Skirting
... and skirting and skirting and ...
What do you do with alpaca fiber after shearing?
You skirt it.
Skirting fiber means taking out all the undesirable material from the fiber. Usually skirting means removing all the vegetable matter, dung tags, and non-fiber elements, plus any undesired fiber. In the case of alpaca, there are two types of skirting -- skirting for show and skirting for fiber processing. In general, skirting for show is more work.
When skirting for fiber processing, the objective is to remove everything that won't work well in processing and everything you don't want in the final yarn. It's easy -- if you don't want to wear it, take it out. This includes guard hairs at the edge of the fleece, short fiber, second cuts that won't process well or will cause bumps in the yarn -- that is unless you want bumps in the yarn. Vegetable matter -- mostly hay, straw, and burrs -- is also removed.
Skirting for show adds several dimensions to the skirting. First, uniformity -- of texture and color -- is a big deal in showing alpaca fiber. At the same time, points are awarded for fleece weight. Any fiber removed in skirting reduces the fleece weight, so removing fiber is only beneficial if removing the weight adds points in some other aspect of the fleece score. The other major complication in skirting for show is that it's generally preferable to leave the fleece intact. When skirting for fiber processing, you know the next step is sending the fleece through a picker or carder, so fleece integrity isn't a major factor. At a fleece show, the judge will lay out the entire fleece to look at it, so fleece integrity is a big deal.
I frequently clip felted tips and comb out matted tips when skirting fleeces. This isn't allowed in skirting for show. In general, skirting for show is more work than skirting for processing and a show-skirted fleece is usually ready for fiber processing. While skirting Ipo's fleece, I discovered this isn't always the case. Ipo has a lot of stuck tips -- probably mudded together rather than felted -- that contain vegetable matter. Under show rules -- no combing -- it is very hard to open these tips to release the vegetable matter. The best I can do is leave the tops as is and lose points for them rather than risk disqualification for combing. If I were skirting this same fleece for processing, I would clip a few and comb many of these tips to remove the vegetable matter.
I don't know if we are going to show any fleeces or not. We have, however, several that we are thinking about showing. Therefore, I have been trying to treat each fleece as a show fleece to practice skirting for show. I've been more successful with some fleeces than with others. I ended up doing my usual "stir-and-paw" skirting method on Jubilee's blanket, for example.
I wish I had tried show-skirting earlier. I've learned something by doing so, and I think I have learned ways to skirt fleeces faster and more thoroughly. One of the tricks in show skirting is to lay out the whole -- or half -- blanket on the skirting board and to pick all the debris and second cuts off one side of the fleece. Then the fleece is turned over and the process repeated for the other side. While I'm still having a great deal of difficulty turning fleeces over, I find this method doesn't incorporate the vegetable matter nearly as badly as some of my pawing does. Of course, on those fleeces where the vegetable matter is already well-integrated into the tip of every lock, it's a moot point.
At any rate, I have learned something by trying to skirt fleeces for show, and I think it will result in faster skirting of fleeces for fiber processing. Faster skirting probably translates to better skirting because the amount of debris removed from a fleece often depends as much on my patience as the amount of debris present. I'm hoping my customers will notice -- and appreciate -- the improvement in the fleeces I sell and I'm really hoping I'll notice a difference in the fiber I spin. I'm learning, and we shall see.
More on skirting when I get around to it. Maybe I'll even include some pictures. In the meantime, I've got several more fleeces to skirt.
What do you do with alpaca fiber after shearing?
You skirt it.
Skirting fiber means taking out all the undesirable material from the fiber. Usually skirting means removing all the vegetable matter, dung tags, and non-fiber elements, plus any undesired fiber. In the case of alpaca, there are two types of skirting -- skirting for show and skirting for fiber processing. In general, skirting for show is more work.
When skirting for fiber processing, the objective is to remove everything that won't work well in processing and everything you don't want in the final yarn. It's easy -- if you don't want to wear it, take it out. This includes guard hairs at the edge of the fleece, short fiber, second cuts that won't process well or will cause bumps in the yarn -- that is unless you want bumps in the yarn. Vegetable matter -- mostly hay, straw, and burrs -- is also removed.
Skirting for show adds several dimensions to the skirting. First, uniformity -- of texture and color -- is a big deal in showing alpaca fiber. At the same time, points are awarded for fleece weight. Any fiber removed in skirting reduces the fleece weight, so removing fiber is only beneficial if removing the weight adds points in some other aspect of the fleece score. The other major complication in skirting for show is that it's generally preferable to leave the fleece intact. When skirting for fiber processing, you know the next step is sending the fleece through a picker or carder, so fleece integrity isn't a major factor. At a fleece show, the judge will lay out the entire fleece to look at it, so fleece integrity is a big deal.
I frequently clip felted tips and comb out matted tips when skirting fleeces. This isn't allowed in skirting for show. In general, skirting for show is more work than skirting for processing and a show-skirted fleece is usually ready for fiber processing. While skirting Ipo's fleece, I discovered this isn't always the case. Ipo has a lot of stuck tips -- probably mudded together rather than felted -- that contain vegetable matter. Under show rules -- no combing -- it is very hard to open these tips to release the vegetable matter. The best I can do is leave the tops as is and lose points for them rather than risk disqualification for combing. If I were skirting this same fleece for processing, I would clip a few and comb many of these tips to remove the vegetable matter.
I don't know if we are going to show any fleeces or not. We have, however, several that we are thinking about showing. Therefore, I have been trying to treat each fleece as a show fleece to practice skirting for show. I've been more successful with some fleeces than with others. I ended up doing my usual "stir-and-paw" skirting method on Jubilee's blanket, for example.
I wish I had tried show-skirting earlier. I've learned something by doing so, and I think I have learned ways to skirt fleeces faster and more thoroughly. One of the tricks in show skirting is to lay out the whole -- or half -- blanket on the skirting board and to pick all the debris and second cuts off one side of the fleece. Then the fleece is turned over and the process repeated for the other side. While I'm still having a great deal of difficulty turning fleeces over, I find this method doesn't incorporate the vegetable matter nearly as badly as some of my pawing does. Of course, on those fleeces where the vegetable matter is already well-integrated into the tip of every lock, it's a moot point.
At any rate, I have learned something by trying to skirt fleeces for show, and I think it will result in faster skirting of fleeces for fiber processing. Faster skirting probably translates to better skirting because the amount of debris removed from a fleece often depends as much on my patience as the amount of debris present. I'm hoping my customers will notice -- and appreciate -- the improvement in the fleeces I sell and I'm really hoping I'll notice a difference in the fiber I spin. I'm learning, and we shall see.
More on skirting when I get around to it. Maybe I'll even include some pictures. In the meantime, I've got several more fleeces to skirt.
posted by Upper Alpacas | 4:57 PM
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