Cleaning Fleece
I have spent the past two evenings removing junk from Sindre's 2004 fleece. It's not one of my favorite fiber pastimes.
You would think that Sindre being our first cria and his 2004 fleece being his first shearing, I would have rushed to make something from that fiber. If you knew that Sindre's 2004 micron count was 17.8 microns -- exceptionally fine and Royal Baby Alpaca by any standards -- you might be wondering why I'm just now getting around to working on such a special fleece.
There is a reason.
Alpacas love to roll. They also tend to eat with their heads over each others' backs. As a consequence, they get a lot of hay in their fiber. This isn't a big deal for 25 micron fleeces. Hay falls right out of 25 micron fleeces. However, hay sticks to the finer fleeces and the softer and finer the fiber, the more junk sticks to the fleece. In Western Oregon husbandry conditions in March, it's easy to identify alpacas with really fine fiber by the quantity of junk in that fiber.
Sindre's 2004 fleece is very fine and really soft.
Normally, I toss a fleece on the skirting board and pick out the junk. A clean fleece takes me 10 minutes, a dirty one a couple hours. With Sindre's fleece, I'm combing out the junk and felted tips lock by lock using a metal dog comb. Metal dog combs are great for working with alpaca fiber because they don't catch on the fiber like plastic combs do. I'm not combing the fiber as in fiber preparation, I'm simply using the comb to break open the felted tips and remove the hay. In the process, I am clipping the worst of the felted tips and also picking out any second cuts. I've seen other breeders do the same thing using a dog slicker brush, but I prefer the metal comb.
This fleece is a mess, but it's going to be wonderful when I get it clean. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but it might not end up in the store.
You would think that Sindre being our first cria and his 2004 fleece being his first shearing, I would have rushed to make something from that fiber. If you knew that Sindre's 2004 micron count was 17.8 microns -- exceptionally fine and Royal Baby Alpaca by any standards -- you might be wondering why I'm just now getting around to working on such a special fleece.
There is a reason.
Alpacas love to roll. They also tend to eat with their heads over each others' backs. As a consequence, they get a lot of hay in their fiber. This isn't a big deal for 25 micron fleeces. Hay falls right out of 25 micron fleeces. However, hay sticks to the finer fleeces and the softer and finer the fiber, the more junk sticks to the fleece. In Western Oregon husbandry conditions in March, it's easy to identify alpacas with really fine fiber by the quantity of junk in that fiber.
Sindre's 2004 fleece is very fine and really soft.
Normally, I toss a fleece on the skirting board and pick out the junk. A clean fleece takes me 10 minutes, a dirty one a couple hours. With Sindre's fleece, I'm combing out the junk and felted tips lock by lock using a metal dog comb. Metal dog combs are great for working with alpaca fiber because they don't catch on the fiber like plastic combs do. I'm not combing the fiber as in fiber preparation, I'm simply using the comb to break open the felted tips and remove the hay. In the process, I am clipping the worst of the felted tips and also picking out any second cuts. I've seen other breeders do the same thing using a dog slicker brush, but I prefer the metal comb.
This fleece is a mess, but it's going to be wonderful when I get it clean. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but it might not end up in the store.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 7:09 PM
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