Long alpaca spin

I finally combed and single spun the last of an alpaca fleece that I purchased and washed in 2020, and started spinning on my Befra Willy Spinning Wheel in 2022. I haven’t been spinning consistently over the last two years; there were many months that the fleece and the wheel were tucked away out of sight and definitely out of mind.

Photo description: Befra Willy Spinning Wheel with a bobbin full of single spun fawn colored alpaca fiber

To free up my bobbin, because the next step is to give the wheel some TLC, I wound the yarn into a cake using my wool winder. I ended up with 196g of spun alpaca (the cardboard tube in the middle weighs 4g).

Photo description: cake of single spun alpaca fiber sitting on a scale reading 200g

I put the cardboard tube in to keep the yarn under more tension. Single spun yarn is not balanced, and I wanted to reduce the chance of kinks and tangles. I’m not sure how I want to ply this fiber, so it will sit until I have an idea. I did pull the start of the yarn and the end to compare thickness, and I did a fair job keeping a consistent spin over the two year span. There are some thinner and thicker sections, but not a wide spread.

Photo description: yarn pulled from the center (newest) and the outside (oldest) showing very similar thicknesses

This definitely counts as a forever project. I’m really getting my crafting money’s worth from this alpaca fleece.