What's On My Wheel? Jaime's Alpaca

I'm pretty sure you all spend all day wondering sorts of projects I'm working on, right? I mean, I do! So today I'll talk all about what I'm spinning and what it's for. I'm trying very hard to be the sort of spinner who spins for a purpose - I see a lot of people making a single skein of beautiful, lovely yarn that... will never be made into anything. I'm trying to avoid that but, as I spin a lot more than I knit... it's taking some serious planning.

First up, I decided to knit an alpaca beanie for Jaime. I've mentioned before that he's a thru-hiker and he's planning on doing the Pacific Crest Trail (one of the three big trails, right up there with the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide) next year. Merino is a popular material for thru-hikers for its softness, it's moisture wicking, and most importantly... it doesn't stink nearly as bad, even after days of wearing. Alpaca has similar desirable characteristics, as a fiber. Great odor control, less shrinking and felting danger when washed, higher tensile strength and arguably better durability, and it's even warmer than merino.

So I picked out and washed a huacaya fleece I liked in a warm, tawny brown. It's not the best colour to go with him - his beard grows in black and silver after a few days on the trail and I think he looks very good in greens and creams. But I don't want to dye the alpaca and cream will show the dirt too much. He won't wear the beanie for the whole trail because he'll be traveling through a lot of climates, so I'm choosing my spinning and knitting style for the high-altitude, cold weather portion of his trip.

The washed fleece

It's a lovely fleece, surprisingly clean for alpaca. It only needed one wash and a rinse and it's got a reasonable amount of vegetable matter. It barely needs to be picked, though some of the tips need flicking. I pull any defined locks apart and them load them into the drum carder sideways. This alpaca gets one run through the drum carder sideways (someone just gasped in horror) and then two runs parallel. I use a pair of size 15 knitting needles to wrap rolags off the drum carder.

Some different rolags I've used.

I tried with puni-style rolags and they spun alright but a looser rolag seems to work better for this alpaca. I also tried making a very large, loose rolag-batt (about half an ounce) and spun that. Again, this worked alright but what I really want for this beanie is a rolag that can be pulled out into a tube of fiber and spun in a woolen style. I'm using a long, back draw with a little forward action to control the twist. This should make a lofty yarn that will bloom well and create many spaces for air to get trapped, providing a layer of insulation and warmth for Jaime when it's very cold.

I'm spinning it rather fine and with quite a bit of twist. I'll make a 3-ply yarn to knit the beanie with. I'm about half done with the carding and spinning but I haven't quite decided on what pattern to knit. It's going to need a good amount of ribbing and negative ease because alpaca likes to stretch and sag.