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| What is alpaca? |
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WHAT IS ALPACA FLEECE?
Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from the Alpaca animal. It is a
light-weight, soft, durable, luxurious and silky natural fiber. While similar to
sheep’s wool in that it is a natural fiber, it is warmer, not prickly, and has no
lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic. It also has less crimp, thus making it much
less elastic. The animal originates from the high mountains of South America, but
due to the amazing fleece that the animal prduces farms from around the world have
begun to import the animal.
Alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy, but its softness and
fineness enable the spinner to produce satisfactory yarn with comparative ease. It
is hollow as well, which makes it a good insulator. Good quality alpaca fiber is
approximately 18-25µ in diameter, and is very expensive. Finer fleeces, ones with
a smaller diameter, are preferred, and thus are more expensive. As an alpaca gets
older the width of the fibers gets thicker, at between 1 µm and 5 µm per year.
This is often caused by over nutrition; if fed too much nutritious food the animal
does not get fat, instead the fiber gets thicker. Any alpaca fiber exceeding 34µ is
classified as llama.
As with all fleece-producing animals, quality varies from animal to animal, and
some alpacas produce fiber which is less than ideal. Fiber and conformation are
the two most important factors in determining an alpacas value. Organic Thought
alpacas are all semi wild, meaning that they are used by the communities but the
high Andean mountains freely. Living in the same location as MOther Nature
intended to, they eat and live a natural, organic and healthy lifestyle.
Alpacas come in many shades from a true-blue black through browns-black, browns,
fawns, white, silver-greys, and rose-greys.[1] However, white is predominant,
because of selective breeding: the white fiber can be dyed in the largest ranges
of colors. In South America, the preference is for white as they generally have
better fleece than the darker-colored animals.
HISTORY OF ALPACA
Alpaca have been bred in South America for thousands of years. Vicuńas were first
domesticated and bred into alpacas by the ancient Andean tribes of Peru, but also
appeared in Chile and Bolivia. In recent years alpacas have also been exported to
other countries. In countries such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand breeders
shear their animals annually, weigh the fleeces and test them for fineness. With
the resulting knowledge they are able to breed heavier-fleeced animals with finer
fiber. Fleece weights vary, with the top stud males reaching annual shear weights
up to 7 kg total fleece and 3 kg good quality fleece. The discrepancy in weight is
because an alpaca has guard hair which is often removed before spinning.
HISTORY OF ALPACA FIBER INDUSTRY
The Amerindians of Peru used this fiber in the manufacture of many styles of
fabrics for thousands of years before its introduction into Europe as a commercial
product. The alpaca was a crucial component of ancient life in the Andes, as it
provided not only warm clothing but also meat. Many rituals revolved around the
alpaca, perhaps most notably the method of killing it: An alpaca was restrained by
one or more people, and a specially-trained person plunged his bare hand into the
chest cavity of the animal, ripping out its heart. Today, this ritual is viewed by
most as barbaric, but there are still some tribes in the Andes which practice
it. Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American
Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the
indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and
their modern descendants. ...
The first European importations of alpaca fiber were into Spain. Spain transferred
that fiber to Germany and France. Apparently alpaca yarn was spun in England for
the first time about the year 1808 but the fiber was condemned as an unworkable
material. In 1830 Benjamin Outram, of Greetland, near Halifax, appears to have
reattempted spinning it, and again it was condemned. These two attempts failed due
to the style of fabric into which the yarn was woven — a type of camlet. It was
not until the introduction of cotton warps into Bradford trade about 1836 that the
true qualities of alpaca could be developed into fabric. It is not known where the
cotton warp and mohair or alpaca weft plain-cloth came from, but it was this
simple and ingenious structure which enabled Titus Salt, then a young Bradford
manufacturer, to use alpaca successfully. Bradford is still the great spinning and
manufacturing center for alpaca. Large quantities of yarns and cloths are exported
annually to the European continent and the US, although the quantities vary with
the fashions in vogue. The typical "alpaca-fabric" is a very characteristic
"dress-fabric." Greetland is
a small village in the county of West Yorkshire. ... Camlet, also commonly known
as camelot or camblet, is a woven fabric that might have originally been made of
camel or goats hair, now chiefly of goats hair and silk, or of wool and cotton.
... This article discusses the city Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. ... Not
to be confused with Mohair (band). ... WEFT Champaign 90. ... Sir Titus Salt, 1st
Baronet (20 September 1803 – 29 December 1876), born in Morley, near Leeds, was
a manufacturer, politician and philanthropist in Bradford, West Yorkshire,
Due to the successful manufacture of various alpaca cloths by Sir Titus Salt and
other Bradford manufacturers, a great demand for alpaca wool arose which could not
be met by the native product. Apparently, the number of alpacas available never
increased appreciably. Unsuccessful attempts were made to acclimatize alpaca in
England, on the European continent and in Australia, and even to cross English
breeds of sheep with alpaca. There is a cross between alpaca and llama — a true
hybrid in every sense — producing a material placed upon the Liverpool market
under the name "Huarizo". Crosses between the alpaca and vicuńa have not proved
satisfactory.[3] Current attempts to cross these two breeds are underway at farms
in the US. According to the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association, alpacas are
now being bred in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and numerous other
places. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version
(1024x681, 307 KB) A pair of Alpacas from Sillustani, Peru. ... Image File history
File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x681, 307 KB) A pair of
Alpacas from Sillustani, Peru.
ALPACA FLEECE TODAY
In recent years, interest in alpaca fiber clothing has surged, perhaps partly
because alpaca ranching has a reasonably low impact on the environment. Outdoor
sports enthusiasts recognize that its lighter weight and better warmth provides
them more comfort in colder weather, so outfitters such as R.E.I. and others are
beginning to stock more alpaca products. Occasionally, alpaca fiber is woven
together with merino wool to attain even more softness and durability.
Yarn Spools of thread Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibers,
suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting,
weaving, embroidery and ropemaking.
Fiber or fibre is a class of materials that are continuous
filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.
Lanolin, also
called Adeps Lanae, wool wax, wool fat, or wool grease, a greasy yellow substance
from wool-bearing animals, acts as a skin ointment, water-proofing wax, and raw
material (such as in shoe polish).
WHY IS ALPACA SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHER NATURAL FIBERS?
The most valued attribute of alpaca fiber is its handle,
or how it feels to the touch—creamy, silky, soft.
While many factors affect the handle, the diameter of
the fiber (fineness) is most important and is measured
in microns. (A micron measures one-thousandth of a
meter; to get a sense of what that looks like, consider
that most human hair measures about 64 microns). The
fiber used to make most alpaca yarn available to
knitters ranges from the ultra-luxurious
royal baby, which is never more than
18 microns, to super-fine, which
averages 25.5 microns. It is interesting
to note that alpaca fiber
exceeding 34 microns is classified
as “llama” (or llamagrade
alpaca) and that a yarn
labeled “llama” may actually
be from an alpaca and not
a llama at all.
Alpaca is also
valued because it is lustrous,
extremely strong, very warm
(seven times warmer than wool
thanks to microscopic pockets
within the fibers that trap air), drapes
beautifully, takes dye extremely well, and is
not prone to pilling. Because alpaca fiber has nowhere
near the amount of crimp that wool has, it is much less
elastic than wool. Paradoxically, alpaca yarn can also
be lightweight or heavy, depending how it is spun: Spun
fine, it is lighter in weight and warmer than a similarly
spun wool; this is why a lightweight lacy garment made
from alpaca can be so incredibly warm. Spun to a worsted
weight, alpaca is still extremely warm, but it becomes
noticeably heavier than a similarly spun wool yarn.
Basically, this is because the crimpy wool fibers naturally
elbow each other out of the way when combined
for spinning, creating loft, whereas less wavy alpaca
fibers naturally lie together densely when combined for
spinning (just as curly hair on humans looks fuller than
straight hair because of all of the spaces between the
curls). Many people who are sensitive to the “scratchiness”
of wool are perfectly comfortable wearing alpaca
because the scales on the outside of the alpaca fiber are
smaller, much less defined, and overlap less than the
barbs on wool, which makes alpaca smoother than wool
and also contributes to its luster and drape. Since alpaca
contains no lanolin, those who are allergic to the substance
in wool can wear alpaca with ease.
WASHING
Hand wash is reccomended for baby alpaca garment using a gentle, wool friendly detergent and lukewarm water. Let your alpaca garmet soak for about thirty minutes.
Gently squeeze the water through to loosen additional dirt, then drain water, and squeeze again. Gently lift the project, supporting it from below, making sure not to let it stretch. If necessary, repeat the rinse. Repeat this procedure until the detergent residue is gone.
To hasten the drying process, roll the garment between bath towels and stand on them to force out as much water as possible.
Finally, lay the garment on a flat surface and make sure that the original form is conserved. The garment must be away from direct sunlight and away from direct heat sources. Most importnat is to keep the garment in an area with good air circulation.
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