple straight from the lock with only a minimal amount of teasing to open the fiber. This makes long wool a favorite among handspinners.

Drumcarders

Use a Drumcarder with fine teeth to create large batts for spinning. Also available is a Roving Carder, a narrower version of the drum carder and an Electric Drumcarder.

Blending Other Fibers

Adding 20%-50% wool to alpaca gives the yarn more elasticity. Spinning a single of alpaca and one of wool then plying the two together makes a nice woollen yarn. Wool can also be added to alpaca using handcarders or a drumcarder.

Blending 10%-30% mohair will make a lofty yarn and give it a fuzzy look. Silk lightly carded into the alpaca will add sparkle in your yarn. Angora rabbit wool with alpaca makes an absolute luxury yarn. It is extremely soft and very warm.

You can also use a drumcarder or handcarders to create various shades of alpaca, such as blending black alpaca with white alpaca will produce gray. Plying two singles of contrasting colors will create a tweedy effect in your yarn.

HANDSPINNING ALPACA

A tightly spun wool yarn with no air in it is called worsted; it is handspun from a roving or combed top, and the fibers all lie in the same direction as the yarn. A woolen yarn, in contrast, is handspun from a rolag, where the fibers are not as strictly aligned to the yarn created. The woolen yarn thus captures much more air, and makes for a softer and generally bulkier yarn. A common misconception is wool spun from rolags may not be as strong, but the strength of a yarn is actually based on the length of hair fiber and the degree of twist. Alpaca may be spun before or after washing. Over-washing prior to spinning may cause felting, making carding difficult and often leading to unusable fiber. Alpaca can be dyed at any time, but is often dyed before carding due to convenience.

It’s All in the Twist

Loose fibers become yarn by introducing twist. The twist holds the fibers together and gives them strength. The direction in which the yarn is spun is called twist. Yarns are characterized as Z-twist or S-twist according to the direction of spinning. Tightness of twist is measured in TPI (twists per inch or turns per inch). Yarns at this stage are known as “singles.” Singles have a pronounced twist.

Plying Methods

Before it can be used, the twist must be reduced, which is accomplished by “plying.” Plying is simply twisting two or more singles together in the opposite direction from the way each was originally spun. Two or more spun yarns may be twisted together or plied to form a thicker yarn. Yarns can be made of two, three, four, or more plies, or may be used as singles without plying. Two-ply yarn can also be plied from both ends of one long strand of singles using Andean plying, in which the single is first wound around one hand in a specific manner that allows unwinding both ends at once without tangling. Navajo plying is another method of producing a three-ply yarn, in which one strand of singles is looped around itself in a manner similar to crochet and the resulting three parallel strands twisted together. This method is often used to keep colors together on singles dyed in sequential colors. Cabled yarns are usually four-ply yarns made by plying two strands of two-ply yarn together in the direction opposite to the plying direction for the two-ply yarns. Done correctly, the plied yarn will not curl back on itself. Plying takes much less time than spinning, and is the last step before winding the yarn into skeins and balls. Once you have balls of yarn, you’re ready to knit!

END USES FOR ALPACA YARN

Alpaca spins into a dense yarn, and can be used for knitting, weaving, and felting projects. Alpaca is a good substitute fiber for people who are allergic to wool, because of its softness. A small amount of wool can be added to give the yarn more elasticity. Baby garments made of alpaca are also popular.

Alpaca is a very versatile fiber often used to knit apparel such as, dresses, blouses, skirts, jackets, pants, pants, scarves, ties. Miscellaneous items include: curtains, draperies, and upholstery.

A two ply yarn of alpaca will make a good warp yarn for weaving when spun with a tight twist. It will also work well as a weft yarn to weave pillows, vests, scarves, and shawls.

Felting with alpaca is more successful if there is wool added to it. The batts of fiber are made with a drumcarder. The felted pieces can be used to make hats and vests.

HISTORY OF SPINNING

The earliest spinning probably involved simply twisting the fibers in the hand. Later a stick, called a spindle, was used to add the twist and hold the twisted fiber. Later the spinning wheel was developed which allowed continuous and faster yarn production. Early spinning wheels were foot or hand powered.

Modern powered spinning, originally done by water or steam power but now done by electricity, is vastly faster than hand-spinning. New techniques including Open End spinning or rotor spinning can produce yarns at rates in excess of 40 meters per second.

CONTEMPORARY HANDSPINNING

Hobby or small scale artisan spinners spin their own yarn to control specific yarn qualities and produce yarn that is not widely available commercially, but can be found online and in many local yarn stores. Handspinners also may spin for self-sufficiency, a sense of accomplishment, or a sense of connection to history and the land. In addition, they may take up spinning for its meditative qualities.

Within the recent past, many new spinners have joined into this ancient process, innovating the craft and creating new techniques. From using many new applications of dyeing before spinning, to mixing in random elements (Christmas Garland, eccentric beads, money, etc.) that would not be in a traditional yarn, to creating new techniques like coiling, this craft is constantly evolving and shifting.