Llama spinning

It's been over 5 years since I last spun llama.  I think my technique is just a little better!  This time differs a little in that the order was to spin not just a sample of a llama wool, but also make something out of the guard hair that we removed before spinning the very fine fiber.  With the last llama we didn't keep the guard hair so this was certainly a first.

This fleece had a lot less guard hair (the course '2nd coat' that protects the softer inner fiber).  Some llama have it, others don't and it isn't found throughout the fleece, but for best results it should be removed as the soft fiber is every bit as good as alpaca, but would feel more coarse if it was left in.  There may very well be machines to do this, but at the amount I will ever likely have to process that is not an option so it is removed by hand, lock by lock.  Luckily for me, Anne doesn't mind this fairly tedious task.  As it turns out with this particular fleece the guard hairs can be seen easily and by grasping them in one hand and the lock base at the other they simply pull apart.  Without needing to be too fussy.

The result of a quick trail of some of the white (it is a white and brown fleece) resulted in a nice 2.3 oz skein of very soft 2-ply super-fine, and a very short segment of 48-ply 'rope'.

Llama trial and some tools.

The rope section was made by spinning singles from the guard hair which had been collected in a bag.  I took handfuls and teased it out slightly before spinning it with a short forward draw.  3 singles into 3 ply, then dividing the resultant yarn into 4 and using the fringe twister making a 12 ply.  That was again divided by 4 and twisted again to make the 48-ply.

'Fuzzy' 48-ply rope.

There's no comparison to the 2-ply yarn...

Soft 2-ply super-fine.

My customer wants to be able to show different product that come from her animals. Hopefully this does the trick.  It was interesting to make the rope, but there's no way it would ever be worth making more given a) the smaller percentage of guard hair to fine fiber, and b) the complicated process that I can get to work in small amounts but would be defeated if any longer.