Despite the active fashion movement, knitted items are always relevant. They are in demand both in summer and winter. Of course, things for different seasons are knitted from different threads. So, in the warm season, light threads made of cotton or synthetics are used, and in winter, high-quality wool yarn. There are different types of wool, but one of the warmest is alpaca yarn.
What kind of animal is this - an alpaca? How is yarn made from it? What is special about it and what percentage of it can be in the yarn.
What is alpaca yarn
Therefore, nature rewarded these animals with very dense and warm pile. In addition, such a warm fur coat does not allow the animal to sweat due to excellent thermoregulation.
In addition to thermoregulation, an alpaca fur coat has water-repellent properties. Therefore, even wet clothes made of this material will remain warm for a long time.
Alpaca threads are highly valued by designers and manufacturers. Clothes made from this material are considered a sign of wealth and good taste.
How do you get it?
The principle of obtaining woolen threads is no different from others.First, the animal is shorn. Then, the sheared fur coat is washed, damaged pieces are discarded and sorted by quality level. Then the process is fully automated. After receiving the thread using special machines, it is washed again to completely clean the threads of dirt and grease. At the end of the process, the remaining straw, if any, is removed from the knitted fabric.
REFERENCE! Up to 7 kg of lint is trimmed from an adult male alpaca. After rejection and sorting, 3 kilograms of high quality raw materials come out.
Features, properties
The material is especially valued for its wear resistance. In its smooth structure, the fiber is very similar to hair. It is stronger than regular wool, so the finished product, subject to proper care, will last one and a half to two times longer.
REFERENCE! You need to wash alpaca items by hand. Do not twist or tumble dry. Such clothes hardly wrinkle, but if you need to iron them, set the temperature to the lowest possible level.
The wool of young animals is used to make knitted fabrics or threads - it is soft and silky. The fur coats of older animals have a stiffer pile. It is not particularly pleasant to the skin, so it is used to make carpets.
INTERESTING! Alpaca wool is 7 times warmer than sheep wool and goose down, softer than cotton, smoother than silk and stronger than angora. And good thermoregulation is provided by micro curls on the fibers.
Threads made from the wool of this mountain animal are expensive. Therefore, they can be found in combination with other threads. The most expensive types of yarn are “alpaca baby”, wool taken from alpaca children, which makes it even softer; and “alpaca silk” - with the addition of silk threads, which doubles the quality and durability of the material.
Alpaca yarn is superior to sheep wool in many respects; it is lighter, but 3 times stronger.
Here are the main properties:
- light;
- soft;
- retains heat well;
- has water-repellent fibers;
- does not cause allergies - due to the absence of lanolin and other fats that are inherent in all woolen materials;
- does not form pellets.
Mountain alpacas come in 20 shades. Common ones are white, black, cream, brown, etc. White animals are especially valuable because white material can be easily repainted to any other color. It happens that in pursuit of profit, at the sorting stage, white fibers are manually cleaned of fibers of a different shade.
Alpaca in yarn
The material also has a couple of disadvantages - it is expensive and does not hold its shape well. To mitigate these disadvantages, alpaca wool threads are combined with others. It can be sheep wool - 50/50, acrylic, cotton, etc.
This approach reduces the cost of yarn, but its quality does not suffer from this. The products are warm, strong, breathable, and hold their shape perfectly.
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