Friday, January 20, 2012

Fiber Arts Friday: Spinning Llama

I have spun Huacaya Alpaca, Suri Alpaca, Paco-Vicuna and Baby Camel so llama was the last of the domesticated camelids I had to spin.


I picked this batt up at the Estes Park Wool Market last spring.

Much like the Paco-Vicuna I spun in November, this llama has a beautiful color variation.


It is softer than I expected and quite easy to spin even though the batt had a lot of vegetable matter in it... so much actually, that I'm seriously considering moving that picker higher up on my to acquire list.  :-)


The final result is 2 ounces and 79 yards.

I'm not crazy about the little curlie-ques in this yarn.  I think they are there because I was trying to pull out the VM on the fly and therefore continued to treadle.  Oops.  That being said, it was a nice fiber to work with and I would like to spin llama from a roving sometime. :-)

Be sure to check in with the other Fiberistas over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder because it is Fiber Arts Friday!

10 comments:

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

Looks good and I'm impressed that you've spun suri alpaca already! I have some in my stash, but haven't felt up to the task. I have some lovely camel/silk that I'm itching to try. You are probably right about the spots of overtwisting. It is really easy to do that when removing VM on the fly.

Melissa Plank said...

You have some beautiful hand spun there, it will make a lovely project! ( I recently spun a batt I had bought which was composed of raw/unwashed/very dirty wool, what a mess! I finally just couldn't put it off any longer, it was either spin it or toss it!)

Vivian said...

I like those curlie-q's when they happen in my knitting, add special character.

Spinners get to play with so many different fibers, I'm jealous ;-)

oak haven alpacas said...

I love the color variations, those kind are the most fun to spin.


Cara

Kathryn Ray said...

@Kristi - suri was actually the first alpaca I ever spun. It took a little getting used to the longer staple length, but otherwise it's pretty straight forward. Definitely easier than cotton or camel.

@Vivian and Melissa - I intended the yarn for a weaving, but I agree, I think it would be better in a knitted project.

@Cara - definitely agree.

Spinster Beth said...

It looks wonderfully squooshable! I have only spun camel and alpaca, from the camelids. Perhaps I'll look for some llama at MD sheep and wool.

AllyB said...

Hey! It's always interesting how the batt looks totally different than the finished singles. I would have thought that the singles would be more white looking at the batt. Is it super soft? I have some baby camel fiber around here somewhere I should dig out and give a spin. Thanks for the nudge. Have a great weekend.

WonderWhyGal said...

That yarn is beautiful and will weave up better than you think. I have had a lot of fun with my singles like that in both my warp and weft.

You have conquered more camelid spinning than I have. hmmm, maybe I should get that paca vicuna to try.

Kathryn Ray said...

@SpinsterBeth - you should give it a try.

They have several different llama rovings at one of my LYS's so I am thinking about picking some up since the batt wasn't exactly what I was going for.

@AllyB - it really is quite soft. A lot softer than I expected it to be. Nothing like baby camel, but still a very nice yarn.

@WWG - I'm not convinced it won't go into the planned weaving... for now the yarn is in that box. I have a lot of yarn still to make, so I have plenty of time to think about it. :-)

Alittlebitsheepish said...

It looks super, I love hearing about the different fibres you have tried