Alpaca

I hope you can see this yarn. It is my handspun alpaca/silk blend. It took a little net surfing to figure out how to spin this soft fiber. As I've said, I'm a fairly new spinner and had only worked with wool until I acquired this fiber. It was a whole different experience. At first I was a little frustrated and wasn't sure I'd made a good purchase. Then I found a some info and spinning from the fold. That was the trick. I was still a little unsure of the end product I was achieving. Well, after I plyed it and gave it a quick soak, it bloomed and plumped and I love it. I was pretty proud of the end product. I got approximately 145 yards of 2ply out of 4 oz. I'd guess it is between a sport weight and a worsted weight. I haven't done a wpi yet, but i did make my own yardage measure that doubles as a "spool" holder for plying. I only have a drop spindle right now and then I wrap my fiber onto empty toilet paper rolls. One full wrap around the outside pegs is one yard. When I want to ply, I place each roll on a peg then they spin freely so I can ply. I have only done 2 ply so far, but I hope to acquire some more fiber soon and I will work on trying to spin finer so I can maybe try 3 ply or if I'm feeling brave, maybe Navajo ply for some sock yarn. We'll see what happens, but I need to finish the alpaca and am planning on knitting a wrap with it. Did I say I was proud of myself? I soooooo am. This could become a major obsession. It is so transportable to take to work to do during downtime.