May 5, 2013

Fleece Preparation...Or...Up to Our Elbows in Alpacas

I started out being fascinated with sheep...heritage breeds....long wools...and of course merinos.  I am now working with alpaca and find my loyalty to wool shifting a little to make room for the alpaca.

One of the ways that alpaca is different from wool is that it does not have lanolin like oils as wool does.  I recently had the opportunity to teach an alpaca fleece preparation class and I brought a merino fleece to demonstrate the similarities and differences between the two fleeces. 

The merino was fabulous.  It was fine (very low microns), bright white, with a great hand (meaning it felt great to the touch), but had very heavy grease (lanolin and waxes normally produced by the animal) and had not been jacketed.  It was dirty!!!!  The alpaca on the other hand had no oils, was fine, and had a great hand.  And, it was dirty!!!

We began by skirting both fleeces.  Skirting is a process that is similar for both wool and alpaca.  However, because the alpaca fleece lacks those tenacious oils, much of the vegetable matter entangled in the fleece could be eliminated by shaking the fleece vigorously after skirting.  Not so with our lovely merino, the oils held the vegetable matter to the fleece and it required a practiced eye and fearless hand to get rid of the "trash".

Once we skirted the fleeces, we placed small amounts of fiber in net lingerie bags for scouring (washing).  We (there were about 6 of us) each filled a container (we choose small plastic trash cans) with hot water.  An easy way to gauge how hot the water needs to be is to use water that is as hot as your hand can tolerate it.  We also added a neutral pH, no phosphate detergent to the water.  Then using a plastic spatula we submerged the fiber until it was completely under the surface of the water.  Once the fiber is completely underwater it can be gently stirred, but it must never be agitated outside of the water and soap solution as it will probably felt.  Then we had coffee while our fibers soaked...

There is nothing liking working with a community of women to complete a project.  Particularly these women.  They have wonderful senses of humor and they delight in learning new things.  They are quick to make contributions from their own expertise, yet they always do it in a way that leaves everyone feeling positive and enlightened.  The hoped for result of preparing a fleece is beautiful fiber for our projects, but the result that I like best is getting to know each one of these women.  They have spoiled me for preparing my own fleeces as a solitary artist...Now I want to be creative with them and inspired by them...

We washed the fibers in more than one bath and the merino required more than the alpaca.  Rinsing of the fibers is very important.  The process for rinsing the fibers is a duplicate of the wash, except the soap is omitted.  Rinsing must continue until the rinse water runs clear.  This is especially true for the merino.  If any residual oils are left on the merino fiber, it will crystalize and be very difficult to remove.  The water is then squeezed out of the fiber without ringing the fiber and left to dry in a bright airy place...What a wonderful day...happy friends...and clean fiber...I can't wait to prepare it for spinning!!!!