|
At some point, you will ask, What do I do
with alpaca fleece? There are, of course, the standard replies: Send it to the Co-op; sell it to hand-spinners;
enter it in a show; send it to a mini-mill for processing. But what if you don't have show quality fleece; you're just
learning to shear and you've not done a good job; you don't know any hand-spinners; cash is tight; and/or you just feel adventurous?
Try
felting your fleece. It's easy and fun. Decorative projects are suitable for badly sheared fleece. They
are also good to practice on. One of the great things about alpaca fiber is that it doesn't contain lanolin, so you don't
have to wash it before you felt it or make yarn from it.
After shearing, first skirt your fleece. This means
spreading it on a table made of hardware cloth that allows dirt and debris to fall through. Then you sort through the
fleece, separating the fleece that contains large amounts of debris. You can felt this fleece into strips to use as
weed barriers in your flower garden, or anywhere else you need to prevent vegetation from growing.
You will also want
to sort it by length and fineness. Try to keep batches as uniform as possible.
To wash it, run some warm water
in a sink, pot or tub, depending on the amount. Add some cheap baby shampoo. Add your fleece and gently push it
under the water until it's soaked through. DON'T AGITATE IT! You will have felt if you do. Let it soak for
20-30 minutes. Lift it out. Empty the water, and repeat. The third time, if the fleece is clean enough,
just use clear water to rinse it. After it is rinsed, you can run it through the spin cycle on your washing machine
if you're careful not to agitate it in the process. Then you can lay it on your skirting table, out of the sun, and
let it air dry.
One of my first attempts at felt-making was perfect for gluing
to the bottom of a wood carving I did for my niece. I've made 2 felt balls, several small button-sized balls, a pot holder,
& several felt rectangles. I cut a square of Marilyn's and a square of Goldie's, embroidered a design on both and
sewed them together for a coaster.
Right now, I'm learning to make slippers from my practice fleece. My practice
slippers from Marilyn's fleece are so soft and comfortable, I can't wait to feel how luxurious Goldie's will be! Marilyn's
comfort factor is only 87.2%, while Goldie's is 97.9%. My 7 yr. old grandson tried on the first pair and told me I can
make everyone slippers for Christmas. (Something I am contemplating.) My husband is dropping broad hints about
some slippers for him.
I am looking for ideas for Christmas presents. Pillow covers; blankets; rugs, slippers;
hats; Christmas stockings; pot holders; decorative wall hangings; tote bags, vests. Wow! Imagine giving luxury alpaca
products that you made yourself from your own fleece!
There are several books on felting. Check Quality Llama
Products, Useful Lama Items, Amazon.com and Books A Million. A couple I like are:
The Art of Feltmaking
by Anne Einset Vickrey
also the video by her - "Feltmaking by Hand - The Basic Process"
Simply Felt by
Margaret Docherty & Jayne Emerson
Fun With Felt & Embroidery by Leisure Arts (I found this one at Michaels.)
I
thought it might be fun to learn to spin my own yarn, too, so I bought the book
Spin It by Lee Raven. I'll
start on that in my spare time.
Since most of our fleece is white, I'm also experimenting with dyeing. Kool-Aid
works well.
|
