June PhatBox Contribution

This blog entry is a tribute and thank you to the purchasers of the Phat Fiber Sample Box each month. I thought it might be fun for you to see what goes into those tiny little samples that you receive from all of us Phatties.
I'll skip over feeding, vetting, shearing, and caring for our dear 4 leggeds and jump right to that big, clear, plastic bag of freshly shorn alpaca fleece.
That's white Pollux (Luxie) above. After washing his fleece, I dyed three batches in my crock pot. Our Phat theme this month is Oceanic so I thought blues for water, yellow for sun, white for foam, and brown for sand.
I didn't have to dye any brown and just used Polaris's ↓ golden brown fleece just like it is, well, I did wash it...

After all this is dry, it's off to the carder. This picture → shows you peeling the fiber off the carder. If you want more info about my carding go here. I made these batts in layers - example - white, brown, blue, white, or whatever my gutts said to add next. As I was carding, I tossed in some crystal, shiney angelina, and some dyed silk that's been laying around forever. You can be a little creative when carding but after a while, I think it's a little boring. I priced a motor to speed things up a little, but they are about $1,000.

I ended up making 5 batts and stripping each batt to 4 strips which I then drafted a little to make it spin more like roving. (Drafting-pulling the fibers out so they line up next to each other in a thinner little roving)

Then I wrapped each strip around my hand, tucked the end in, to form these little nests.

........and tied each nest with some handspun alpaca yarn. I created little cards on my computer with pictures of Lars and Luxie. They deserve the credit for producing such lovely fiber for me, right? And the buyers need to know what they are getting and who it is from.

The final step is going on line to purchase my postage and stuffing the nests into the bag. Oh, and tossing in a few lavendar sachets. Jessie, our PhatLady who does all the promoting, coorinating, and mailing, gets a bigger sample of what I send to say thanks.

Drum Carding My Alpaca

Yesterday I talked about washing this lovely fiber from Mira (white) and Lyra (dark fawn) and today I will show you how I prepare it for spinning.

This is my Strauch carder which I love. I've tried others but my alpaca fiber and I like this best (although I would dearly love to put a motor on it). On the left above I've fluffed up and spread out some of the fawn fiber. Turning the red handle will pull the fiber in to the picky/pokey licker-in while the big drum with the little curved wires rotates and straightens the fiber out. I planned this batt to be in layers.

After carding the first layer of fawn in, I add a layer of white as you can see in this looking down on the carder shot. Then I layered up another fawn and another white. As the wheel is turning, the brush on top lightly presses the fleece down, but after each layer, I use an old cheap bristle brush to further compact the batt.

There is a small strip with no wires on it so that you can slide a big knitting needle or special tool like the one above to loosen and pull the fiber up.

Then using your hands and slowly turning the drum, you pull the fiber off. This came off very smoothly, probably because the staple lengths are 5 to 6 inches long.

I like to run my fleece through just once to avoid any broken pieces (noils), but if I wanted to I could divide this up and run it through again for a more blended look. I want the white and fawn separated because I think it will spin up beautifully.

Roll those little beauties up and you have gorgeous batts ready to be spun. I have enough washed up to card some more for me to spin, so I think I'll put these in my Etsy shop when I get some time. One weighs 1.6 ounces and the other is 1.8 ounces for a total of 3.4 ounces

Family, Friends, Fiber

It recently occurred to me that I spend a great deal of time blogging about the crisis's, death, and the mishaps in my life. I live a wonderful, blessed, "oh, my gawd, I'm so lucky to be alive" existence. Saturday night I spent the evening with my two grown daughters, (wish that you were with us, Rob) drinking wine, laughing, and yes, crying together. Isn't it amazing that your kids can become your bestest friends? See, I'm blessed...


.....and then Sunday was spent with nonfamily friends who feel like family. Mary and Cary came over for a full day of fiber fun. The picture above is of Mary putting some delicious wool through my carder. Cary and I were watching - and, of course, making suggestions. And this picture over here → is Cary showing us how to draft the fiber off the corner of the batt instead of splitting it like we usually do.

Needless to say, we had marvelous food around since both of these women are awesome cooks (not me). But we had the good sense to keep it upstairs so we weren't snacking all day. Mary's delightful grown daughter, Anna, came over for a while. She made some wonderful banana (I think) bread that was spiced up to taste wonderful.

In the afternoon Billie, my across the street neighbor, came over and Beth with her son John stopped in. Beth and John had been in the barn and get this - weighed alpacas, which John recorded for me. They also trimmed some toes which I have been putting off for waaaay too long. And, now see what a great life I have..... Beth left a big container of white, chicken chili in the frig for me - with toppings - cheese, sour cream, and tortios. (I can't spell that & neither can my spell check)

☼☼☼ And the sun shone all day ☼ ☼ ☼ Ain't life Grand?!?!

For those of you who have inquired about Ivan and his colic - thanks for your concern and good energy. He's fine! Eating, pooping, banging his stall door - back to normal.

And little Jr (Libra) - he weighed 31.3 pounds last Friday. I'm encouraged that now the snow has disappeared, he will be getting green grass into his system. I'll continue to do the 10 ounces of gruel 3 times a day though. His buddy, born the same week, now weighs 81 pounds.

The Alpaca Fiber Process from Humming in the Back Yard to Yarn

Orion (Slammie), Pollux (Luxie), and GunnyI'm thinking that it would be fun to give a very simple explanation of the process of making yarn from our alpacas. You need to imagine the step of shearing to get the fiber off the alpacas. I will have pictures in May when we actually do the shear.
This is what the raw fiber looks like. Our animals stay quite clean and free of vegetation because we don't bed with straw and I sweep up fallen hay everyday. When the 'pacas are inside, they live on rubber mats.
To clean the fleece, I spread it out on a screen stapled to a big square, and pick out the vegetation (VM) by hand. Dust and dirt falls through to the floor.
Then I wash it which I have talked about here in my blog. If I am going to immediately dye, I leave the fiber wet after a vinegar solution soak.


My favorite way to dye is in my crock pot. I sprinkle dry Jacquard powder over the wet fiber, pour boiling water over, cover and cook for about 30 minutes. This yellow and green isn't the fiber for the final skein. But this is ↓


Then spread the fiber out to dry. Riley Cat enjoys the drying too much so this usually goes into the tub in the spare bathroom.

The fiber can be spun as soon as it is dry, but I like to card it which lines all the fibers up nice and straight and makes the spinning easier. BTW, this isn't the fiber in the final skein either.

Now the fun part (well, it's all fun, but this is my favorite) SPINNING. For this particular yarn, I tried to make slubby areas and very thin strands. I added some of Rita's (Castleman) mauve Tussah yarn as I spun. Then I plied the single with Woolly Nylon serger thread that had some elasticity to enhance my slubs and bumps.
All this preparation for 50 yards of this ↓

Alpaca Fiber Preparation - Drum Carding

When I look up from my carding, this is the view out my basement window. The view, a little music, creating lovely fiber. How perfect! Well, maybe some wine and chocolate.......

Here she is, friends, my Strauch carder. She does a perfect job with my alpaca fiber. The only thing that I can think of that I would like more is if that dang handle were motorized. That repetitive motion is hard on the old joints.

This is my view while carding and looking down. I fluff the fiber and put on the metal tray on the left. The brutally pokey cylinder (licker in) pulls the fiber in when I crank the red handle. The carded fiber is on the big cylinder to the right.

This is the stage that I was having all kinds of static problems. Well, and when trying to take the batt off. Friends on Ravelry and Etsy forums gave me all kinds of suggestions to control the flight of the fiber. What is working best for me right now is diluting Downy fabric softener in water and spritzing the raw fiber before I even start.

Even though the I have the brush ↓ attachment, I use an additional wide, cheap, bristley brush to pank the fiber down. My friend Carey uses a long wall paper brush.

Fiber coming off carder after one pass through.

After running a hook like tool that Strauch provided (some folks use a long knitting needle) along the little opening with no teeth (you can just sort of see it under the fiber) you can lift the fiber off in sort of a peel like movement. A little fiber will be left behind but I use a metal dog brush like tool to lift it out and add it to my roving piles.

I like to run the bat through again. I strip it lengthwise into about 4 strips and spread/fluff them a little and crank away. My carder can handle about 1.4 ounces before it tells me no more by leaving fiber on the licker in.

I'm very pleased that my Strauch is so kind to my alpaca and does not create little tuffs and noils. My first carder was the Louet Junior (the narrow one) and it was rather harsh and would break my fiber.

Two finished batts ready for spinning. I unfold the batt and strip it lengthwise for mini rovings that are ready to go. I have a custom spinning order for all of this fiber from a very loyal customer - Jessie who lives in Bearsville, New York. She makes beautiful jewelry from coins. Go visit her shop called MadeFromCoins.

Alpaca/Mohair Yarn Handdyed and Handspun

Only 2 more ounces and I will have all my handdyed roving used up. This yarn started out as 2 ounces of dyed up white Pollux, one ounce of natural brown Sonata, and a handful of mohair that I got from Edie Bowles at SpinningMoonFarm through her Etsy store. Edie was very helpful teaching me a little about mohair. My past experience was working with some not so fine stuff so I was a little negative. I carded these three elements together on my carder. Have I mentioned that I'm not really very fond of carding? And I do have a very nice Strauch that does a great job, but I just want to get to the spinning. The white that you see in the yarn are the tuffs of mohair.
Very bulky @ 8 wpi - 3.4 oz./95 grams