Since returning to work, my fiber time has been cut short... Short?? Try OFF!!
J and I went to a fall festival in Somerset, PA and I met a wonderful woman named Carmen Rose who was spinning alpaca. I bought an unwashed fleece from her and will show the process of scouring, carding, spinning and knitting Lucille! I wish I had a picture of Lucille the Alpaca to include!
The fleece is beautiful with varigated tans and dark browns. There's little VM in it and NO smell at all! I gave it three washes with Mane and Tail shampoo and two rinses with hair conditioner.
I scour my fleece with hot water (no, it never felts) in a lingerie bag (try Dollar Tree). I do some squishing to remove dirt. I don't swish the bag back and forth, but I'm not all that gentle with it either! And NO felting....
Here are the pictures of yesterday's progress. As I write, the fleece is outside on the deck. The cats are not sure what to make of it! It spent the night in the studio with a small fan blowing over it. I want to card this evening! DRY! DRY!!
4 comments:
Wow, I love alpaca, Lucille looks very nice. :-)
I thought that I would write and say hello, and hope that you enjoy Spin Me A Treasure.
Judy
Thanks for visiting my site! I took lots of time looking at yours! I'm going to have to try the lace scarf as I have the 'There Be Dragons' scarf that is making me crazy! NOT a lace virgin pattern! But, I can't part with the luscious Twist of Alpace yarn I bought to knit it!
Namaste!
Jillian
Any more photos of your progress with the alpaca? I'm interested in learning about the process and love seeing posts about it. It looks like it'll be really beautiful!
Maureen
I had to go back to work fulltime for a bit, but next week I go back to part time, so hopefully Lucille and a gorgeous first shearing shetland fleece will be carded and ready to spin!
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