Spinning Techniques to Preserve Fiber Memory in Alpaca Fiber
I mentioned in my January 2, 2005 post entitled Alpacas Do Bounce" that I would write someday about spinning techniques to preserve fiber memory in alpaca fiber. Today's post is a first attempt to impart that knowledge. The title sounds really impressive and it sounds like I know what I'm talking about. I'll be honest. I picked up some tips from a book that I don't remember the title of, and I think they've worked on three fleeces.
I went through a phase of spinning with the brake off. It started innocently enough with a very short staple cria fleece shorn from a three month old alpaca. The fleece was incredibly soft, but the staple very short and highly variable. I found the best way to spin the fleece was to remove the brake completely, overspin, and ply. This isn't a bad approach for a difficult cria fleece when the objective is simply to produce yarn and the fleece is so soft your yarn is guaranteed to be soft.
Given my success with spinning fine without the break, I continued to spin fine with the break off. Some of the next fiber I spun was some very long-staple (7"+) suri alpaca. I was able to spin this as a single-ply, lace weight yarn and have it hold together. The yarn had wonderful drape as suri is supposed to, and the yarn was softer than the roving and fiber that it came from.
My success with the suri encouraged me to leave the brake off when I went back to spinning huacaya. Eventually, I noticed my huacaya yarn didn't have as much life as earlier huacaya yarn. Oh, it was wonderfully soft and it had good drape, but it felt just a little lifeless in a way.
About this time, I read a book about merino and spinning merino. It was from the library and I don't recall the title or the author. I do recall the author was from New Zealand and she was writing about making a christening shawl for one of the English princes from handspun New Zealand merino wool.
The author mentioned several things she did differently in her spinning. Among the things she mentioned were making sure she spun with a lot of tension so the fibers were straight and under tension when they entered the drafting triangle. She said that if the fibers are under tension and enter the drafting triangle straight, then they can relax to give the yarn elasticity and body.
I thought about this and it made a lot of sense to me. When I had the brake off, my fiber was entering the drafting triangle in a relaxed state. I was getting excellent drape in my yarn, but it was rather limp. If my fiber entered the drafting triangle in a tensioned state, it could relax to give the yarn some loft, but it would also have room to stretch -- go back into tension -- within the thread because it entered the thread under tension.
I put the brake band back on my wheel with my next batch of huacaya fiber and worked very hard to ensure the fibers were under tension when they entered the drafting triangle. I had difficulty spinning for about a pound of fiber because I wasn't used to the wheel pulling on my fiber so hard. In fact, I had to start with a fairly light brake and then increase it as I re-trained myself to draft against the brake. I believe I'm seeing the differences, however. My yarns are loftier and livelier than they were when I was spinning without the brake.
What I think I've learned here is a valuable technique. I now know that I can take that brake off any time I need to, if that is what it takes to make a very difficult fiber into yarn. I have a cria fleece -- essentially short-staple fluff -- in the stash and I have an idea how I might be able to spin that fleece now. I also know that I'm going to experiment further with taking the brake off while spinning very fine suri alpaca yarn. There are times when taking the brake off is a good thing to do.
My other lesson is that there is a reason why spinning wheels have brake bands.
I'm spinning Pinero's fiber with a lot of tension and I'm getting good tension in the drafting triangle. The resulting yarn has life, it's lofty, and I'm really pleased with it. In fact, I'm much happier with all the huacaya yarn I've spun since I put the brake band back on.
I went through a phase of spinning with the brake off. It started innocently enough with a very short staple cria fleece shorn from a three month old alpaca. The fleece was incredibly soft, but the staple very short and highly variable. I found the best way to spin the fleece was to remove the brake completely, overspin, and ply. This isn't a bad approach for a difficult cria fleece when the objective is simply to produce yarn and the fleece is so soft your yarn is guaranteed to be soft.
Given my success with spinning fine without the break, I continued to spin fine with the break off. Some of the next fiber I spun was some very long-staple (7"+) suri alpaca. I was able to spin this as a single-ply, lace weight yarn and have it hold together. The yarn had wonderful drape as suri is supposed to, and the yarn was softer than the roving and fiber that it came from.
My success with the suri encouraged me to leave the brake off when I went back to spinning huacaya. Eventually, I noticed my huacaya yarn didn't have as much life as earlier huacaya yarn. Oh, it was wonderfully soft and it had good drape, but it felt just a little lifeless in a way.
About this time, I read a book about merino and spinning merino. It was from the library and I don't recall the title or the author. I do recall the author was from New Zealand and she was writing about making a christening shawl for one of the English princes from handspun New Zealand merino wool.
The author mentioned several things she did differently in her spinning. Among the things she mentioned were making sure she spun with a lot of tension so the fibers were straight and under tension when they entered the drafting triangle. She said that if the fibers are under tension and enter the drafting triangle straight, then they can relax to give the yarn elasticity and body.
I thought about this and it made a lot of sense to me. When I had the brake off, my fiber was entering the drafting triangle in a relaxed state. I was getting excellent drape in my yarn, but it was rather limp. If my fiber entered the drafting triangle in a tensioned state, it could relax to give the yarn some loft, but it would also have room to stretch -- go back into tension -- within the thread because it entered the thread under tension.
I put the brake band back on my wheel with my next batch of huacaya fiber and worked very hard to ensure the fibers were under tension when they entered the drafting triangle. I had difficulty spinning for about a pound of fiber because I wasn't used to the wheel pulling on my fiber so hard. In fact, I had to start with a fairly light brake and then increase it as I re-trained myself to draft against the brake. I believe I'm seeing the differences, however. My yarns are loftier and livelier than they were when I was spinning without the brake.
What I think I've learned here is a valuable technique. I now know that I can take that brake off any time I need to, if that is what it takes to make a very difficult fiber into yarn. I have a cria fleece -- essentially short-staple fluff -- in the stash and I have an idea how I might be able to spin that fleece now. I also know that I'm going to experiment further with taking the brake off while spinning very fine suri alpaca yarn. There are times when taking the brake off is a good thing to do.
My other lesson is that there is a reason why spinning wheels have brake bands.
I'm spinning Pinero's fiber with a lot of tension and I'm getting good tension in the drafting triangle. The resulting yarn has life, it's lofty, and I'm really pleased with it. In fact, I'm much happier with all the huacaya yarn I've spun since I put the brake band back on.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 9:14 AM
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