fluff to stuff #5 - alpaca scarf

I made this scarf from a friend's alpaca herd!

Click Read More below to see progress pictures!

A friend of mine gave me a couple alpaca fleece last summer. The white one is from an older alpaca named Maravilla. The golden fleece is from a younger alpaca name Sweet Pea.

I washed and combed some of the fiber myself, but my day time job got in the way. Over the winter, I sent the fiber to a lady at a local farm help me card and mix some merino into the fiber for a more springy texture. She also pulled them into roving for me.

I spun the roving into yarn! The brown yarn and white yarn on each side are called "singles". They are a single strand of yarn. The yarn in the middle is called a 2-ply yarn. It was made with two "single" twisted together. You can see the twist since I used a brown and a white single.

Then I wind them into little yarn cakes. The purpose of winding them is so that I can easily pull the yarn out from the center without the ball of yarn rolling everywhere.

After that, the weaving begins! I used a 20 inch Ashford Knitter's Loom. For those who weave, I used the 5 dents per inch reed, and the set is about 7-10. This made a very open fabric with lots of space between the strand of yarn.

After weaving, I soaked the scarf in hair conditioner and hot water to set the weave. This shrinks the fabric a little bit, and flattens it out once it is dried.

And we are done! This scarf is light and fluffy. The perfect accessory for spring and fall weathers!