Alpaca fiber

Common card · No. 432121

Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. There are two different types of alpaca fleece. The most common fleece type comes from a Huacaya. Soft, spongy Huacaya fiber grows and looks similar to sheep wool in that the animal looks "fluffy". The second type of alpaca is Suri and makes up less than 10% of the South American alpaca population. Suri fiber is more similar to natural silk and hangs off the body in locks that have a dreadlock appearance. While both fibers can be used in the worsted milling process using light weight yarn or thread, Huacaya fiber can also be used in a woolen process and spun into various weight yarns. It is a soft, durable, luxurious, silky fiber. While huacaya fiber is similar to sheep's wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic. Alpaca fiber is naturally water-repellent and fire resistant. Huacaya fiber has natural crimp, thus making a naturally elastic yarn well-suited for knitting. Suri has no crimp...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Cgoodwin, CC BY-SA 3.0