29 Aug Alpaca fleece is a lustrous and silky natural fiber
The Alpaca is a species of South American camelid, similar to, and often confused with the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related, and can successfully cross-breed. Alpacas and llamas are also closely related to the Vicuña, which is believed to be the alpaca’s wild ancestor, and to the Guanaco. There are two breeds of Alpaca: the Suri alpaca (es) and the Huacaya alpaca.
Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Southern Peru, Western Bolivia, Ecuador, and Northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,500 ft) to 5,000 m (16,000 ft) above sea level, throughout the year.[1] Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, they were not bred to be working animal, but are bred specifically for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, similar to wool. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles and ponchos in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States.
Alpacas communicate through body language. The most common is spitting when they are in distress, fearful, or mean to show dominance.[2] Male alpacas are more aggressive than females and tend to establish the dominance of their herd group. In some cases, alpha males will immobilize the head and neck of a weaker or challenging male in order to show their strength and dominance.
In Textile industry, “alpaca” primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian Alpacas, but more broadly it refers to a style of fabric originally made from alpaca hair, such as mohair, Icelandic sheep wool, or even high-quality wool. In trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohair and luster.[3]
An adult alpaca generally is between 81–99 centimeters (32–39 in) in height at the shoulders (withers). They usually weigh between 48–84 kilograms (106–185 lb).
Alpaca fleece is a lustrous and silky natural fiber. While similar to sheep’s wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and bears no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic.[33][34] Without lanolin, it does not repel water. It is also soft and luxurious. In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy.[3] The preparing, carding, spinning, weaving and finishing process of alpaca is very similar to the process used for wool. Alpaca fiber is also flame-resistant, and meets the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s standards.[35]
Alpacas are typically sheared once per year in the spring. Each shearing produces approximately five to ten pounds (2.2–4.5 kilograms) of fiber per alpaca. An adult alpaca might produce 50 to 90 ounces (1420–2550 grams) of first-quality fiber as well as 50 to 100 ounces (1420–2840 grams) of second- and third-quality fiber. The quality of alpaca fiber is determined by how crimpy it is. Typically, the greater the number of small folds in the fiber, the greater the quality.
Knitting with commercially spun alpaca fiber is easy since it is very soft, and no more slippery than sheep’s wool. (It is slightly harder to spin by hand because it lacks the large scales of sheep wool and thus doesn’t twist together quite as well.) Alpaca yarn has become very popular with hand-knitters in the United States in the last decade. Handmade alpaca (and alpaca blend) garments made for sale are very common, especially in Peru and Bolivia. In Peru, there are two upscale companies that sell the majority of machine-made alpaca sweaters, scarves, ponchos, etc., as well as many other smaller companies in both countries that produce machine-made alpaca garments, generally for the tourist market. For production knitting there is a technique used with alpaca (or wool) yarn, between hand- and machine-made, that of ‘hand-loomed.’ This term means that the garment was made on a rather low-tech knitting ‘machine’ (such as the old Brother brand) where every stitch must be hooked up by hand in the proper color. Then the carriage is passed along the whole width of the garment, effectively joining the stitches to those below or knitting them. Many tourist-destined sweaters, scarves and so forth in South American shops are made by this method. Hand-looming obviously necessitates a relatively expensive machine, so caps, sweaters, and shawls are more commonly made entirely by hand, with two knitting needles or a circular needle or 4-5 double-pointed needles for socks. Weaving with alpaca is done by many indigenous groups around the Cuzco region of Peru, creating fine, strong shawls and so forth with a nice drape. Alpaca garments can last for an extremely long time, but beware as clothes moths seem to adore the fiber. As the fiber is soft and luxurious it is the choice of some high end alpaca knitwear and sweater companies.
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