Setting the twist in hand spun single or plied yarn

So you've spun your yarn, either onto your spinning wheel bobbin or drop spindle, and are ready to knit or crochet it right up yes? just one more thing is needed and that is set the twist in your yarn.

You will need to set the twist in your yarn, either as a single or as a plied yarn but it's very easy to do.

 

Simply grab a sink or bowl and get yourself some warm water, you can also wash your yarn with some shampoo at this stage too if you like.

 

Remove your spun yarn from your bobbin or spindle onto your Niddy Noddy or back of a chair, separate out some strands and tie some cotton thread around your yarn in a figure of eight to keep in it place, do this in at least two places.

Now take off your skein and dip it gently into your warm water, try not to agitate your yarn too  much. Rinse a couple of times in more warm water if using shampoo and then squeeze out the water as best as you can in your hands gently, do not wring out your yarn. Now place your yarn into a towel to squeeze out any remaining water.

 

To see if your yarn's twist is balance let the skein hang from your hands and see if the yarn wants to twist around on itself, if it doesnt twist or barely twists then it is a balanced yarn and will work great for knitting up. If it does twist quite noticably don't panic too much, hang the skein to dry in a warm area with a small weight connected at the bottom to stretch out your yarn just a little, be careful not to over-stretch and damage your yarn. Do bear in mind that this will straighten the skein and will remove a little of its elasticity but tensioned yarns are great for weaving.

 

Testing if your hand spun is well balance is a good way to work out what you wish to do with your completed yarn. If you are not happy with adding tension then you can always run your yarn through your wheel again to either add more spin or less spin.

 

But most of all just enjoy it and don't worry too much if it doesn't work out first time! You can always call it art yarn and it will still be beautiful.

 

New Feature! Shipping profiles now available for your product listings.

We just wanted to let you know that we've launched a new Shipping Rates feature.

For any items you sell via AlpacaFleeces.com, you can now specify which countries you ship to and how much it costs to ship single and multiple items. Shipping is then automatically calculated for you based on your customer's shipping address, and added to their total.

If you'd like to take advantage of this new feature then you can read more about it here: http://www.alpacafleeces.com/faqs.aspx#shipping

You can also follow us on facebook to hear all about our other new features, our latest ideas, marketing campaigns and promotions at: www.facebook.com/alpacafleeces

AlpacaFleeces.com is already becoming the one stop shop for everything fibery so we hope you enjoy what it has to offer!

How do I sell my alpacas online is a popular question, one AlpacaFleeces.com hopes to answer.

Where can I sell my alpacas online?

You can sell your alpacas with us on AlpacaFleeces.com in two ways! Either via our online shopping cart system or privately offline.

To advertise with us online but sell privately it costs just £0.60 per animal to list with no hidden fees or extra charges.

To advertise with us online and sell online via our shopping cart system it costs £0.20p to list but we do take a final transaction fee of 2.5% of the final sale price (not including postage).

It is completely free to set up your shop and profile with AlpacaFleeces.com and to let the world know who you are. With AlpacaFleeces.com you get your own online shop which you have complete control over, your own dedicated website address such as www.alpacafleeces.com/yourbusinessname and your own contact form where buyers can contact you directly.

• List your alpacas for sale for just £0.60p per animal, no hidden fees, no extra costs!
• Open your own online shop with us for free, no membership fees and enjoy all our online features
• Enjoy free listing days and take complete advantage, you can follow our promotions on our Facebook page here
• Sell your alpaca fleeces, roving and yarns and other animal fibres as well, in one online marketplace.
• Cheaper than other UK online marketplaces! You would have to list 66 alpacas just to meet similar costs elsewhere.
• Helpful and caring customer support!
• No matter where you are in the world you can sell online with AlpacaFleeces.com to a world market, sell in your local currency too.

!! Register today for free !!

The launch of AlpacaFleeces and what it means for the fibre industry

As AlpacaFleeces.com launches into the online world we want to take a step back and look at how the website came about and what it means for the local fibre businesses around the world and what makes it different from just selling on auction websites.

When you sell on an auction website you can think of that like selling your fibres in a huge gigantic shopping centre, your products will be plonked down on a shelf in the hope that someone might come by who just happens to be looking for fibre. It has to be simpler we thought.

So AlpacaFleeces.com was launched, pretty much like a local designated shop on the high street but one that is open to the world. And the best part? every visitor to the website will be looking for animal fibres or fibre animals, whether it be hand spun yarn or alpaca fleece, rabbit roving, and your products will be there waiting for that direct market.

We hear all too often how difficult it is for small businesses or individual alpaca owners to market their fibres. Just the other day I heard a man in my local wool shop asking where he can sell his animal fibres and the shop owner said she didn’t know. I myself have sat on the internet for hours trying to source fibres to buy for spinning and visiting numerous different individual farm websites and getting a headache in the process. Something needed to be done to bring that all together and not cost the earth to the small business owner.

Another issue was alpaca owners who also own goats or rabbits, there are a few alpaca websites out there, mainly catering for the US market that will happily let you advertise your alpacas with them but if you own other animals you will have to go elsewhere to sell those. That seems frustrating and I won’t mention the huge membership fees they seem to charge. It’s also much localised and not really catering for the world market. Many British sheep breeds cannot even be found in the US and so the US relies heavily on imports.

So the fundamental concept of AlpacaFleeces.com is to unite everything in one place. You own a fibre animal, then the fleece, maybe the roving, then the yarn if you've spun yarn, even hand dyed yarn which you may have then made into a product to sell. The full cycle in one place, not being specific to just one animal and open to the whole world market even if you do just buy locally in the end.

There are no membership fees on AlpacaFleeces.com and there never will be. We believe this to be the fairest way so you don't pay for something when you don't need it. Animals don't work to memberships so why should we? You can list your animals when they are ready, your yarn when it is spun and have complete control over your own shop. Open it for business; close it when you are on holiday. We charge a tiny fee for listing and take a small percentage when you sell but for that you get your own designate shop, buyers that are there specifically for your products and we do the marketing for you! In our first week we have generated 280 active members, 43 shops with 118 products and over 1000 unique visitors and that's just in the first 6 days!

But most of all we at AlpacaFleeces.com hope that you enjoy being a part of the website and our community on our Facebook page. In time we will be adding lots of great features as well as future free listing days. Any feedback greatly received!

Alpaca Show Hapert, Holland 24 to 25 March 2012

On Saturday and Sunday 24 and 25 March 2012 the Stichting Alpacashow will organise the fifth international alpacashow in Hapert.

This annual event will see contestants from all over Europe as alpaca breeding increases in popularity. There are now annual alpaca shows being held in the UK as well as France, Germany and Scandinavia.

The Stichting Alpacashow will be held at the Manege the Lemelveden in Hapert, Holland, a large riding hall making it a perfect location to host such a large international event and will be home to lots of alpacas, a show ring and tradestands.

Watch out for our advert in their program booklet!

For more information visit their website at http://www.alpacashow.eu

Alpacas in the spotlight for debut show at the NEC, UK

The UK's largest alpaca event is heading to Solihull in March for its first year showing at the NEC and AlpacaFleeces.com will be there.

The prestigious 2012 British Alpaca Futurity arrives at the NEC on March 16 for two days bringing together 350 of Europe’s leading breeders.

The show will give both experienced alpaca breeders as well as those who are new to the animals the chance to learn about all things alpaca.

See the best of British alpacas, meet the breeders and find out what can be done with their special fleece. There will also be workshops, seminars and stalls selling garments produced with alpaca fleece.

To buy tickets, visit www.thenec.co.uk.

The show is open to the public from 9.30am-6pm with tickets on sale now. Tickets are available on the door or booking forms will be available through www.britishalpacafuturity.com

Boosting sales with alpaca fibre

Alpacas are more than just friendly fertilisers, they can produce some of the world's most beautiful garments and are great for the environment too and many businesses are playing on this to boost sales.

Alpaca wool is not only about five times warmer than sheep's wool and causes less allergies compared to sheep's wool but it is also alot easier to process as it doesnt need to be chemically cleaned to rid itself of lanolin grease unlike sheep's wool, making alpaca fibre much more environmentally friendly. Fleeces can actually come off the alpaca relatively clean and ready to be spun bar a few strands of straw.

Erica Dwyer, the owner of an alpaca farm called Hamden Hills Alpaca Farm says "Like any harsh detergent, you don't like the harsh chemicals being used and going back into the environment itself. Alpacas [are] so clean you could actually spin it right off the animal being shorn, you don't even have to wash it"

Alpaca wool's environmentally friendly nature has been a great source to boost sales for alpaca wool producers around the world with many stores even replacing designer garments with alpaca wool garments.

"This is kind of a niche that we've found and this is what the people come in for, the alpaca clothing also has been great," said Kevin Lennon, the owner of Shoenique.

Do you sell alpaca wool or garments? Let us know!