Huacaya Alpaca Fiber Fine Black Hand Drawn Top Roving 4 Oz .25 Lb Spinning 9.5"!

Description

Description of This Product:
You are buying: 4 OZ. (.25 LB.) OF GRADE 3 (FINE) HUACAYA
ALPACA FIBER TOP, IN A BATCH OF MULTIPLE BALLS.
Top is fiber from which unacceptably short lengths have been removed, and the fiber is positioned in parallel, for spinning smooth, dense yarn. Hand drawn top requires somewhat lengthy processing. Top can be called roving, but normal roving may not have fibers drawn in parallel or very short fibers (noils) and clumps (neps) removed.
The image of the stacked, coiled top shows approx. 18 oz. of this fiber on a 15"x 20" cutting board. Sales are from these or similarly prepared balls.
Preparation: This fiber has been hand washed, finely hand combed, and hand drawn into top from the combs, isolating into this product mainly fibers that range from roughly 9.5" to 5.5", with long fibers greatly predominating in this product. Most fibers under 6", and most "junk", have been removed. This fiber is suitable for worsted style spinning of smooth, strong yarn or thread. Efforts have been made, to the degree feasible in the extensive hand processing used, to minimize neps (fiber clumps), noils (very short fibers), guard hairs, light colored hairs, non-blanket hairs, and debris.
Color: Natural, undyed. This blanket fiber, after skirting and further processing, is almost completely of the true black color. Some light fibers remain that can yet be pulled out, but most have been removed.
Grade: Staple length is approx 9.5", as shown in the image. Tested fiber diameter centers at about 24.2 microns, grade 3, fine. The histogram image provided in this listing summarizes 50 random measurements, +/- 1 micron, from this fleece.
Contaminants: Some flecks of loose vegetation.
Other information about this fiber:
- Fleece#: 43720
- Fiber type: Peruvian Huacaya Alpaca
- Source: Amazing Grace Ranch, Elizabeth, CO
- Shear Area: Blanket
- Color (nearest standard approximation): True Black (500 TB)
- Animal Name: Ebony Joy (Joy)
- AOA Reg#: 30332348
- Animal Gender: Female
- Animal Birth Date: 8/7/2011
- Shear Date: 6/25/16
More information on the qualities, use, and processing of alpaca fiber:
Fleece Areas:
- Blanket (back from lower neck to tail): Best quality. Some animals have coarser guard hairs in the tips than others, and fiber diameter and qualities can vary by genetics, animal age, and annual environmental conditions.
- Neck and Belly: 2nd quality, somewhat coarser. Neck fiber is longer than belly fiber.
- Legs and tail: 3rd quality, coarsest, and rather short
Fiber diameter grades:
- Grade 0, Royal Alpaca - under 18 microns
- Grade 1, Ultra Fine/Baby - under 20 microns
- Grade 2, Super Fine - under 23 microns
- Grade 3, Fine - under 26 microns
- Grade 4, Medium, under 29 microns
- Grade 5, Intermediate, under 32 microns
- Grade 6, Robust, under 35 microns
- Grade 7, Coarse, over 35 microns
Staple Length:
In general, short fiber (more like 2-4 inches) yields fluffier (warmer) but weaker yarn. Yarn from long fiber (more like 5-7 inches) can be quite fluffy if loosely spun, or dense if more tightly spun, but with fewer tips exposed, this yarn is smoother and stronger.
Fiber less than 1.5" can be used to make felt, but is not a normal choice to make yarn.
Woolen and worsted: In making yarn, basic English types are "woolen" and "worsted". As a most basic description, woolen uses fiber that is often simply carded, is not made particularly parallel in alignment, and may contain substantial neps (small clumps) and noils (very short fiber lengths), producing a weaker, fluffier yarn. Worsted, meanwhile, uses fiber that is combed to pull out noils, neps, and contaminants, leaving longer fibers in a parallel alignment. These longer, parallel fibers move intact through the spinning process to yield smoother, firmer, and stronger worsted yarn. Handcrafted yarns commonly fall somewhere between these polar extremes, with a worsted purist diligently removing virtually all neps and noils and following through with a strict spinning procedure.