Fiber Skirting, Sorting and Processing
At Snowshoe Farm, we try to make use of as much of the fiber produced by our alpacas as possible. We use the highest quality fleeces for our alpaca and alpaca-blend yarns. But there is a lot of fiber that does not meet our standards for yarn. Some of that fiber comes from the neck, legs and belly of even the best alpacas and some comes from older alpacas. There are uses for all of this fiber.
Once the fleeces are skirted and the best fiber has been sent off to Sallie’s Fen Fibers for processing into yarn, it’s time to tackle the rest of the fiber. And there’s a lot of it!
First, we sort the fiber into two lengths: fiber that’s long enough to be processed into rug yarn and shorter fiber that can be used for felting. We offer different products with these fibers, including washed and dyed fiber for felting, core spun yarn and handwoven rugs.
This year we have a new product – wet felted sheets! We’re due to pick up our first batch of felted sheets tomorrow from Mad River Fiber Mill. While we might offer some of these sheets for sale, we’re looking forward to working with this felted fabric to make finished products. That will be a good winter project!
The bags below contain lower quality alpaca fiber. Some of the bags are ready to head to a mill, some will be washed and dyed in-house and some are waiting to be sorted before being sent out for processing. The goal is to get through all these bags before shearing next April!!
