Nålbinding alpaca

On August 20, 2021August 17, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I now have three preparations of three colors of alpaca and silk. One with the colors carded separately, then rolled together into a rolag before spinning and cable plying; one carded and spun separately, then plied together; and one carded together to blend the fibers then spun and cable plied.

From left to right: marled, plied, and blended alpaca silk yarn

I had such small samples of the three different blend techniques, I decided to combine them into a single project.

From top down: marled, plied, blended. Nål is osage orange

I think the effect of each yarn is interesting. The marled yarn has more variation, which resulted in some spots of darker and lighter color. The three ply is counter clockwise and unwinds somewhat for this stitch (which is my new favorite stitch: Dalarna from Sweden, Hansen’s Notation (U) O/U O:UO F1). The blended actually came out more uniform than I predicted. The intent was for this to be a hat, but I miscalculated and didn’t make it big enough. Since it is an experimental piece anyway, I also tried fulling it a bit by taking it back and forth from hot water to cold water. It did pull in some and became definitely too small for a hat.

So I took two pieces of leather lace and made it into a bag by weaving the leather through the edge. Problem solved.

The finished fabric is very soft, but dense. It has a very nice drape, but not much elasticity, so I think the alpaca silk blend may work better as a scarf or shawl. I’ll have to test that idea!

Blended

On August 7, 2021August 3, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

Next color experiment with my three colors of alpaca fiber is blending them all together with a little silk. (The silk makes it so strong I can’t break the singles by hand. I’m undecided how I feel about that.) I aimed for equal portions of each color, but I didn’t get out the scale, so I knew there would be variations in the rolags I produced from carding. (Honestly, there will be variation even if I weighed, but the subtle change in color can be quite pleasant.)

Blended alpaca silk rolags in my arm bag ready for spinning

Cable plied (4 ply: spun, plied, plied again) alpaca silk blend

I think I like the subtlety of this yarn, but I want to make it up into something to be sure. Yarns can look very different in the ball or skein than they do in a finished piece!

Three ply

On August 3, 2021July 29, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

Three colors of alpaca, three ply yarn; seems a natural choice for my continued color combination experiments. I carded the colors separately again, but this time added a little silk to each preparation (as I have read that silk and alpaca complement each other), and then spun the colors individually. Taking the inside end of each tiny yarn ball, I plied them together. This made an interesting visual effect, very bold upclose.

Working up the test yarn

On July 11, 2021July 7, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

As I was contemplating what to make with the mini balls of test alpaca that I spun, my youngest announced that her other doll needed a new jacket. Ok, that can be done. I chose to nålbind (because I like it best) and used a Finish 2 + 2 stitch with an F2 connection. Because the three skeins were different colors, I decided to put the darkest in the center. I also tried a different construction technique, working in vertical rounds, rather than horizontal. Making the neck and front slit was just a matter of chaining along, rather than connecting, as long as I needed.

Once I had the sides of the vest even, I cut the bottom, pulled out the loose threads, and tightened and wove in the attached ends. I then sewed up a section of each side to form the arm holes but leave side slits.

Bottom edge neatened (I like the scallops), and sides sewn

Back of doll vest showing all three preparations of yarn

Really there was no difference in the three preparations of fiber after the initial single spinning. Even the finished fabric just has color variations, but is otherwise consistent in texture.

This was an excellent test. The alpaca yarn combined with this stitch made a very dense fabric. I think a human-sized version would be quite heavy.

Time to wash

On July 9, 2021July 1, 2021 By CarynIn Craft

I had a panic moment. My spinning and walking is going well, and my speed is improving, and I realized that once I was done with the current preparation of fiber I didn’t have anything ready to spin. The horror!!

So I washed up some more alpaca fiber, this time using the utility sink and some netting, rather than bowls and towels. Since alpaca does not have heavy lanolin to scour away, I was not concerned about the wash water going down the drain. It was much like washing a dog. To keep the fibers out of the drain, I used a section of netting, which also helped squeeze out the water gently to avoid felting the fleece. I used Amway LOC liquid soap and rinsed each section three times. So much dirt. I laid each section out to dry on my hanging circular trays. There is still some vegetable matter (VM) in the fleece, but I am planning on picking and carding most of that out. I figure the evening activity will be carding and then I can spin in the morning.

I washed the last of Donna Bella’s fleece, and about half each of Sugar Plum’s and Aimee’s. I have five trays full of fiber. That should get me through the summer! Maybe longer.

Critters and Craft

Tag: alpaca