As promised, this Alpaca show did not disappoint. There were some different vendors this year, or at least ones I did not notice last year. Having learned so much in this past short year, I was more willing to consider raw fiber in larger quantities. I did not buy a whole fleece, but I did get approx. 10 oz of raw fiber. I was amazed what 10 oz of raw fiber looked like.......
Guess what this is???!!!
A pillowcase of picked and washed Alpaca Fiber, about 10 oz, donated by Keller from Jefferson Farms.
The photographs do not do justice to the beautiful color (rose grey with brown) or the exquisite softness of the fiber. I just couldn't keep my hands out of it,
so I washed it all, in 4 batches in the kitchen sink. Above is 1/2 of the unwashed fiber. I even carded up 5 rolags,
but I am saving up spinning it till it is all carded. I can tell already that it will be wonderful to spin, and I must decide what weight yarn it wants to be.
And that's not all!!!!!!!.......................
Three Meadows Ranch brought both fiber (which came home with me) and the animal (which did not)!!! This fiber was blended from the raw fiber into a heathery light brown. Here is the generous donor, Morning Angel:
on the left. With her two tone fiber, this is the blended result:
This fiber is not in roving form but a large batt weighing in at 8 oz. This too, is bad color....I must retake it outside.
I am not done yet....there's more!
Another meet up with my blogging friend, Becky, who bought the other batt of Morning Angel's fiber. She also arranged to buy a whole fleece from a real cutie who was grey and ivory.(edited to add: his name is Kiernan) That is the cutie standing tall right behind us! The camera didn't capture the color properly, but if you check out her blog when she gets the processed roving, I am sure there will be more photos.
Here is another photo:
More random Alpacas:
All these Alpacas were sheared this past spring, so with the cooler weather they will begin to grow their winter fleece, and the whole process starts all over again. How is that for a renewable resource???
