Spinning Kai: Teasing

Once Kai Llama's beautiful fiber was washed (see Spinning Kai: Washing the Fiber) and had dried nicely in our hot New Mexico sunshine, it was time for some teasing. 

Teasing any kind of animal fiber by hand is slow business. As you can see in the photo above, a lock of fiber is grasped and the single fibers are pulled away from the lock, several at a time. When done correctly, most of the inevitable bits of dirt and vegetable matter will fall out and you will be left with a lovely pile of fiber that is ready to card.

My sister (aka Auntie Bucksnort) is both patient and meticulous, and her fiber teasing is next to perfection. I'm afraid that I am impatient and eager to get on to the next steps, so my pile of teased fibers always has some "stuff" still in it.

Never fear, there will be other chances to get the last little bits out--first, when carding; and then again when doing the actual spinning of fiber into yarn.

You can tell Gracie is concentrating on doing the best job possible

Gracie came along to help out. She is kneading the clean unteased fibers; the teased mass of airy stuff in the basket in the background is ready for the next step that I will be showing you: The Carding.  Give me a few days to finish the teasing, and I'll be glad to show you how that is done.

Spinning Kai: Washing the Fiber

This is Kai after her haircut. I swiped this photo from Danni's blog here.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the luscious chocolate-colored Kai Llama fiber from Danni's place in Oregon (see Getting Ready to Spin). I've been working away, preparing the fleece for spinning. It's so nice to be able to work on it outside, because it can be a messy job.

Here is the fleece, just as it came from Kai.
Danni offered to sort the fleece, but I said to just send the whole thing.

On our hot summer days the water straight from the hose is nice and warm.
The fiber got a short soaking.

This mesh chair was a handy place to dry the fiber, since it could drip on the patio

The next step, hand picking or teasing, takes patience and a lot of time. I will show you what that looks like in a few days.

Getting Ready to Spin

When Danni at Critter Farm in Oregon said she was looking for someone who might like to spin some fiber from her llama, Kai, I jumped right in to say that I would love to try.

I am a spinner from way back--I used to be co-owner of a spinning and weaving shop in Washington state. I've been dragging my spinning wheel around with me as we've moved from state to state, but I haven't used it much in recent years.

Now that I have a bunch of lovely fibers, it's time to dust off the wheel and get to work.

From Kai, the llama

The first two photos show Kai's fiber (it isn't actually called wool, as I understand it), straight from the llama. Lots of things will happen to it before it gets spun, and I will document the process in upcoming posts. As you can see, the fiber is made up of longer hairs and a soft undercoat. 

Kai's fiber from underneath

Some time back, Beez brought me some wool and some alpaca from a customer of his whose business was processing wool. The bags he rescued had been tossed aside and were going to be thrown out. I'm sure this was because they didn't match up with the large batch of wool that was being run through the mill. Although they were rejected by the wool mill, they are perfect for a hand spinner.

Alpaca

The alpaca is a lovely toasty shade, a little lighter in color than the Kai fiber. 

White wool

The wool is fine, long fibered, and clean. Of course, "clean" is relative with all newly-shorn animal fibers, and the first step will be to pick through and remove vegetable matter, dirt, and other goodies. Then the fibers will be sorted, washed, teased, and carded before they can be spun. I'll be glad to share the experience with you. 

All three together