I have written a previous blog post on this yarn so I won’t go into a whole lot of detail about it. I also talked about it on the podcast. I have also Instagrammed this yarn a whole bunch.
In a nutshell? I’m kind of in love with it. I’d really like to spin another alpaca blend as soon as possible. Or make one myself on my blending board and try some woollen spinning with some fibre in my stash.
Because I have blogged extensively about this yarn, I won’t go into all of the details since you can read about it here or listen to me talk about it here. I thought I would, however, list some advantages to Alpaca:
-
extremely warm
-
very soft (can be as low as ~21 microns)
-
lightweight
-
incredibly durable
-
blends very well with wool and other fibres (ex. silk)
-
takes dye very well
Some advantages to blending it with wool include:
-
increased elasticity and memory (Alpaca lacks these qualities)
-
can create lovely, warm woollen yarns
-
creates fuzzy yarns with a lovely halo from the alpaca without the extreme warmth of the alpaca
-
combining alpaca with the fine wools gives your finished yarn a luxurious quality, rather than matte as fine wools tend to be on their own (hence why we often blend silk with merino)
-
create warm, sturdy yarns without being too dense since the Alpaca can be quite dense after spinning
The preparations we use with wool all apply to Alpaca, which is nice because there are no special preparations for this fibre. This yarn ended up being quite dense but it has a lovely handle – I’m looking forward to working with it.
Fibre :: Hedgehog Fibres February 2015 Fibre Club – Merino, Silk, black Alpaca + Sparkly blend
Colourway :: n/a
Finished Yarn :: Navajo-plied, ~ 550 yards, 13 WPI (sport)
Ravelled here.
I already have a project picked out for this yarn. I stumbled across this shawl pattern when I was looking for another garter shawl that inspired me to add beads. For that project, I eventually settled on the Multnomah Shawl which some of you have probably seen me working on on IG or heard me talk about in April’s podcast (linked above).
For now, this is going to rest in my handspun stash so I can gaze lovingly at it that I can get some other projects off the needles. After those are wrapped up, I think this will be next. I still want to start my BFL Frida Shawl but … I keep passing it over for other projects! Oh well :)
What fibre blends are your favourite? or do you prefer breed-specific spinning? I think it partially depends on what your end project is going to be but What do you like best? I’d love to hear what your favourite spinning projects are regardless of the knitted, crocheted or woven project at the end.
Happy Spinning :)
Reference :: The Joy of Handspinning’s article on Alpaca
