100% alpaca wool yarn

100% alpaca wool yarn

100% fair traded

Weight: 100g 

Untreated, hand-washed, hand-spun, light brown

For needle sizes 2.5 - 3 made from the highest quality alpaca raw fibers in natural colors.

Particularities:

Our Andean wool was not made in factories, machine-washed or spun.

You can see this from the unique small color differences of each individual tuber.

Alpacas live in the Andean plateaus. They have been kept as pets by the population for thousands of years. They are one of the most important farm animals due to their frugality, endurance and usability at an altitude of 4000 m.

Since the people in the Andes are mostly very poor, the raw wool of the alpacas is often the only way of earning them, in addition to agriculture. On the domestic market, the wool is only paid at a very low price. With the direct marketing of the natural hand-spun wool from our cooperative "Alpaquitas" we are trying to create better conditions for the Alpaqueros (alpaca herders).

Thank you and have fun knitting

"Alpaca fiber - the fleece of the gods"

Alpacas are the smaller relatives of the llamas and are among the oldest livestock breeds in the world. In its country of origin Peru, the alpaca fiber industry is still of great economic importance. Approximately 2-3 million alpacas are kept in Peru today and produce approx. 4,000 - 8,000 t alpaca fiber. There are also large alpaca deposits in Bolivia and Chile. There are two types of alpacas, the Huacaya and the much rarer Suri. They differ in the structure of their fibers. The Huacaya Alpaka has a fine, evenly crimped fiber (crimp) and some awning hair (top hair). The Suri Alpaka, on the other hand, has no curl in the fibers, the hair forms curly, straight strands that hang down on the animal. The play of colors ranges from deep black, brown or gray to pure white.

Alpaca wool is very popular in the textile industry worldwide, as it is one of the finest natural fibers in the world alongside cashmere and silk. A silky shiny, extraordinarily fine, but still very resistant, elastic hair fleece makes alpaca wool a noble and yet very weatherproof material.

Unlike sheep's wool or cashmere, the alpaca hair is hollow on the inside. This gives the material unique thermal properties. In the cold, the warmed air is stored and in summer the warm air is transferred outside. These outstanding properties make alpaca the ideal wool fiber for the whole year - summer and winter.

The alpaca fiber creates a very comfortable fit because it is much lighter than sheep or cotton. Garments made from this fiber have an incomparable style of elegance and unique color intensity.

For cleaning, it is usually sufficient to hang the clothes outdoors overnight, so the fibers straighten up again. If you still want to wash your sweaters or jackets, use shampoo and wash the wool products by hand. Dry the pieces lying down to keep their shape.

For storage, you can insert a lavender bag or cedar wood slice, then you will enjoy your alpaca wool pieces for a very long time.