Fiber Process Overview
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Raw Fiber - notice how the fibers cling together and contain dark bits of contaminants. The fiber used in the images was selected to best illustrate the steps in the process. The fibers may be alpaca, angora, cashmere, llama, mohair, pygora or wool. | |
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Fiber that has been Washed and Picked is now separated and ready for carding. | |
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This fiber has been washed but has a significant amount of guard hair (the dark thick fibers in the image) mixed in with the finer fiber. Continued processing would result in a very coarse and picky feeling yarn. |
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The same fiber lot after dehairing. Note the significant reduction in guard hairs. This process also removes vegetation providing quality fiber for further processing. | |
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Carding begins the alignment of fiber. This makes hand spinning easier but is not sufficient for machine spinning. | |
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Fiber that has been Drafted shows a significant increase in alignment. This is needed for machines to spin quality yarn. | |
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Fiber is twisted in the spinning process to create strength. However, if it is to tightly twisted, the yarn becomes coarse and elastic. The displayed, single ply yarn (left) is six (6) turns per inch and the two ply was done at three (3) turns per inch to create the finished yarn. |
| All images are magnified to help illustrate fiber changes in the process. |
Last Update:
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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