Roving & Yarn
Roving
The first step in processing fiber is to turn it into roving. The desire is to get all the fibers lined up in a single direction to create a product that can then be spun into yarn either by hand spinning or by machine If you are a hand spinner and want quality roving but don’t want to take he time to comb all of your fiber, commercial processing to roving may be a good option for you. Following are the steps we take to produce top-quality roving.
- Washing: First the fiber is washed to remove dirt and vegetable matter.
- Picker: The fiber is sent through a picker that separates the fiber. It is then blown and permitted to settle. This gives us a more uniform mass to work with.
- Carder: Fiber is sent through the carder to align fibers and to further remove non-uniform fibers. The end result of this process is roving which is the first product we offer to customers.
- Drawing: The fiber is drawn out to achieve the proper weight of roving and to increase uniformity in the roving.
Yarn
Spinning: This process drafts the fiber to the exact amount required for the size of yarn being made and twists the fibers to achieve the strength needed in a single ply of yarn. Once the single plys have been combined, you have the second product we offer our customers. Custom Yarns.
From Suri and Huacaya alpaca fleece we create roving, then we produce plied yarn. We can produce many variations, including blends with other natural or synthetic material or different weights.
Our yarn is known for its high quality, usability, and beauty.
In finished products like accessories and garments, our clients say they can feel the difference.
We are proud to have developed a reputation for excellence for yarn. Our “Made from My Alpaca” initiative has proven to be very popular with people who pay close attention to sourcing and sustainability. Our unique system for tracking origin is also very popular with clients developing contemporary marketing techniques.
- Check that all fiber has a staple length of between 3″ and 6″, if longer than 6″ cut it in half
- Pick out as much vegetative debris, loose dirt, and matted fiber as possible
- When combining several fleeces into one lot, segregate the fiber by like quality and color. We can suggest combinations of fleeces for you, based on your segregated fiber and your needs
- Pull out all fleeces with insect infestation – we cannot process them
- Fill out the order form for each lot you are having processed (big marron button with pdf logo above)
- We sort each fleece using our fiber separator. Please note that a fiber separator does not remove all coarse hair.
- We wash all fiber, and reserve the right to remove vegetative debris, second cuts, and guard hairs prior to washing
- We advise you if the fleece is to tender and requires hand spinning (not offered by NEF at this time)
- We combine like batches to increase your yield, unless you instruct us otherwise
- We try to provide the best yield for your fiber, we capture all end runs and combine them into special ‘herd blends’ to maximize your total
- We summarize the processing for each order and each lot on our Processing Summary Report
- We measure the yarn for yardage per ounce and wraps per inch, and provide that information to you
- We segregate the yarn skeins into like weights and package each lot separately
- We do not force the processing, we run the fiber the best way to give you the best quality product (we know that alpacas impart their disposition onto their fiber). Rather than fight the fiber, we will often let the alpaca decide what it wants its fleece to become
- We do not blend your fleece without your specific instruction
- We do not combine your orders with other customers. You will always get your fiber back
- We do not process insect infested fiber
- We reserve the right to reject fiber with excessive guard hair or vegetable matter
- We do not process felted fiber
- We do not return discards and secondary fiber.