![]() They also use natural mordants, like salt, citric acid and alum. In boiling water, the compañeras mix the yarn with natural plant and insect dye found in their community, or purchased at the local market. This is one of the most transformative stages of the journey where the white yarn takes on vivid colors. Once the fiber is spun into yarn it is ready to be dyed. The artisans we partner with use these fibers to felt around handmade soap to create our unique felted soap. ![]() This is usually around 10-15% of the weight of the fleece. ![]() When spinning alpaca yarn, there are always fibers that are too short to spin. This ensures that the yarn is strong enough to withstand the tugging required to make a fine, tightly woven textile, and that the textile will not warp due to uneven tension. Once the raw wool has been spun into a thread, it is re-spun into a 2- or even 3-ply yarn, a process called plying, or k’antiy in Quechua. Wool is often spun several times to create yarn that is taut, straight and strong enough for weaving. It is also one of the first parts of the weaving process that children learn, and the whole family – men, women and children – help with. But for experienced artisans, spinning is second nature. Visitors on our sustainable tours taking part in their first weaving lesson often find their phuskas tumbling towards the ground with fiber falling everywhere. In contrast, sheep’s wool is coarser and almost wiry. Alpaca fiber is more difficult to spin because it is lighter and finer in weight. The finer the yarn, the smaller and lighter the spindle. Using a technique passed down for centuries, the women of the Patacancha Valley communities spin the raw fiber using a wooden drop spindle called a phuska. Llamas are no longer kept for fiber, but some communities still shear and spin their fiber, which is much coarser, and used to weave rope, saddle blankets and potato sacks.Īfter alpacas have been sheared, artisans and their families spin the fiber to create smooth and uniform yarn. Alpaca shearing is carried out either annually or bi-annually depending on the health of the animal, the quality of its fleece, and the intended purpose of the fiber. Compañeras,(meaning partner/companion, and the polite term Quechua people use address each other in daily life) use the softest fiber, the first time a young alpaca is sheared, to make Awamaki baby products that keep the most sensitive skin warm for adult knit accessories, they use fleece from adult alpacas. During the warmer months of December, January, and February, alpaca and sheep herders shear their animals, producing amazingly silky bundles of fiber as the animals trot off lighter and cooler.
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