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See our sales lists:
Huacaya females
Suri females
Less expensive alpacas
Herdsires & stud service
Wool, yarn, & alpaca products
Basics:
about alpacas
They cost HOW much?!!
Overcoming sticker shock.
Photos of our farm
and an alpaca birth
Links - friends & resources
References - from people who've done
business with us
Odds and Ends
Farm visitors are always welcome.
Please call or email to make sure
we're home.
Barry & Linda Bolewicz
16430 SW Holly Hill Road
Hillsboro OR 97123
503-628-2023
email us bolewicz at netzero dot net
click here for info and directions
See our sales lists:
Huacaya females
Suri females
Less expensive alpacas
Herdsires & stud service
Wool, yarn, & alpaca products
Basics:
about alpacas
They cost HOW much?!!
Overcoming sticker shock.
Photos of our farm
and an alpaca birth
Links - friends & resources
References - from people who've done
business with us
Odds and Ends
Farm visitors are always welcome.
Please call or email to make sure
we're home.
Barry & Linda Bolewicz
16430 SW Holly Hill Road
Hillsboro OR 97123
503-628-2023
email us bolewicz at netzero dot net
click here for info and directions
EasyGo Farm
Hillsboro OR
Hillsboro OR
Basics about alpaca fleece
ALPACA FLEECE
- Brief history
- Structure
- Evaluation on the alpaca
- Care and preparation
Brief History
South American camelids consist of two wild varieties, the guanaco and the
vicuna, and two domestic types, the llama and the alpaca. Vicuna fleece with a
fiber diameter of 13-14 microns (one micron is 1/25,000 inch; human hair is about
60-90 microns) is one of the finest and most costly fibers in the world.
Alpacas were domesticated from vicunas about 6000 years ago. An impressive
feat: the vicuna comes in one color and produces about a pound of fleece every
other year; alpacas deliver annual weights of 2-5 pounds of prime blanket fleece
in shades of white, tan, brown, black, and gray, plus pinto and other patterns.
Spaniards in the sixteenth century killed many of the llamas and alpacas,
displaced them from all but the high mountain country, and disrupted the
criadores' breeding systems. Subsequent attempts to maximize fleece weights
and inter-breeding between llamas and alpacas coarsened the alpacas' fleece.
Judging from mummified alpacas, the pre-conquest animals produced fiber of
under 22 microns; most of Peru's present day fiber is over 25 microns. However,
the genetics to produce that fine fleece is still within the animals; with careful
breeding, we can produce it again.
Structure
When we talk about alpaca fiber, we mean the fiber grown from secondary hair
follicles which surround a primary follicle
(the uncrimped and coarser or larger diameter fibers,
which we often refer to as "guard hair").
The more secondary follicles there are,
the denser the fleece - that is, the more fiber the alpaca is producing.
As density increases, presumably the fleece will be finer since more fibers are
crowded into the same area. The "guard hair" seems to disappear; in fact, the
primary fibers are getting finer and behaving more like secondary fibers.
Each fiber is encircled by a layer of tiny cuticle cells, or scales, which overlap each
other in an irregular pattern. (This is the reason fleece can be spun into yarn;
scales from individual fibers cling together.) The scale edges stick up and out from
the fiber - .04 microns high for huacaya alpaca, compared to .08 for wool. This
means that, given a wool fleece and an alpaca fleece of the same average
diameter, the alpaca will feel finer and less scratchy because the fibers are
smoother.
Interior cells, the cortex, give the fiber strength and elasticity. Fine fibers are
composed of a high proportion of cortex. The huacaya cortex is made up of
orthocortex and paracortex growing next to each other along the length of the
fiber, with the paracortex on the inside of any wave or crimp. The crimp is what
makes the fiber elastic and gives it "memory" - that is, when stretched it returns
to its original length.
Suri fibers have a unilateral cortex, fewer and much flatter scales, and less
medullation, making them smoother to the touch and more lustrous, but a little
harder to spin.
Running up the interior of the cortex are hollow areas - medulla - more in coarser
fiber, less in finer. Alpaca (and cashmere) have smaller amounts of medullation
than do other fibers. Medullated fibers are stiff, with pointed tips that migrate
toward the outside of yarn (desirable in Harris Tweed, but increasing the itchy feel
of a fabric); they reflect light and take dye differently from more solid fibers.
When we were first learning about alpacas, we were often told that the hollow
fibers provided the warmth of an alpaca garment. But what actually makes you
feel warm is the air trapped between fibers, and finer fibers provide more spaces
to hold more air.
Evaluation of fleece on the alpaca - uniformity, crimp, density, fineness, handle
This is the fun part - putting your hands into that lovely fleece.
But first, stand back and take a look at the alpaca. You want to see fleece that
looks uniform; no area should stand out.
With the sun behind the alpaca, look for a "halo" of straight fibers protruding from
the fleece; these are undesirable coarser uncrimped hairs.
Up close, you can see them as a straight tip at the end of the lock. All alpacas
have them, especially in the apron (the lower chest area) and belly, but a better
quality animal will have fewer in the blanket and neck, and its apron will start
lower on its chest. However, crias' secondary fibers are still developing; they
often have a prominent "halo" that disappears after their first shearing.
Use your hands to open and spread the fleece. Looking at a huacaya, check the
lock structure. In my opinion (you'll find others who disagree), the type of crimp
(the wave along a lock of fiber) is a matter of personal preference - tight with
many waves per inch or bold with fewer waves. The fibers may be bundled into
thick or thinner locks. Some alpacas, like vicunas, have no apparent crimp, but
each fiber shaft has a wave or "crinkle." These fleeces can be very fine, but are
probably not dense.
These are not perfectly accurate methods, but you can test for density by
grabbing the fleece in your hand. Does it give you a nice full feeling, or does it
compress easily? If you put the flat of your hand against the alpaca's side, does
the fleece resist your pressure? When the fleece is opened, how much skin do
you see? More skin visible means less density - that is, there are fewer fibers per
area of skin. Density, along with length, is important because we sell our fleeces
based on weight (although the price may be based on fineness). But many
breeders feel that fineness and density are opposing traits, and a finer fleece will
weigh less.
"Handle" refers to how the fleece feels when you take it in your hand or gently
rub it between your fingers. You would like to describe it as soft and smooth
rather than stiff or rough. Remember that alpacas like to roll, and a coating of
dust can make a fleece feel much coarser.
Suri fibers are straight so they have no crimp. There are different styles of suri
locks - flat, wavy, twisted, and so on - but if suris are sheared every year, as they
should be, the lock structure can be hard to evaluate.
I prefer to concentrate on luster; that shine is what draws me to suris, along with
the silky smooth handle. Beware, the right lighting can enhance a mediocre
luster, and a cloudy day makes it hard to evaluate.
We always want to know the "micron count." This is an actual measure of
fineness - of the average diameter of each fiber (AFD).
The standard deviation (SD) is another average: it tells us the average that
individual fibers differ from the AFD of the sample. A SD of 5 would mean that the
greatest percentage of fibers range from 5 microns below to 5 microns above the
average. A low SD tells you that the fleece is very uniform and will therefore have
a soft handle.
The coefficient of variation (CV) is used as a measure of consistency; it is the SD
divided by the AFD.
It's reassuring to have what seems like a nice solid number to look at and use for
comparisons. We say, "His CV is 22%; he's very consistent. His micron is 22; he's
very fine." But there are a few pitfalls here. The first is that usually we're talking
about a single sample of fleece, 2 inches by 2 inches, a pretty small proportion by
which to judge the entire fleece, especially regarding consistency.
Pitfall #2 is that alpacas' fleeces usually coarsen as they get older. If one breeder
is sending in fiber samples at 4 months and another at 14 months, they can't be
compared. In fact, it's tricky to compare animals from different farms, since their
environment has been different.
Pitfall #3 is the CV, which is merely a ratio, SD divided by AFD. Two alpacas, one
with a SD of 3 and another with a SD of 6, can have the same CV, yet no one
examining the actual animals would ever judge those two fleeces as equally
uniform.
I confess, I do use the CV in marketing. My stud, Ceazar, has a CV of 15%, a very
impressive number. I expect that people who know something about micron
counts will like that number; people who know a little more will see that his AFD is
also low and will deduce that his SD is therefore also low.
Care and preparation of the fleece
Clean fleeces, desired by handspinners and mills alike, begin with clean pastures.
Easier said than done for some of us. Our farm is a filbert (hazelnut) orchard,
planted in the 1930s, and we value it for its history as well as its shade. But that
means our alpacas' fleeces pick up bits of bark, nut shells, even twigs.
So the day of shearing, we clean our alpacas. The huacayas are blown out with a
"reverse vacuum." Some people actually vacuum their animals, but that hasn't
worked as well for us.
The blower seems to matt the suris' fleece very easily, so they are brushed with a
rubber curry mitt, designed for horses.
If the fleece is to be entered in a show, we leave it alone; we don't want to
destroy its architecture - the lock structure, crimp, etc. We gently hand pick as
much as possible before shearing, then finish the job with the fleece laid out on a
skirting table.
The shearer has removed the blanket first, then the neck, and finally the legs;
these went into three different bags. The shearer is experienced at clipping these
areas separately, but occasionally some leg wool has made its way into the first
bag, or possibly part of the blanket is shorter or coarser in one area. The next
step is to skirt it - to remove vegetative matter and non-uniform areas.
We* skirt the fleece similarly, whether it is going to a mill, a handspinner, or a
show. We pull out as much debris as possible, plus any inconsistent patches of
fleece. If the alpaca was sick during the year or suffered any other stress, we test
several locks of fleece for tenderness or breakage.
Although alpaca can be spun straight from the bag, it's usually dusty enough that
most spinners prefer to wash and card or comb it.
We put batches of fleece into a mesh lingerie bag and fill our top-loading washer
with warm water and about a quarter cup of Dawn - since there's no lanolin, we
don't need to use hot water. We gently push the bag of fleece into the water, let
it soak for 20 or so minutes, then let the washer spin it. We refill the washer with
water of the same temperature and again lower the bag to rinse the fleece, then
spin it again. We may need to repeat the washing and rinsing until the water runs
clear.
To avoid making felt, we keep the water temperature constant and are careful not
to agitate the fleece.
After it's dried, we run it through the carder. English combs also work well,
especially if the fleece has matted.
South American camelids consist of two wild varieties, the guanaco and the
vicuna, and two domestic types, the llama and the alpaca. Vicuna fleece with a
fiber diameter of 13-14 microns (one micron is 1/25,000 inch; human hair is about
60-90 microns) is one of the finest and most costly fibers in the world.
Alpacas were domesticated from vicunas about 6000 years ago. An impressive
feat: the vicuna comes in one color and produces about a pound of fleece every
other year; alpacas deliver annual weights of 2-5 pounds of prime blanket fleece
in shades of white, tan, brown, black, and gray, plus pinto and other patterns.
Spaniards in the sixteenth century killed many of the llamas and alpacas,
displaced them from all but the high mountain country, and disrupted the
criadores' breeding systems. Subsequent attempts to maximize fleece weights
and inter-breeding between llamas and alpacas coarsened the alpacas' fleece.
Judging from mummified alpacas, the pre-conquest animals produced fiber of
under 22 microns; most of Peru's present day fiber is over 25 microns. However,
the genetics to produce that fine fleece is still within the animals; with careful
breeding, we can produce it again.
Structure
When we talk about alpaca fiber, we mean the fiber grown from secondary hair
follicles which surround a primary follicle
(the uncrimped and coarser or larger diameter fibers,
which we often refer to as "guard hair").
The more secondary follicles there are,
the denser the fleece - that is, the more fiber the alpaca is producing.
As density increases, presumably the fleece will be finer since more fibers are
crowded into the same area. The "guard hair" seems to disappear; in fact, the
primary fibers are getting finer and behaving more like secondary fibers.
Each fiber is encircled by a layer of tiny cuticle cells, or scales, which overlap each
other in an irregular pattern. (This is the reason fleece can be spun into yarn;
scales from individual fibers cling together.) The scale edges stick up and out from
the fiber - .04 microns high for huacaya alpaca, compared to .08 for wool. This
means that, given a wool fleece and an alpaca fleece of the same average
diameter, the alpaca will feel finer and less scratchy because the fibers are
smoother.
Interior cells, the cortex, give the fiber strength and elasticity. Fine fibers are
composed of a high proportion of cortex. The huacaya cortex is made up of
orthocortex and paracortex growing next to each other along the length of the
fiber, with the paracortex on the inside of any wave or crimp. The crimp is what
makes the fiber elastic and gives it "memory" - that is, when stretched it returns
to its original length.
Suri fibers have a unilateral cortex, fewer and much flatter scales, and less
medullation, making them smoother to the touch and more lustrous, but a little
harder to spin.
Running up the interior of the cortex are hollow areas - medulla - more in coarser
fiber, less in finer. Alpaca (and cashmere) have smaller amounts of medullation
than do other fibers. Medullated fibers are stiff, with pointed tips that migrate
toward the outside of yarn (desirable in Harris Tweed, but increasing the itchy feel
of a fabric); they reflect light and take dye differently from more solid fibers.
When we were first learning about alpacas, we were often told that the hollow
fibers provided the warmth of an alpaca garment. But what actually makes you
feel warm is the air trapped between fibers, and finer fibers provide more spaces
to hold more air.
Evaluation of fleece on the alpaca - uniformity, crimp, density, fineness, handle
This is the fun part - putting your hands into that lovely fleece.
But first, stand back and take a look at the alpaca. You want to see fleece that
looks uniform; no area should stand out.
With the sun behind the alpaca, look for a "halo" of straight fibers protruding from
the fleece; these are undesirable coarser uncrimped hairs.
Up close, you can see them as a straight tip at the end of the lock. All alpacas
have them, especially in the apron (the lower chest area) and belly, but a better
quality animal will have fewer in the blanket and neck, and its apron will start
lower on its chest. However, crias' secondary fibers are still developing; they
often have a prominent "halo" that disappears after their first shearing.
Use your hands to open and spread the fleece. Looking at a huacaya, check the
lock structure. In my opinion (you'll find others who disagree), the type of crimp
(the wave along a lock of fiber) is a matter of personal preference - tight with
many waves per inch or bold with fewer waves. The fibers may be bundled into
thick or thinner locks. Some alpacas, like vicunas, have no apparent crimp, but
each fiber shaft has a wave or "crinkle." These fleeces can be very fine, but are
probably not dense.
These are not perfectly accurate methods, but you can test for density by
grabbing the fleece in your hand. Does it give you a nice full feeling, or does it
compress easily? If you put the flat of your hand against the alpaca's side, does
the fleece resist your pressure? When the fleece is opened, how much skin do
you see? More skin visible means less density - that is, there are fewer fibers per
area of skin. Density, along with length, is important because we sell our fleeces
based on weight (although the price may be based on fineness). But many
breeders feel that fineness and density are opposing traits, and a finer fleece will
weigh less.
"Handle" refers to how the fleece feels when you take it in your hand or gently
rub it between your fingers. You would like to describe it as soft and smooth
rather than stiff or rough. Remember that alpacas like to roll, and a coating of
dust can make a fleece feel much coarser.
Suri fibers are straight so they have no crimp. There are different styles of suri
locks - flat, wavy, twisted, and so on - but if suris are sheared every year, as they
should be, the lock structure can be hard to evaluate.
I prefer to concentrate on luster; that shine is what draws me to suris, along with
the silky smooth handle. Beware, the right lighting can enhance a mediocre
luster, and a cloudy day makes it hard to evaluate.
We always want to know the "micron count." This is an actual measure of
fineness - of the average diameter of each fiber (AFD).
The standard deviation (SD) is another average: it tells us the average that
individual fibers differ from the AFD of the sample. A SD of 5 would mean that the
greatest percentage of fibers range from 5 microns below to 5 microns above the
average. A low SD tells you that the fleece is very uniform and will therefore have
a soft handle.
The coefficient of variation (CV) is used as a measure of consistency; it is the SD
divided by the AFD.
It's reassuring to have what seems like a nice solid number to look at and use for
comparisons. We say, "His CV is 22%; he's very consistent. His micron is 22; he's
very fine." But there are a few pitfalls here. The first is that usually we're talking
about a single sample of fleece, 2 inches by 2 inches, a pretty small proportion by
which to judge the entire fleece, especially regarding consistency.
Pitfall #2 is that alpacas' fleeces usually coarsen as they get older. If one breeder
is sending in fiber samples at 4 months and another at 14 months, they can't be
compared. In fact, it's tricky to compare animals from different farms, since their
environment has been different.
Pitfall #3 is the CV, which is merely a ratio, SD divided by AFD. Two alpacas, one
with a SD of 3 and another with a SD of 6, can have the same CV, yet no one
examining the actual animals would ever judge those two fleeces as equally
uniform.
I confess, I do use the CV in marketing. My stud, Ceazar, has a CV of 15%, a very
impressive number. I expect that people who know something about micron
counts will like that number; people who know a little more will see that his AFD is
also low and will deduce that his SD is therefore also low.
Care and preparation of the fleece
Clean fleeces, desired by handspinners and mills alike, begin with clean pastures.
Easier said than done for some of us. Our farm is a filbert (hazelnut) orchard,
planted in the 1930s, and we value it for its history as well as its shade. But that
means our alpacas' fleeces pick up bits of bark, nut shells, even twigs.
So the day of shearing, we clean our alpacas. The huacayas are blown out with a
"reverse vacuum." Some people actually vacuum their animals, but that hasn't
worked as well for us.
The blower seems to matt the suris' fleece very easily, so they are brushed with a
rubber curry mitt, designed for horses.
If the fleece is to be entered in a show, we leave it alone; we don't want to
destroy its architecture - the lock structure, crimp, etc. We gently hand pick as
much as possible before shearing, then finish the job with the fleece laid out on a
skirting table.
The shearer has removed the blanket first, then the neck, and finally the legs;
these went into three different bags. The shearer is experienced at clipping these
areas separately, but occasionally some leg wool has made its way into the first
bag, or possibly part of the blanket is shorter or coarser in one area. The next
step is to skirt it - to remove vegetative matter and non-uniform areas.
We* skirt the fleece similarly, whether it is going to a mill, a handspinner, or a
show. We pull out as much debris as possible, plus any inconsistent patches of
fleece. If the alpaca was sick during the year or suffered any other stress, we test
several locks of fleece for tenderness or breakage.
Although alpaca can be spun straight from the bag, it's usually dusty enough that
most spinners prefer to wash and card or comb it.
We put batches of fleece into a mesh lingerie bag and fill our top-loading washer
with warm water and about a quarter cup of Dawn - since there's no lanolin, we
don't need to use hot water. We gently push the bag of fleece into the water, let
it soak for 20 or so minutes, then let the washer spin it. We refill the washer with
water of the same temperature and again lower the bag to rinse the fleece, then
spin it again. We may need to repeat the washing and rinsing until the water runs
clear.
To avoid making felt, we keep the water temperature constant and are careful not
to agitate the fleece.
After it's dried, we run it through the carder. English combs also work well,
especially if the fleece has matted.
Two breeds of alpaca with distinctly
different fleece.
different fleece.
Suri
Huacaya
True guard hair is stiff, straight,
and highly medullated (hollow)
fiber that is much longer than the
fleece it protects.
Guard hair keeps the softer
underlying fiber from being
damaged by grass, twigs, leaves,
shrubs, etc when the animals are
grazing.
You'll find guard hair on the lower
chest (because the animal pushes
forward with the chest when it
moves) and in the armpits and
belly (where it next encounters
brush, grass, etc or accumulates it
when lying down).
and highly medullated (hollow)
fiber that is much longer than the
fleece it protects.
Guard hair keeps the softer
underlying fiber from being
damaged by grass, twigs, leaves,
shrubs, etc when the animals are
grazing.
You'll find guard hair on the lower
chest (because the animal pushes
forward with the chest when it
moves) and in the armpits and
belly (where it next encounters
brush, grass, etc or accumulates it
when lying down).
*When I say "we,"
I mean Barry.
I mean Barry.
Some technical information from the Alpaca Fiber Symposium:
Moisture regain percentage: The amount of water a completely dry fiber will absorb from the air,
expressed as a percentage of the dry fiber weight.
*Alpaca - 8%
*Wool - 16%
*Cotton - 8%
*Silk - 9%
Alpaca has half the moisture regain of wool which could account for why it seems more comfortable and
breathable than wool.
Class I Fiber category: this means that alpaca is flame resistant. It is also marginally flame retardant,
which means it will self-extinguish.
Wicking test: In knitted or woven fabric, it does wick; in felted fabric, it does not. It is similar to wool in
absorbency and wicking.
Abrasion and Pilling: An alpaca blanket scored 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5), which is good pill resistence,
especially in woven material. It also had a score of 15,000 cycles of abrasion, which means that it met
upholstery standards.
Moisture regain percentage: The amount of water a completely dry fiber will absorb from the air,
expressed as a percentage of the dry fiber weight.
*Alpaca - 8%
*Wool - 16%
*Cotton - 8%
*Silk - 9%
Alpaca has half the moisture regain of wool which could account for why it seems more comfortable and
breathable than wool.
Class I Fiber category: this means that alpaca is flame resistant. It is also marginally flame retardant,
which means it will self-extinguish.
Wicking test: In knitted or woven fabric, it does wick; in felted fabric, it does not. It is similar to wool in
absorbency and wicking.
Abrasion and Pilling: An alpaca blanket scored 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5), which is good pill resistence,
especially in woven material. It also had a score of 15,000 cycles of abrasion, which means that it met
upholstery standards.
