Fiber Processing

The reason Alpacas and Angora Goats are raised is to harvest their fiber for various uses. This page provides information on where you can get your fiber processed, and some steps you need to go through before the processing.

Scouring

Scouring is the process of cleaning the fiber before sending it off to a processor. Most animal fiber will contain some dirt and grease (even Alpaca fiber) that must be removed. You can send it off to one of the processing plants to let them do it for you at about $2-$5 a pound, or you can do it yourself. Note that this does not normally remove all vegetable matter from the fleece, and it might be necessary to hand pick much of that from the fleece.

Scouring Your Wool Yourself  (Adapted from Taos Valley Wool Mill)

Pre-soak: First place the fleece in the bathtub or a washtub or other large container and cover it with cool or room temperature water. If the fleece is matted, it should be picked before washing. Grease and dirt will be retained in dense clumps of fleece. After soaking for at least twenty minutes, squeeze out the water and place the fleece in an automatic washer. This pre-soaking removes the worst bulk of mud and sludge and keeps it out of your washer.

Wash:  Fill the washer with water too hot for your hands and add detergent (2 or 3 times what you would use for a load of laundry). You may add washing soda (sodium carbonate). Use only your favorite detergent.  Orvus is fine or Arm and Hammer or Tide etc. DO NOT USE fabric softener or any other additives. They leave a residue which interferes with carding. Turn off the machine. DO NOT ALLOW IT TO AGITATE.! Some people remove the agitator to prevent accidental agitation. Agitation of wool in hot water will cause it to felt, and that is irreversible and irrevocable.

Allow the fleece to soak for about 20 minutes. During this time gently move the fiber through the hot soapy water with a smooth stick or a rubber gloved hand two or three times. Then move the dial ahead to the drain and spin cycle and spin dry it.

Rinse:  Add hot clean rinse water; soak for another 5 minutes and spin dry again. Repeat until the rinse water is clear.

Dry:  Spread the fleece to dry on a horizontal screen such as an old screen door laid across saw horses. A fan to move air through the fiber will speed the process.

Test:  When it is thoroughly dry, try this test for any residue. Warm it in a sunny window or warm room then rub a small lock between your thumb and forefinger. If you feel any tackiness on your fingers, repeat the washing process. Do the rubbing test on several different parts of the fleece.

For more information on washing techniques check out ' Getting the most from your Fiber'.

Skirting a Fleece for Carding  (Shamelessly stolen from Knitting-and.com) The diagram shows a fleece with all the areas which may require skirting. Skirting involves removing all inferior wool from the fleece wool. Each fleece is a little different, but most fleeces will only need fribs (sweat points), short crutchings, topknots and stain removed, as stain is the worst type of inferior wool to leave on the fleece. All fribs are removed from behind the front and back legs. If cotted edges and/or clumpy vegetable matter (burr on burr) are present these will also need to be removed. Pieces of skin, which remain on the fleece after shearing due to small cuts on the sheep by the shearing machine, will need removing. The back and neck will only need removing if the wool is tender or water stained.

Alpaca Fleece The best fleece comes from the saddle of the alpaca (i.e. Along the back, side, shoulder and rump). Neck fleece is next in quality, followed by the coarser fibre on the legs and belly. These different qualities should always be kept separate. Stains, dags and burrs need to be removed. Before carding always take a handful of fleece and give it a good shake. Repeat this step until the fleece is completed. This will remove most of the loose vegetable matter.

Mohair Remove all sweaty, short, discoloured or kempy mohair, cotted, dags and water stained fleece. With kempy areas, which are mainly along the back line of the animal, this will also have to be removed. In some cases it will be necessary to remove excessive vegetable matter.

Processors

Here is a list of fiber processors that we know of. This is obviously not an exhaustive list, and we will be updating it as we learn more.

	AFCNA	Alpaca Fiber Cooperative of North America;  National Alpaca Fiber Co-op
	NAAFP	North American Alpaca Fiber Producers; a coop for processing sorted fiber, has regional centers for collecting fleece
	AAFF	American Alpaca Fiber Federation; a coop geared to paying cash for fiber and sending to Mexico for processing. Comes to you to pick up fleece.
	Taos Valley Wool Mill	Very large processor specifically geared to small ranchers. ~$5/lb for bat; $14/lb for yarn.
	Royal Fiber Spinnery	An alpaca co-op  with a large mill. Has several interesting options for handling fleece. Tends to be a bit expensive.
	Rio Oso Farms	Do all the processing except spinning.  ~$6/lb for bats.
	Texas Fiber Mill	A mill operated by Inglenook Farms near Austin, Tx.    ~$32/lb for processing from raw fleece to yarn
	Fantasy Fibers	Can do all the processing. ~$5.60/lb for bats; $26/lb for yarn.
	Fingerlakes Custom Mill	Can do everything. ~$4/lb for bats ($5 if washing included); $15/lb for yarn. Works with Angora fleece.
	Ozark Carding Mill	Can do everything, but a bit slow; ~$7/lb for bats
	Stonehedge Fiber Mill	Does everything; ~$5.95/lb for bats (includes washing).
	Spinderella's Creations	~$5.75/lb for bats
	Georgia Mountain Fiber	$12/lb for bats (includes washing)