Over the next several posts we are going to go through how to take a raw alpaca blanket from start to finish.
On the Canadian Prairies it isn’t difficult to find alpaca fibre for sale. Most often the type of alpaca you will find is the huacaya. They are the alpacas that have the fluffy teddy bear like fibre. On the rare occasion you might find a suri alpaca, with the long dreadlocks appearance.
Where I live in Manitoba it is easy to find a local producer of huacaya fibre and I love to support their market. Where a sheep has a fleece, an alpaca has what is called a blanket. What I will be cleaning today is called Cria, which means juvenile llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. In my case from a baby huacaya alpaca called Guiness, likely due to his colour.
Alpaca can be carded or combed, then spun without washing. My preference is to clean it first, especially if it may be stored for several months before used. I’m also not a fan of getting dirt into my processing tools.
The first step is to divide up your fleece into lingerie bags. For this 1.6 pound blanket I used 8 small lingerie bags. The bags for the alpaca is less about maintaining lock structure, but more about keeping fibre out of the drain.
Unlike wool alpaca does not have lanolin, but still feels oily similar to how human hair can get. It’s often very dusty as they like to roll in dust. Due to the fact there is no lanolin the wash water is not as hot as that used on wool. I use medium to hot water. I can comfortably put my hands in the water. Similar to dish cleaning temperatures. I fill two basins at the same time. Place a couple squirts of dawn dish soap into the water and swish to distribute but don’t make suds. (Dawn is a gentle cleaner for most fibres). The two basins are filled at the same time to keep the temperature consistent from the first wash to the second wash. I don’t use a thermometer to ensure both sinks are similar temperature, but feel free if you are concerned about felting the fibre. Generally fibre going from cooler to hotter water is not an issue, but if you go from hot to cold and agitate the fibre you could felt it.
I submerge 3 lingerie bags into the water gently. Allow to soak for 20-30 minutes. At the end of that cycle the bags are gently squeezed out and transferred to the second wash. I like to keep a clear jar on hand so that I can see a sample of the water. If after the second wash the water is still really dirty I might give it a third wash. Most times after the second wash I can transfer to the first rinse water for 15 minutes, then transfer to the second rinse. This will remove the last of any dirt as well as the soap.
Squeeze out the bags then roll into a towel. Transfer the bags to a clothes horse or drying table. Once the fibre is completely dry it will feel warm. If it feels a bit cool, it is not completely dry.
That’s all there is to it. Our next post will cover how to prepare the fibre for spinning.
Stop by our YouTube channel to watch the accompanying video washing alpaca fibre.
Other alpaca videos are Picking and Carding Alpaca, Spinning Alpaca (woollen-spun), and Plying Alpaca
Until next time happy spinning!