I blend fibers first. As was mentioned the shrinkage (but also the
fulling and stretching) varies between species. Blending the fibers
before spinning helps address this.
I recommend the book Plucky Fluff for neat ideas in novelty yarn. I
took some of our black alpaca and as I spun a single, I would take
just a little tuft of my white angora and, holding it perpendicular
to the black alpaca being spun, allowed the white angora to wrap
around the black alpaca forming little puff balls, or "cocoons" as my
daughter called them. A very neat affect. I also like the look of
the black alpaca rough blended (carded) with the white angora, about
75/25%. It didn't make it an obvious gray, but rather had these nice
little white spots in dark yarn.
It is important that the alpaca be of low micron, harder to find in
blacks, if it's going to be blended with the angora. The finer fiber
will migrate to the center or core of the yarn leaving the coarse
fibers on the outside, which is what we feel. You in essence would
be burying your angora in the yarn, never really seeing or feeling
it. (Of course, this applies to other fibers as well.)
Play with a little bit, say, one rolag and see what you think!
Gabrielle Menn
Fanfare Farms & The Loom Room
Vacaville, CA
Gabrielle, do you blend the fibers before spinning or ply the two
(or three) pure strands together? I have some beautiful black
alpaca that I would love to use and haven't decided what would be
the best treatment. I'm sure it would go farther if I blend it
before spinning and the resulting yarn would be better suited for
weaving.
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