SORTING WITH FRIENDS - 31 October 2011

ALPACAZONIA FIBER COLLECTION PROJECT update...

Happy Halloween, bloggers!

We held a Pizza Sort Party in the Fiber Barn Saturday, 29 October, and enjoyed the help from several friends. We invite you to hold your own sorting parties...it's way more fun than sorting alone!

Barb Bray with Dorie (her pal) and Charis Campbell with Ginni (her fave), from Alpacas at Porterbray Pines in Fowler, CA, near Fresno.  

Our two smallest new friends reminded us to share our latest idea...we're gathering old pet beds from thrift shops, emptying the contents (usually bad for pets to ingest, if accessed), washing & repairing them, removing brand labels, then refilling with alpaca "stuffing"....the left over alpaca from our sort on neck/leg bags. These are pieces that are too short, or too fine and spider webby, etc...yet clean and free of debris. We're then donating the beds to our local dog/cat rescue shelters.

We're also contacting pet bed manufacturers for future Alpacazonia purchase orders!

Two more good friends joined Dave and I for several hours of sorting our recently collected alpaca fiber.

  Barbara Zachary of New Age Alpacas in Atascadero, CA

Daphne Capaldi of Alpacas at Capaldi Ranch in Paso Robles, CA

We stopped midway for Pizza and libations, then back to sorting...

Here's our result....we're now at 90% mark in our quest to bale 2,000 lbs.

Thanks everyone! The day's added 23 lbs really helped!

Check back next week....we're baling the last of the fiber for this purchase order. How close will we get to 2,000? We've still got 200 more lbs to sort here, before we head to Cal Poly next Friday! Wish us God speed.    Sandra

SOCALPACA MEETING – 15 OCT 2011

The Alpacazonia Fiber Collection Project made huge gains in reaching our 2,000 lb goal this past weekend.  We took delivery of clean/sorted-short/coarse fiber, purchased from the Alpaca Blanket Project in Oregon, and also collected fiber from SoCalpaca members.  We've reached 1757 lbs and only have 243 lbs to go! Our final deadline to ship to Bollmans in Texas for scouring is in two weeks on Nov 1.

 

I attended the SoCalpaca meeting at Mariposa Gardens Alpacas in Riverside, hosted by Mike and Allison Fairfield. I did a presentation on the project during educational part of the meeting, plus gave a demonstration on sorting, in tandem with additional skirting demonstration by Julie Roy, of Alpacas of Anza Valley. We collected a truck bed full of fiber bags afterwards, totalling 94 lbs sold to the project by several SoCal members.  Much of it, however, still requires sorting.

So, we're going to have a Pizza & Sort Party here at Alpacas at Crossroads Ranch on Saturday, October 29, between noon and 4 to meet our final goal. Just RSVP if you can come help us sort the last of the collected fiber. We're paying $1.00/lb for sorting fiber stored here for the Alpacazonia project. Those who bring their own fiber, already clean and sorted to specs and ready to bale and ship will be paid the usual $1.50 lb.

The following photos, taken during the meeting, are courtesy of Christine Zacho, of Grasshopper Springs Ranch.

 

Discussion on various grading systems in use in USA. An “analysis” sample guide I use to determine fiber’s micron/grade....includes sample fiber, grade, micron range, word definitions...lots of ways to describe the same thing. System includes one black and one white plate for each grade, one to six, to compare with sample locks being evaluated. Other factors to consider are length, strength, health, % guard hairs, handle and lustre, depending on end use requirements.  My grade 1-6 samples were provided in course taught here this Spring by Ruth Elvestad of the Natural Fibre Testing Laboratory at Olds College, Canada. http://www.oldscollege.ca/ocsi/NFC/index.htm

Idea from Angus McColl of Yocum-Mcoll Wool Testing Lab in Denver, CO - when taking side blanket samples for fiber analysis, remove a little extra in the same spot and save it. When your histograms come back, you can then make your own grading charts, based on the results from your own herd! www.ymccoll.com/

Next, I showcased two bolts of fabric, showing what can also be made from short coarse alpaca fiber. These were prototype examples of needle

felt and knit felt made via WCAN project last year by a commercial non-woven mill in NY. 

Julie Roy, demonstrating skirting of large intact alpaca blanket fleece. Outside edges (short/coarse) are skirted off, then sorted again later to specs for the Alpacazonia Fiber Collection Project.

We had two Weaver Leather alpaca cinches on hand, courtesy of Daphne Capaldi and Carol-Ann Lonson, who purchased them at local equine tack store, then loaned to me to display at the meeting and at the upcoming next SoCalpaca Event: Sunday, Nov 6: SoCalpaca Informational Booth, Southern California Hand Weavers Guild-Annual Weaving and Fiber Festival-Recreation Center, Torrance Civic Complex, Torrance, California, 10 am to 4 pm - $5.00 www.schg.org/festival                  www.torranceca.gov/9065.htm    The direct link for directions.

The quality and hand craftsmanship of Weaver Leather equine tack is superb.  We can point with pride to the fact that our USA alpaca fiber is included in this product line.

Sandra

Sandra & Dave Wallace    Alpacas at Crossroads Ranch, Paso Robles, CA    swallace@rain.org