About Fiber Processing

The Fiber Factory, added to East Valley Alpacas in 2006, utilizes a Belfast Mini Mill system to provide custom processing of alpaca and other natural fibers into roving, batts, yarn and felt.  The steps in this process include:

Washing – All incoming fleece is washed at The Fiber Factory. Washing the fleece is vitally important and is the only way to insure consistent quality in the final product. The fleece is then air dried on drying racks.

Picking, or opening the fiber – All fiber goes through the picker which opens the individual locks of fiber, and is blown into the adjacent room. Blending with other fibers often begins at this stage.

Conditioning – Since any oils are removed from the fleece during the washing process, specific conditioning agents are placed back onto the fleece to reduce static and improve it’s ability to be spun into yarn. The amount of conditioner is calculated based on the fleece weight after drying.

Dehairing – Coarse guard hairs are separated from the fleece in the dehairer / fiber separator, along with vegetable matter and other undesirable material. Dehairing is included according to the customer’s preference, or as needed.

Carding – The carder aligns individual strands of fiber, allowing the production of roving or batts. Rovings can be further processed into yarn, wound into center pull bumps of roving, or bagged as loose roving. Batts can be used in this form, or further processed into felt.

Drawframe – Rovings pass through the drawframe one or more times to blend and lengthen. Each successive pass through the drawframe creates a more uniform roving.

Spinning and Plying – To be spun, fiber must be between 2″ and 5″, due to the physical limitations of the spinner. Single strands of spun fiber are created on the spinner. These “singles” can be of varying thickness, to form fingering weight, sport weight or bulky weight yarn. The singles from the spinner are then plied together to form 2, 3 or 4 ply yarn.

Finishing –  Yarn is measured out onto cones or into skeins.  Yarn to be left on the cone is steamed to set the twist.   Standard skeins are 200 yards, but may be of any length based on the customer’s preference. All skeins are rewashed to set the twist and to eliminate any dirt or spinning oils that remain in the yarn.

Felt making – standard and custom size needle felted sheets are made on a 66″ FeltLOOM.