Alpaca Yarn

Here is the 2-ply alpaca yarn I spun with roving I purchased at MSWF.  My idea was to spin the pretty blue/gray/lilac roving into a 2-ply yarn for my knitting sister, Laura, for her upcoming birthday.  I split the roving in half length-wise and spun each half on one bobbin on my Wyatt Norwegian at a 1:12 ratio. This roving turned out to be Suri alpaca which has a long staple length (6 to 8 inches).  Huacaya alpacas have a shorter staple length (3 to 5 inches).  Suri alpaca fiber is more like hair whereas Huacaya alpaca fiber is soft and crimpy like wool. 

Suri alpaca fiber can take a lot of twist and I found it easy to add too much twist.  With not enough twist, though, it doesn't have much body.  Judith MacKenzie McCuin would warn us that we could spin it into a wire if we were not careful.  I spun and plied this yarn over Fourth of July weekend and it was not the stunning skein of yarn I had hoped it would be.  I spared Laura this fibery injustice and sent her some Bugga instead.  This skein is about 300 yards and weighs about 4 ounces at 17 to 23 wpi.  Some of the color sections became mismatched and created quite the barber-pole effect as well.  I had not spun Suri before, so it was a new spinning experience for me.   

Comments

[opal]

i think you're being too hard on yourself! that skein is beautiful!

[Ann]

I can't see any imperfections. It looks lovely & the colors are nice as I do like the barber pole effects.