Alpacas of the Alleghenies: Dreams of Spring

I first discovered Alpacas of the Alleghenies in June of 2014, after completing the Alpacas of Alagasia project.  I saw some really cool Icelandic sheep on the Spin a Pound, Get a Pound Facebook site, but it went really fast.  Well, I’m not really experienced in de-hairing and I hear it’s pretty labor intense, so maybe it worked out for the best.  Then, Chris Reachard directed me to Alpacas of the Alleghenies and some lovely alpaca fleeces.  Of course, it’s tough to get a word in when such beautiful fleeces are on the line, but Mary worked with me and showed me pictures of an irresistible white and gold fleece.

6/26, 12:23pm

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

Hi Julia –

Since you liked Zeus’ fleece I posted another white fleece today. It is gorgeous – Both Zeus and Cyra are Quecha Verticase offspring so their fleece is very similar – I regret I am not better at capturing the crimp in our fleeces. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks, Mary.

6/28, 8:47pm

Julia

Hello Mary,

6/28, 8:57pm

Julia

Your fleece looks so soft and clean! Do you have any specific needs or any particular time allowance? I like to spin for a hobby, and I can work quickly, but I prefer to take my time and enjoy the process, so I like to avoid pressing deadlines. I spin on a traditional wheel, with small flyer hooks, which produces a smaller yarn. Plying is not a very nice option for me, because I have to wind the bobbin by hand. I can do hand wrapped balls or skeins. Please let me know if you would like to have the fleece done 100% alpaca, or if I can blend in different things for an artsy effect. Also, please let me know if you would like me to separate the lighter from the golden bits. My spinning blog is: spinningjulie.wordpress.com, if you would like to see some of my past projects. My most recent spinning project is for Leann Alexander, which I posted to Facebook, but not yet to my blog. I like to take on one person’s fleece at a time, so it’s not overwhelming. Would you be ok with shipping the fiber to me? I would pay shipping of the finished half back to you. Would you be ok with a 50/50 split? Thanks, Julia Race

6/28, 8:58pm

Julia

I’m not always connected to the internet, so please do not feel insulted if I don’t reply right away. I’m not trying to avoid anyone, I just tend to check the email a few times a week! Thank you so much for getting back with me, and sharing pictures of your lovely fleece.

6/29, 8:19am

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

I enjoyed your pictures of what is hidden in a piano! We have ours tuned often so fortunately the most he finds are pens and pencils that have rolled in. If you would kindly send me your address, I will mail the fleece out in the morning. Thanks so much! Best, Mary

6/30, 9:21am

Julia

Hello Mary, My address is—Thank you so much! I can hardly wait until the fleece arrives! Julia

6/30, 9:45am

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

Thanks Julia – I will get it in the mail this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Have a great day – Mary

7/1, 6:32pm

Julia

Thank you, Mary! I’ll look forward to your package. Julia

• July 2, 2014

7/2, 5:08pm

Julia

I received your package today and began to wash it. I love the beautiful shine, texture, and crimp. The gold and white colors look elegant together. It will make such a good product!

7/3, 9:36pm

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

Thank you for the kind words about the fleece. Have a safe and happy 4th of July. Mary

7/10, 8:56am

Julia

Your fleece is clean and has been drying on racks for a few days, so it’s almost ready for the carder! Yay!

7/10, 4:29pm

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

Thanks – I love the yarn you made with the pink and fawn. I’ll be anxious to see our fleece finished!

10/28, 10:59am

Alpacas Of the Alleghenies

Hi Julia,

Hi Julia, Hope you are doing well. I am just checking on the progress of the fleece/yarn. Best, Mary

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

In July 2014, a major event happened in my family and I was glad we had not established a deadline.  I began to study for my commercial driver’s license in preparation for school bus driving in August.  Between the classes, practice, paperwork, clearances, and tests, along with piano lessons and tunings, time went pretty fast.  When school began in August, free time was a thing of the past.  My fingers ached to spin the luscious fiber waiting for me, but it took a while to get used to the new 4:00 A.M. wake-up time.

In the fall, while using a wool picker on some fiber that had started to felt during the dyeing process, I had a little accident that damaged my left hand.  It took a while to heal, especially the fingernail.  It was kind of irritating to work with fiber at that time, because the chipped nail caught on everything.  Superglue was a big help until the nail grew out to the end of the finger.

Not desiring a repeat, I began to search for hand protection.  A local machine shop owner recommended Kevlar gloves.  When I wrote to the Memphis Safety Company for suggestions, they sent me two complimentary pair of safety gloves.  Unfortunately, they did not suit my particular puncture-proof needs, although they were very good gloves.  I decided to try Blue Hawk welding gloves, and found just what I needed.  It happened that I did not catch my hand in the wool picker again, but I felt safer with the heavy leather around my fingers, and the soft fleece lining felt great.  When I introduced them to my dad and saw his eyes light up when he put them on, I knew they were meant for him.  He loved them!  Well, it’s a good thing Lowe’s is close by.  My mechanic brothers really appreciated the Kevlar gloves from Memphis Safety Company.  They made great presents!

This is where the fiber enters the wool picker.

It is tempting to feed the fiber in over the safety bar, but it is really risky. The entire hand can get caught in the bed of nails. When that happens, you actually have to push in before the slant of the nails will allow you to retrieve your hand. Ouch!

Blue Hawk welding gloves are right for this job!

My big opportunity for spinning came around Christmas, when the clean, and partially carded fiber began to call to me with increased volume.  Finally, I began combining the shining alpaca with purple silk, pink milk fiber, teal Firestar, purple and silver metallic fiber, green bamboo fiber, and extra pieces of yellow, blue, and purple crochet fibers.  I also combined some alpaca, dyed yellow with onion skins and blue alpaca, dyed with indigo.  The batts took on a shimmering rainbow look as the cloudy white melted the colors into pastel tints.

The main problem was I was running out of both blue and yellow. This called for a dyeing day.  Finally, one Sunday after church, I got the opportunity to do some major dyeing.  It was a day to remember!  What fun I had combining colors, coming up with unexpected combinations, and experimenting with natural dyes!My sister and I worked together to produce shades of indigo, green, purple, yellow, and pink from indigo dye, Easter egg dye, and onion skins. I also tried madder, but I did not have a recipe and it did not take. I did not really care for the toasted wood smell of the madder, and rinsed it with vinegar water.
A very interesting happened when I was dyeing gray wool with a green vinegar based dye. It turned a lovely purple marble color, even as it was rinsing green dye out. I still do not understand that reaction and was not able to duplicate it with the other half of the wool and another vinegar dye.

A very useful book that my friend, Mrs. W. let me borrow for the event.

Good stuff for indigo dyeing day!

Backup…

Different dyebaths and lengths of soak produce varying shades. All are beautiful!

Indigo on lambswool.

I asked a local grocery store to save onion skins from their shipping boxes. The surprised clerk agreed, and I ended up with a wealth of yellow dye material. No mordant is needed with indigo or onion skin, so it was really easy!

Alpaca dyed yellow with onion skins. It smells nice too!

While using dye remover to remove the dyed in wrinkles on a denim skirt (I never cared for that look), I found indigo dye coming to the top of the pot and remembered that dye remover was a key ingredient in using indigo. After the skirt was done, I popped in some other fibers and garments, and experienced some satisfactory results with the fibers, but less with the garments, as a lot of mottleing happened.

The best indigo solution is greenish in the pot. When it begins to turn dark, it is time to add more dye remover or indigo. A little indigo goes a long, long way!

When dyeing with indigo, the fiber looks white until it reacts with air, then it gradually becomes blue.

Indigo on denim.

Indigo on wool.

Our black walnut tree produced a bumper crop in 2014. I set some walnuts to soak, but left them outside too long, and the water became buggy. So sad. I had hoped to experiment with making walnut ink as well as dye. Well, another year will come around soon…

Separating the fiber by weight.

Preparing the add-ins.

Alpaca in indigo and onion skin yellow.

Time to renew the indigo or color remover. This pot is too dark!

I used a clothes protector laundry bag to contain the onion skins.

Alpaca in onion skin dye.

Dyeing alpaca with Easter egg tablets and vinegar.

Easter egg tablets separated by color on styrofoam plates help with cleanup.

Ok, gray “Local Wool” plus green food grade dye = purple??? Surprise!!!

Gloves? Naw, I like to feel what is going on, even if it does make me look like a smurf later…as long as none of it is toxic.

Dyeing silk with indigo.

Dyeing alpaca with indigo.

After Easter, I had picked up fifty or so boxes of Easter egg dye at the thrift store for $0.10 a piece. The alpaca and wool from “Local Wool Spinning” were perfect candidates for the experiments. I also had some silk and denim garments I wanted to dye.

After the fiber was clean and dry once more, we went back to the carder and spinning wheel.  The colors reminded me of spring, which is what I really wanted to see outside, but we had a long, cold winter going on, and the only hint of crocus I could see was in the colors of my batts.

By the end of our school holiday, over half of the fiber was in the single ply yarn stage, first on the niddy noddy and then on the skeinwinder.

In February, I upgraded to a phone that does internet and good pictures, so I’m now able to communicate better. Thanks Mary for your amazing patience!  After school stopped (in mid-June due to the amount of snow days our area had), I spun the remaining fiber and shipped it off to Mary.

• 6/29, 9:00am
  

  Mary
  

  Hi Julia, This is Mary, Alpacas of the Alleghenies. I am just checking in on Cyra’s fleece and how soon it will be completed? Kindly let me know when I can be expecting it. Thanks so much, Mary

  
  
  Julia
  

  I have most of it done. I just finished a year of driving school bus and went right into a week of youth camp in T.N. Thank you for your amazing patience with me this year. Many unexpected family things came up that required much time and effort. Your yarn looks and feels really great! Could you please refresh me on your address? Thanks again, Julia

• I think I can finish the rest within a week or two.

• It’s not really the spinning that takes most of the time, it’s finding the carding time all together.
• June 29
• 6/29, 1:09pm

  Mary
  

  Thanks Julia – I look forward to seeing your work!
• 6/29, 1:40pm

   Julia
  

  I think you will like it. The amazingly long fibers were challenging to card, but spun beautifully!
• June 29
• 6/29, 9:31pm
• Mary
  

  Can’t wait to see it – thanks!
• July 6
• 7/6, 1:55pm

  Julia
  

  Hi Mary, I just finished the last six batts Saturday, and am waiting for the fibers to dry. Would you please send me your address in confirmation? Thanks so much, Julia

   July 6
• 7/6, 5:46pm

  Mary
  

  Hi Julia – I am anxious to see the yarn. My address:… Thank you!
• July 6
• 7/6, 9:52pm
  Julia
  

  Here is a sneak preview!

  July 8
• 7/8, 8:37am

   Mary
  

  Beautiful! Thanks.
• July 8
• 7/8, 2:25pm
• Julia
  

  It is on the way!

   7/8, 2:53pm

   Mary
  

  Thank you!
• 7/8, 2:55pm

   Julia
  

  You are very welcome! I apologize for the length of time it took to get back to you. Most of the spinning was done on school break, in December, so I named it “Dreams of Spring”.

   7/8, 2:57pm
• Mary
  

  Oh – so sweet…
• July 23
• 7/23, 5:50am

  Julia
  

  Did the yarn make it to your place? What do you think?
• July 26
• 7/26, 1:43pm

   Mary
  

  I just returned from vacation last night – YES – the yarn is here and it is beautiful. Thanks!

Some important things I learned from this batch of fiber are:  Dye more than you think is necessary for the job.  More is better than running out and having to try to match colors.  Use the wool picker correctly, and use hand protection!  To enjoy the process the most, plan for life to happen between fiber days.  Sometimes life takes a lot of time, but it’s so worth it!  Long staple alpaca is fun to spin, and tough to get off the drum carder.  Dyeing and washing can play havoc with alpaca, which clumps into felt easily.  I loved spinning fiber from this alpaca!!!  It was so soft, silky, fine, and lofty.  It was a dream fiber that spun into even, fine yarn that will be a thrill to knit and comfortable to wear.