|
Although alpaca comes in 22 delicious natural colors, it also takes to the dye bath extremely well. Though white alpaca fiber is seen as most practical for the large commercial industry, it is important to note that all but the darkest of the dark alpaca can be successfully over dyed, producing gorgeous heather yarns.
I have been successfully over dying and hand painting my gray alpaca fiber and yarns for years and have been delighted with the results. I have also made some surprising discoveries along the way. Included are some pictures to help demonstrate my findings (the computer does not do them justice).
Fiber Sorting for Grays
I have recently participated in “certified sort” for some of my alpaca fiber and must confess was extremely disappointed when it came to certifying gray fleeces. Gray fleeces, by definition, are made up of black and white and/or gray fibers for silver gray, or white, brown and /or black fibers for rose gray. Although selective breeding in this country has greatly improved the quality and fineness of these fleeces, it is the variation in micron count between the white and darker fibers that presents a challenge for this kind of sorting process.
Since darker fibers are usually not as fine as lighter ones (typically 3-8 microns higher), it places the overall grade level for the entire fleece one to two grades below the micron level of the white fibers. In other words, the white fibers may be a 17 micron, but the black fibers may be a 24 micron, thus moving the fleece from a Grade 1 to a Grade 3 or 4 (see Sorting and Grading Alpaca Fiber article). In some cases, I have seen nice gray fleece put it into the “hairy, personal use” or rug category. Upon further discussion with the sorter, it was revealed that since “gray” fiber can be manufactured by adding different ratios of black to white, or brown to white, natural gray alpaca with its variations in microns was not really suitable for the “certified” process. Until the uniformity of micron between all the various colored fibers within the gray fleece can be consistently produced, sorters profess that “manufactured” gray fiber is a suitable substitute.
Natural Gray vs. Manufactured Gray Yarns
In my experience, it is the variation of colors within the natural gray alpaca fiber that make it special. In fact, it is nature’s balance of the various colored fibers that occur within the gray fleece that make it superior to “manufactured” gray fiber in luster and sheen.
Dyeing Gray Alpaca Fiber
To illustrate this observation pictured below is a skein of white alpaca next to four skeins of natural rose gray alpaca from our animals and one ball of commercial MRG yarn. They are arranged from LRG, MRG, a darker MRG and DRG.
Hopefully, you can see the variations of the different colored fibers in the yarns made from my alpacas, as compared to the homogenous (read bland) color of the commercial yarn. This is particularly evident once the fiber has been dyed. Since the white fibers are more random in my natural fleeces, it gives my yarn more sheen.
These rose gray skeins were all dyed with the same Cherry Red dye. Look at the wonderful hues and values in the various natural gray vs the commercial MRG ball. In person, it is a dramatic difference.
Pictured below is a sampling of various silver gray yarns made from our alpacas. Next to the white, there are 2 LSG, 2 MSG and 2 DSG. Unless you have a good eye for color hues and values it may not be evident that there are warm and cool tones within these various gray skeins. Starting with the first gray skein the pattern is warm, cool, warm, cool, warm, cool.
These warm and cool tones can be seen in the dyed yarns below as well. Even if I had blended all the light to dark silver gray fleeces together, the heathered effect would still be evident, producing a stunning yarn. Once again, you can also see the sheen in the natural gray skeins.
As I said earlier, all but the darkest of the dark fiber can be overdyed. Pictured below is a "before and after shot" of five silver gray skeins that have been treated with the same purple dye. Although it is difficut to see the dyed portion of the last DSG skein, it does have a purple hue to the yarn.
It is my hope that as gray breeders we will continue to strive for uniformity of the various colored fibers within our gray fleces. In the meantime, so not let anyone tell you that your beautiful, natural gray fiber is only good for the rug pile.
The proof is in the pudding! |
