Alpaca yarn?

[Muggins&Doody]

Does Alpaca perform like wool? Is it okay for soakers? When wet does it smell like wet wildabeast?

[Meredith]

Does Alpaca perform like wool? Is it okay for soakers? When wet does it smell like wet wildabeast?

Ok... that last ? has me :lol:

I have heard that alpaca doesn't have the same lanolin content in it. That is about all I have heard. I have used alpaca to knit a scarf, and it hurt my hands with all the little hairs in it. Don't know if it was the way it was processed (probably), but I didn't like it really.

[pmcgary]

alpaca doesn't have lanolin in it like sheep wool and it is a very drapey fiber - so won't hold the shape well. (And at my LYS is is PRICEY!)

[littleturtlemama]

alpaca won't (IMO) work well at all. I've posted many (MANY!0 times on MDC about it, so if you want my detailed explaination, go search diapering or sewing and crafts for "alpaca" and I'm sure it'll come up.

Here's the short version: no lanolin, no guard hairs, very drapey, terrible slipping and stretching.

:)

[pamelamama]

If someone wants to find that over at mdc and repost it here, we can make it a sticky! 8)

[littleturtlemama]

here ya go: this is from teh luxury wool for soaker post on MDC :)
Okay, now for my opinions on the various yarns. Alpaca is a beautiful yarn, but wouldn't be one I'd use in a soaker, for three reasons. First, it's about 3 times more insulating that wool, which means it gets H-O-T in there. So, baby's poor bum would be sweating. Second, it's got a low micron count (meaning is very soft) but with that softness comes stretchiness. With alpaca, we're talkng monumental stretchiness. The alpaca fiber, unlike wool, doesn't have guard hair (which all kind of grab onto each other and minimize the stretching.) Alpaca fiber is incredibly smooth and there's no cuticle to rub against other hairs and stop the slipping-so it tends to grow (and grow, and grow.) I'd never use a 100% alpaca for a sweater for this reason, as well (cause the sweater will quickly grow into a shape that would roughly fit a full grown ape, LOL.) third, alpaca doesn't have natural lanolin, so the wetness deterent isn't there.

Okay, on to mohair. This is a beautiful fiber, but it sheds. A lot. A very lot. I made the mistake of knitting AJ a lamb's pride soaker once, and dang if i wasn't picking little bits of blue fuz off his tiny penis for days. And again, no lanolin. Cashmere, same thing-low micron count (super soft, super stretchy) and no lanolin, so not very good wetness protection. Also, cashmere (and all goat hair) doesn't absorb a lot of it's weight in water.

Now, within the sheep wool dategory, there are many breeds that offer their own benefits and disadvantages. I personally don't like to use merino becuase I think it stretches too much and I prefer not to have to wash that often to get it back into shape. I like border leicester a lot. My favorite is columbia, which is actually a cross breed from lincolns (which are descendants of leicesters) and Rambouillets (which are descendants of spanish merinos) Basically, the columbia gives the softness of a merino, with the durability and hard-wearingness of the lincoln and leicesters.

Anyway, that's my $.02, and in knitting, everyone's got their own opinion. there's a yarn for everone, LOL!

[Muggins&Doody]

Good to know! Now I won't be tempted to buy pricey alpaca yarn at the yarn shop.
Theresa, what about wool from, what are those sheep called....ramboillet? Did I spell that right>

[marnie]

ok, my alpaca experinces:

if lanolized, it does indeed work as a soaker.

it does indeed stretch far more than sheep's wool.

most of the time, it sheds like crazy. I made blue shorts for a friend who likes them on her son overnight but says he wakes up looking like Grover around the waist and thighs.

it's crazy expensive.

It's fun to knit, though.

i wouldn't make another soaker out of it, but i am considering using it for winter pants.

[littleturtlemama]

rambouillet are actually children of merinos and they are considered "tue merinos" by pursist shepherds, LOL. It all started with Louis XVI's importation of Spanish Merinos to France (rambouillet, specifically, LOL) They were closely guarded, while the rest of the world's merino population was slowly scattered and cross-bred. So, the true merino turned into rambouillet and the old merinos were kind of compromised.

Anyway, enough history (although I find it all fascinating, LOL!) The rambouillet has incredibly soft fleece, fine staple length, resulting in a super soft wool. Of course, just like the merino, that softness coems at a price-it's slick, pills easily, and stretches. I love rambouillet for garments for me, but I wouldn't use it for a soaker. It's often labelled as just merino, so there's a very good chance any of you who have bought "merino" yarn actually have rambouillet ;)

[lifetapestry]

I'm going to disagree a bit with Theresa again, as I've personally tried out some other blends of yarn and I've been doing some fiber study as preparation for a handspinning class I'm going to take in the fall.

I've used an 50/50 blend alpaca/wool yarn and it holds its shape fine and works well in resisting moisture. Another MDC mama used this same yarn (Cascade Palaza or something like that). It does shed and I don't care for the way it looks (looks "hairy"). It is true that there is no lanolin or other grease in the wool (the fibers have a hollow core), but it does seem to absorb lanolin and works well in moisture resistance. It also doesn't pill like wool does.

Some more information on alpaca here:

http://www.cagba.org/mohair.shtml

Mohair also doesn't have lanolin, but lanolin is just the name for the grease that the sheep produces, so no other animal is going to technically produce lanolin. But goats do produce grease for their coats just like sheep do, and that grease operates much the same way that lanolin does-- it gives the wool a nice luster (actually, this is one of the things I find most attractive about mohair, and it protects against moisture. Mohair is a really beautiful fiber-- it does shed some (much much less than alpaca), but it also doesn't pill and it won't break easily-- it is very durable and it holds up very well over time. After testing a mohair/wool blend yarn out (thumbs up for moisture protection and durability), I'm currently working on a pair of soaker pants that are half mohair, half wool. The yarn is soft and light (another advantage over wool, it makes a nice, light fabric) and fun to work with. I also have some handspun mohair blend wool that I made a scarf out of, and it didn't shed at all. As with all fiber, the quality of the fleece seems to matter more in terms of softness, durability, etc than the actual type of wool.

More information on mohair:
http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/mohair.html

I have a heavy wetter, so I'm very keen on yarn that works well in wetness protection. Based on my experience, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend trying some different yarns with different fibers; it adds to the spice of knitting. I wouldn't, though, make a soaker with all mohair or all alpaca. Or all qiviuq either.

What's qiviuq? Here it is:

http://folknits.yukon.net/q_yarn_page.html

I also recently found a dog hair spinning site (send her your dog hair, she'll send you yarn. Kind of an interesting "keepsake" idea, but I don't think it would work that well as a soaker.

Karla

[littleturtlemama]

Karla's absolutely right, blend yarns are a whole different beast that single fiber (or single breed) yarns. An alpaca/wool blend would have the characteristics of wool that you desire, but the softness of alpaca. However, you'd still have the shedding issue, and the bigger issue in my mind is that you'd still have the warmth from the alpaca. That's especially important to me since I 've got boys that HATE to be hot, LOL!