We started grading fleece today for UK Alpaca. We need to get at least half a ton of fine white up north to be scoured pronto as we have an urgent sock yarn order. John Arbon and I are covered in dust apart from our mouths and noses – where the masks were. My coat and trousers were black but are now a sort of browny grey. We got through 250 kilos in three hours which is pretty good going but made a lot faster as the fleece from The Alpaca Stud in Sussex was good quality with a nice lot of baby grade which is always a pleasure to handle.
We are working with Fibre Harvest and Coldharbour Mill to do a lot more processing there over the next three years including being able to provide a fully worsted yarn service for smaller breeders who can produce a minimum quantity of well graded 50 kilo lots of fibre. Each 50 kilos will have to be one grade and one colour but we hope it will fullfil the need that some breeders have to produce their own yarn. Worsted is the best method of processing a long staple fibre like alpaca and produces fabulous yarns and we will be able to offer it at an excellent price, certainly cheaper than anyone else offering this in the UK. We will continue to buy in several tons of fleece every year to make UK Alpaca’s range of hand knit and commercial yarns as very many breeders do not want to go into textiles and our sales are doubling every year.
I’m off to the shower!