This complex process for alpaca fiber begins the day the animal is shorn. At shearing the fiber is initially sorted and bagged into three categories, based upon desirability: blanket–the best and finest fiber; leg and neck—coarser fiber; and shorts, etc—usually waste. Once sorted into these categories, the fiber bags are shipped to a wash facility where all like fleece colors are put in the same pile (separate piles for blanket and leg & neck). Each fleece is then evaluated and commercially sorted into separate pools for fineness (5 grades—1 being the finest and 5 the coarsest) color and consistent staple length. In general, for commercial purposes all whites and blacks are placed in separate containers. Medium and light fawn are blended together. Dark fawn and the browns go together since dying and blending options with these colors is fairly limited. The grays are mixed together. Other less frequently seen colors are left separate or not used at all. Once the sorting is done the fiber is sent through the wash “train” to clean the fiber, removing most dirt, dust and vegetable matter. After drying in a heated “drying room”, the fiber is compressed into 200-400 lb bales and shipped to a commercial spinning facility. This process takes 1-2 weeks.
At the spinning facility, the washed fleece is either run as 100% alpaca, or in the case of SuriPaco products, blended with other natural fibers in the carding/combing/pin-drafting process to produce rovings and batting. Carded and pin-drafted products are used for woolen products while carded and combed products are used for worsted products.
Batting can be used in quilts or in felting machines to produce beautiful felted garmets. Rovings may be either sold to hand spinners or sent on to the commercial spinning machines to produce varying weights of yarn, depending upon the final end product desired.
The yarn comes off the spinning process in cones. At this point some cones are removed and the yarn put into skeins and sold as knitting yarn. The remaining cones can be sent to commercial knitters and weavers to produce textile end-products such as throws, hats, blankets, socks, etc.
The entire process, from shearing through the production of yarn usually requires 4-6 weeks due to time constraints imposed by the commercial mills who generally produce 2000-5000 lbs of yarn/week and have to deal with our small runs of 500-750 pounds at a time. Another 6-12 weeks is required to have the end product made and in hand.
All in all, it is a complicated production process that needs to be followed closely to ensure a quality end-product—whether that is to be batting, yarn or dry goods. With each step there is waste that varies with the content of the carded material and type of yarn being spun. Generally, the overall waste is about 20-30% of the initial weight of the blended components.
Once the process is complete, however, and you have actual product in hand you begin to realize the end result has been worth the wait and effort. Shop now at: www.suripacobodega.com.