The importance of grading alpaca fibres

Having spun my first skeins of alpaca, I have learned the hard way that there is a huge variation of soft and coarse fibre across the fleece, and that just a small amount of coarse fibres carded and spun in, can make the whole skein coarse and prickly. 😨

YouTube confirms that alpaca should be sorted and graded.
Check out this video  by the Butterfield Alpaca Ranch.
I’ll be looking for a local shearing and grading course in the spring.

Back to basics - Spinning alpaca

My lovely Ashford spinning wheel has been gathering dust behind the bedroom door for years, but not any more! I dusted it down last week and gave it a go, spinning an alpaca fleece which my mother-in-law gave me a couple of years ago.
Turns out spinning is like riding a bike - you never lose the knack!

What a joy to get carding, spinning, plying and washing the alpaca fibre.

Question is, what shall I turn it into now?

Cotton and washable items

I have been working increasingly with cotton yarns - partly because it is lovely material to work with and partly for environmental reasons.

At the moment I am making washable and reusable items, such as washable make-up remover pads and face cloths. Being able to reuse these items saves so much waste.

Here are a few recent items I have made,

Please check out my new Folksy shop too!