Spinning Alpaca Cria Tip

It is the practice among huacaya alpaca breeders to shear cria at about three weeks of age. The fleece thus removed is called cria tip. The reason for shearing cria is that the cria -- placental -- fleece tends to felt very easily. In our wet, Western Oregon winters, the placental fiber tends to felt very easily in normal pasture conditions. Felted tips make processing fleece harder, and -- in my opinion -- felting can migrate down the lock from the tip causing substantial fiber loss.

I don't know why placental fleece felts so easily. Some will tell you that the placental fluid is so harsh that it bleaches the tips and makes them more subject to felting. While I have seen many placental fleeces that are lighter than the mature fleece, I'm not sure I buy the story about the chemical harshness of amniotic fluid. I have two theories about the easy felting of placental fleece. The first is that the amniotic fluid contains saponins or similar soap-like molecules that act to felt the fleece when it is rained upon. My second theory is that cria doesn't produce a full complement of body oil until after birth and consequently the placental fleece isn't fully treated with body oils.

At any rate, placental fleece tends to felt more readily than fleece produced later in an alpaca's life, so the practice in alpaca breeding is to shear cria at a few weeks of age to remove the placental fleece. This placental fleece, also called cria tip, is normally thrown away because alpaca breeders don't know what to do with it. I am also aware of a great many breeders who save the cria tip -- at least from their first few cria -- and would like to do something with it and have no idea what to do.

This placental fleece is the softest fiber each alpaca will every produce. Throwing it away seems a shame. Working with cria tip, however, is not easy! Cria tip is short, slick, and variable in both length and texture. Often the fiber is between 3/4 and 1 1/4 inch in length with significant variability. Cria tip can be spun, but it is not for beginners.

Those of you who spoke with me at Black Sheep Gathering may recall that I was spinning cria tip during the show. That fiber is finally spun and there are pictures.


Ipo's cria tip all spun into yarn.

Here is my advice for making alpaca cria tip easier to spin.

For alpaca breeders, shear the cria sometime after three weeks of age. Some alpaca shearers are now suggesting shearing at four to six weeks of age to ensure complete removal of the placental fiber. This also creates a longer cria tip that is easier to spin.

Do not wash or attempt to wash the cria tip prior to carding or spinning. Cria tip is soft and slippery. All that dirt and dust on the fiber will help make the tip less slippery and easier to control. Simply card the fleece and start spinning.

Reduce the tension and overspin the singles to keep the singles from falling apart. Spinning at lower tension will reduce the elasticity of the finished yarn and overtwisting will make the singles feel hard, but it makes the whole process a lot easier.

Make a two-ply yarn for softness and strength. Overtwist slightly in the plying process to release the overtwist in the singles.

I don't make my best yarn from cria tip, but I make good, soft, yarn from cria tip. It sure beats throwing away the softest fiber that cria will ever produce. If you are an experienced handspinner looking for a new challenge, I recommend cria tip for softness.

If you are an alpaca breeder with cria tip from that first special cria stashed away, I'd be happy to spin that fiber for you. Please see our handspinning services page for details.

Overdyed Gray Alpaca Fiber

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had pictures of the different results when dyeing white and gray fiber, but I didn't have a blog. Back in December I also wrote about gray alpaca fiber.

To be honest, gray alpaca fiber is one of my favorite topics and today I am attempting to write the blog to go along with the pictures.

The first picture shows the differences between gray and white fiber when they are dyed.

Above on the left is natural gray alpaca fiber that has been dyed. On the right is white alpaca fiber that has been dyed. Both fiber samples are carded batts and both are slightly washed out by the photographic conditions. The sample on the left is actually richer than pictured with more distinct color tones.

The dye used for both samples is Black Cherry Kool-aid. Dye concentrations, fiber amounts vinegar added, etc. are the same. The difference in the color is the starting fiber.

If you look closely, you will see reds, pinks, grays and blacks in the sample on the left, and very little color variation in the sample on the right. The color variation and richness in the overdyed gray is very nice.

In this second picture, you can see the natural gray fiber and the overdyed gray fiber prior to carding. The red colors appear darker than in the carded batts above, and this is partly due to dye penetration. If you look closely at the dyed fiber on the right, you will see some gray areas. The dye did not penetrate perfectly, so some grayer areas were left in the fiber. This had the effect of lightening the fiber in the carding process. In my opinion, it doesn't harm the appearance of the final roving one bit.

Thanks to Pugknits for posting the comments. We invite the rest of you to post away as well.

Unusual Spinning Tools

Unusual Spinning Tools

In today's blog, I discuss some of the more unusual tools involved in fiber processing and describe how their use slows the entire progression of converting alpaca fiber to handspun yarn.


This is a plumbing snake. Plumbing snakes are used for removing clogs from drain pipes. If you are lucky, you own one and have used it exactly once. If you are very lucky, you don't even own one. Our plumbing snake has seen far too much use in the past couple weeks.


The snake is a long coil (or spring) that is inserted into the pipes and turned whenever it cannot simply be pushed into the pipe. The theory is that the coil of wire digs into the clog like a corkscrew into a cork so that the clog can be broken up or pulled out of the pipe. Snakes are fairly effective, if difficult to use. Unfortunately, a 20 foot snake does no good if the clog is 30 feet down the pipe.


This is a pipe wrench. It is used to remove the sink trap from beneath the laundry sink. The sink trap must be removed so the snake can be inserted into the pipe. I didn't actually use this pipe wrench, but I incluced the picture for dramatic effect.

This fearsome-looking device is a clog buster. It has a harpoon-like head on the end of a 50 foot coil of stiff steel ribbon. Ideally, the clog-buster is pushed down the pipe and punches through the clog, enabling your sink to drain.

Unfortunately, clog busters don't turn sharp corners in plumbing very well. This shouldn't be much of an issue as drains aren't supposed to have sharp corners since sharp corners tend to breed clogs.

Evidently, our plumbing has some sharp corners.

If you're a spinner or knitter and you've read this far, you are doubtless wondering how I am using these plumbing tools in my fiber processing. You've probably read this far just to find out. Please allow this blog to be a caution as to the hazards that washing fiber offers your drains.

I have been washing fiber in lingerie bags in our laundry room sink. This sink has only a rudimentary strainer. I have been under the -- evidently false -- impression that the combination of lingerie bag and rudimentary strainer would prevent fiber from going down the drain. This is not true. Fiber still goes down the drain and when it builds up on sharp corners, it creates clogs.

Let me state this a little more carefully. If you are washing fiber, make sure your sink has a really good strainer or eventually, so much stray fiber will go down the sink that you will have a clog problem.

If, as in our case, the clog is downstream from the kitchen sinks and the dishwasher, cooking becomes very time-consuming. Hauling dishes to the bathroom to be washed in the tub takes valuable time away from spinning! The time and effort involved in removing the clogs could be much better spent carding fiber. What's worse is if -- as in our recent situation -- all the effort is all for naught and the rooter service is called, the money spent clearing the drain is money unavailable for stash enhancement.

When you are washing fiber, please make sure you have a good strainer in place to catch all that stray fiber. Please! It seems like the only fiber progress I've made in the past ten days is fixing the drain.

Trust me. You don't want all that fiber down the drain and you don't want the tools pictured above to have any part in your fiber processing!

Introduction Day

I have one blog about unusual fiber tools written, but I don't have the pictures to go with it. I have the pictures for another entry about the differences between dyeing white alpaca fiber and over-dyeing natural gray alpaca fiber, but I don't have the entry written. I haven't posted much recently, so instead of posting about the fiber projects I have in progress, I'm going to write about my alpacas.

Yesterday was introduction day. We introduced Sindre to the pasture with the little boys.

We introduced 160 pound Sindre to a pasture with 80 pound Percy, 110 pound Del, and Donovan who's in-between.

We introduced a 160 pound, well-muscled, fully-mature male Sindre to a pasture with two growing yearlings and skinny little Percy who isn't even a year old yet.

Yes, we were a little bit nervous.

Sindre is a gentle alpaca, but he likes to play rough. He's not a bully and not particularly aggressive toward other males, but he does like to chest-butt and neck-wrestle.

Did I say we were a little nervous?

The dominance struggle took all of thirty seconds. Sindre pushed a couple heads to the ground, spit a couple times, and moved to the top position.

The boys are still working out the new arrangements. Sindre seems quite interested in breeding Donovan -- it's a dominance thing. Donovan is quite insistent that he's not interested in breeding -- at least not interested in being bred by Sindre.

Del is accustomed to being the big guy in the pasture and does try to protect Percy and Donovan from Sindre. Del's problem is that he finds it hard to stand up and be protective when he's being submissive to Sindre at the same time.

Only little Percy has the courage to chest-butt Sindre in play. Fortunately, Sindre backs off a bit when he's chest-butting Percy. We'd like to think it's his naturally gentle personality, but he might simply recognize that Percy isn't a threat.

There are no injuries yet and the herd dynamics seem to be sorting themselves out. Sindre has been alone in a pasture since he injured his shoulder in late May and he seems happy to have pasture companions again.

So far, all is well -- but we're still a little nervous and watching the pasture.

July Alpaca Celebration Days

Upper Alpacas would like to invite you to our July Alpaca Celebration Days.

If you are shopping for alpacas, we are offering discounts during the month of July. You are invited to visit us on July 9th, or make an appointment any time during the month. Click here for details.

For you fiber fanatics and animal lovers who would like to see the animals up close and personal, you are also invited to visit us on July 9th. We'd love to show you the husbandry side of alpaca fiber and talk your ear off about our wonderful animals. Click here for details.

If you are curious about alpacas, please plan to visit us during July.