Alpaca Festival Report

Festival report time!

Alpaca

This year was my first time going to the Maryland Alpaca and Fleece festival. Maryland Sheep & Wool is much better known, but it is in the spring, and I missed it this year. I needed a bit of a break from the news, so I went with my mother-in-law. It is held in the same place as MD S&W, but it is a tenth the size. There were a few alpacas in pens scattered between the 5 buildings, and a bunch of people selling alpaca clothing, yarn, and fiber. There were also plenty of non-alpaca yarns and fibers.

There were also a ton of adorable alpaca dolls and ornaments

I swore going in that I would avoid buying any alpaca if I could avoid it, because I have 3 lbs of alpaca roving and 4 skeins of yarn already. Shockingly, despite the multitude of temptations, I kept  this, though I never promised not to touch it or rub it against my cheeks.

A lot of the vendors dyed their own yarns. Looking at all of it made me realize how much white fiber I have at home, and inspired me to buy some dyes. Look forward to reports about more fiber coming out of my dye pot in the future.

Braids of hand-dyed BFL and Superwash merino gradient top

Along with the dye (bought from Sheepish Creations) I also got some new unprocessed fiber. First, the good folks at The Spinning Loft talked me into getting a few ounces of  Ryeland wool.

The Spinning Loft had a wonderful selection of fleece and roving from different breeds of sheep

It seems to be a completely different type of wool than I have ever processed before, so I am looking forward to playing around with it. Unfortunately, it currently has an incredibly overpowering smell of licorice. I'm hoping that will go away after I scour the stuff.

A lock of the unwashed ryeland. It seems to be quite corse and kinky, with a short staple.

I am soaking the ryeland fleece now to get out the dirt before scouring.

24 hour cold soak in a bucket before scouring

Finally, I got some raw angora. Spinaway Farm had two angora rabbits in their festival booth:

Not a great picture, but I promise: those are rabbits and not tribbles.

The fiber was incredibly soft. I hear that it is better to blend it with wool or other fibers, or it will be too warm, but I haven't decided what I will blend it with yet. I got 2 ounces in soft gray.

Soft and fluffy angora fiber