The process of raising animals for their wool or fleece and spinning it into yarn that can be made into clothes for humans to wear is an ancient process that goes back thousands of years. While fiber products aren’t preserved as well as clay pots or jewelry, there have been some items found that point to humans wearing items made of spun animal or plant fiber. For example, a string skirt made of wool was found in Denmark, and dated to the Bronze Age (around the 14th century B.C.E.). A heavy cord twisted from fiber strings from around 15,000 B.C.E. was found fossilized in a cave in France. And a small “Venus” figure carved of bone (c. 20,000 B.C.E.) shows a woman wearing a skirt of twisted strings. While the methods of removing wool and fleece from the animal, carding it into roving, and spinning it into thread or yarn have changed over the millennia, it is basically the same principle it has always been. The fleece is combed or brushed so that the fibers are laying in the desired way, the fibers are drawn out and twist is added to make it stronger, and the yarn is knitted or woven into something usable. The only difference now is the efficiency of the process. Twisting by hand gave way to drop spindles (which are still used today in some parts of the world) and then to the spinning wheel. Spinning wheels themselves have become more efficient and versatile. I have taken pictures of some of the basic steps I use when spinning the fleece from our alpacas. This is just a glimpse of the whole process, which takes up to 9 months from harvest to scarf! Visit our products page to view our hand-spun & hand-knitted alpaca products.
It all starts with the alpaca. Alpacas were bred for their fleece from the wild vicuna, which is a small camelid, around 6,000 years ago by the Andean peoples of South America.
Alpaca fiber is known as fleece. They are shorn once a year and the best quality (the “blanket”) will be used to spin the yarn. We pick through it to remove courser hairs, hay and dirt, a process known as “skirting.”
After the fleece is skirted, we send their fleece to a local mill to have it processed into roving, in which the fibers are carded into a long strand. It will be about 6 months until it is ready to be picked up.
While the natural colors of our alpacas make lovely fleece, from Bernie’s deep brown to Oliver’s beautiful white, we sometimes hand-dye it to provide more options to our customers.
The roving is drawn out, or drafted to the desired thickness so that the spin can be introduced. The yarn winds onto a bobbin, which is spun by a band connected to a wheel. Pedals on the floor are operated by my feet to turn the wheel. My type of wheel is a “Castle” wheel.
The yarn will sit on the bobbin and rest while I spin the other half onto a second bobbin. It takes about 9 hours to spin up a bobbin, which holds about 4 oz. of fleece. Since we have other responsibilities and commitments, this is usually done over the course of 5-6 days.
When both bobbins are done, they will be plied together. Plying balances the yarn and makes it thicker and softer. The bobbins are sitting on a “Lazy Kate,” which is attached to my wheel. The two yarns are plied in the opposite direction in which they were spun.
The newly plied yarn is wound onto a skein winder, where it will sit for a few days to rest. To wind it, we set the bobbin on the Lazy Kate, while the skein winder is attached to the spinning wheel. We can also measure the length of the yarn with the winder. One time around it equals 2 yards.
After the plied yarn sets, it is soaked in warm water for about 30 minutes. Before it is taken off the skein winder, we tie a string on 4 places to keep the yarn in order. Without these strings the energy still in the yarn will cause it to tangle pretty quickly!
After soaking the yarn is “thwacked” and then hung up to dry. Thwacking is the process of holding the loop of yarn and hitting it against a hard surface to open up the fibers and make it softer and fluffier. It usually takes 2-3 days to completely dry.
The finished yarn is twisted into a skein or wound into a center-pull ball (sometimes called a “cake”) with a winder. Hand-spun yarn has more character than mill-spun, and a more distinct feel. This makes it fun to knit with and gives a more natural feel.
We are very fortunate to work with an incredibly talented knitter who makes beautiful, high-quality products with our hand-spun yarn. Linda Lerch has been knitting for over 50 years and is incredibly skilled in her craft. We are happy to be able to showcase her talents!