Photos do not do justice...

to alpaca. I pulled out a chocolate fleece today and washed half of it. This is a huacaya but it is very silky, it shows strong suri tendencies. I have a feeling I will like this fleece.

I also dyed some suri and huacaya red, and this time I managed to dye it a good deep red. I am starting to understand how to get alpaca to take dye. It helps to soak it in water with salt and citric acid. I think I might blend the 2 varieties of alpaca. Maybe I should spin up something fine and attempt some sort of lacy thing. I'm not big on red but I'm not opposed to it either, it has to be the right shade and I like this shade. The problem is it really does take time, each process. I sorta have to slow thing down to stick with something.

It sorta amazes me how different each fleece is. Not just the texture but the smell. The chocolate fleece has an earthy grassy smell. I washed it but it still smells like the animal. I think it will take spinning and washing then knitting and washing for that smell to go away. Some fleeces do not smell that good, but this one does. The alpaca it came from is named Dottie.