Fiber Arts Friday – Alpaca Fiber Tensile Strength

My fiber week was spent back to what I like doing the most.  Making ropes for mecate reins, leashes or lead ropes and of course my fiber of choice is alpaca.  But why?

When I got into raising alpacas everyone told me how much better alpaca fiber was for one reason or another and I wanted to do the research and find out if folks were just blowing smoke up my @$$ or not. It turns out there was hardly any research done and I only could find 1 article done by the Yocom-McColl Testing lab, Texas A&M and University of Wyoming entitled “Fiber Characteristics of US Huacaya Alpacas.”

I specifically wanted to learn about fiber strength.  I was not interested in crimp, color, diameter, or any other characteristic unless it directly affected the strength of the fiber.

First and foremost; how is strength calculated and what is is the minimum needed for today’s high speed mill industry?  Strength is calculated in Newtons/kilotex (N/ktex) and is the force measured in Newtons required to break a staple of given thickness measured in kilotex. Mother Earth exerts 9.8 Newtons(1kg x 9.8m/s2) and kilotex is the thickness in terms of mass per unit length (kg/km).

Today’s milling industry requires fiber with a minimum of 30N/ktex tensile strength for processing.

Wool

Wool fiber has a direct correlation between fiber diameter and staple strength.  So much so that Australia research actually has come up with a formula for breeders to follow to improve upon tensile strength.  They can use the CVD (Coefficient Variation Standard Deviation) from fiber reports to improve upon N/ktex.  Breeding for a CVD of 19% or lower creates a stronger wool fiber.  In other words, say your ewe’s mean micron count is 20, breeding to stay within 19% of 20 is ideal for fiber strength. Wool breeders aiming for this CVD, results in producing wool with 30-38 N/ktex.

Huacaya Alpaca Fiber

As it turns out alpaca fiber is extremely strong and has no correlation to color, fiber diameter, or length.  It is naturally strong fiber!  So much so that further studies on its strength aren’t even bothered with because 90% of fiber tested scored higher than the 30N/ktex required for the milling industry.  The mean tensile strength of alpaca is 50N/ktex.  The one study I found back in 1997 for Suri show’s their fiber strength to be 44.4N/ktex. I’m now hearing reports that Suri is stronger than Huacaya due to recent breeding practices but I have not been able to find recent research supporting this claim.

One thing when reading through this study that I did notice, is that alpaca fiber strength seems to increase dramatically with animals raised in the Great Lakes and Northeast regions.  I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather, snow, or forage that the alpaca fiber seems to like, but animals in these regions score and average of 56.25N/ktex.  Alpacas from the central, south and western regions scored an average of 47.26N/ktex.  Fiber Diameter does not appear to affect the strength at all over the regions.

  Great Lakes/North East Central, South and West % difference
Average Strength N/ktex 56.25 47.26 15.98%
Average Diameter µm 29.6 27.9 5.7 %

The study does show that alpaca is also nicer than most wools in that the longer the fiber length does not mean courser fiber.  In fact it tends to be reversed.  The longer the alpaca fiber the finer the micron count and again fiber strength does not appear to be an issue.  Long, fine, short or course alpaca scores above the required 30N/ktex every time. 

I hope I didn’t bore you too much and I guess to sum everything up; alpaca is STRONG!

So what have I been doing with my superior strength alpaca?  Making ropes of course.
here are some photos of the crazy process I go through to make the 6’ braided dog leashes pictured here.

alpaca cord rope making 
 
 
Shameless Plug… These 2 leashes are available for purchase!
FREE SHIPPING to any Fiber Arts Friday reader who would like to buy one.
Use coupon code:  FAF
 
Note these are big dog leashes… 5/8″ dimeter.  If you’d like a narrower leash I can make one custom for you.

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Fiber Arts Friday – Winterfest Demonstration

Welcome back to Fiber Arts Friday!  Link association buttons are now at the end of the post if you were wondering.

This week for the first time ever I got to spend it with other fiber folks!  I was asked by the Genesee Valley Sock Machine Club to come do a spinning demonstration with them at the Mendon Ponds Winterfest.  What a blast!  I came early and set up shop in a corner and helped others unload and bring in all sorts of fiber goodies and got to drool over sock machines and spinning wheels as well as fiber.Dutch Hollow Acres at Winterfest

The demonstration lasted from 11am to 4pm and it was quite a busy event.  The other spinners were working with commercial roving but I decided to be different and it sure paid off for the visitors.  I quickly became a curiosity as I worked from a bag of Himalayan cat hair using hand carders to blend it with tencel and hand dizing it into roving before spinning.  I had some kids (mostly boys) want to help in the process and I let them card some.  They soon found out it is a lot harder than it looks.

Of course once you have roving it’s time to spin.  For my fellow spinners out there you know you can do this mindlessly and can have conversations while effortlessly treadling away.   Folks were of course curious to try and I was the only spinner willing to let them give it ago.  I first showed them how to draft and spin on a drop spindle so they got the idea of how it worked and then I’d let them sit down at my wheel and treadle.  It turns out that’s where most people got frustrated.  It never occurred to me that people just can’t get the wheel going and more importantly in the correct direction!  Once they got the feel of treadling I’d give them a handful of roving and marveled in their lumpy/chunky spin.  They had fun and walked away with a whole new appreciation on hand spun yarn.

I was surprised to find out how many people told me they used to card fiber and spin using drop spindles in grade school.  What school did they go to?! I didn’t get to do anything that cool when I was a kid.

Now my favorite part of the day was looking at other people’s wheels.  I was totally taken back by the Journey Wheel which was just a piece of art in itself.  The whole wheel closed up into its own luggage and the handmade woodwork was breathtaking.  This wheel’s owner is Libby Llop who owns a sheep farm named Inverness Farm not far from me.  She has beautiful fleeces and great handmade goods too.  Check her out!

Journey WheelJourney Wheel Libby Llop

Well I was invited by the Sock Machine Club so it’s only fair we check out them too!  There were several folks who brought their machines and were working on socks and scarves.  I’m horrible with names but this lovely lady was working on making a heel to her sock when I snapped this photo.  

Sock Machine Demonstration

Fred Hauck is the machine master of this guild and such a great guy to talk with. He seems to be quite the master of sock machines and for most of the demonstration he was stripping apart a machine someone brought in, cleaning it and fixing it up to try and get it into working condition.  I’ll have to keep my eyes out at auctions for an old machine.  I’m terrible at making socks and the machines sure do look like fun.

Fred GVSMC

Well that was my fiber adventure for the week.  What have you been up to?  Don’t forget to check out these great sites for other fiber fun.

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Creating a Pasture or Paddock Paradise

The concept of a Paddock Paradise is the brain child of Jaime Jackson who wrote a wonderful book on it.  (buy book here).   The general idea of a paddock paradise is to create an environment for your horse that as closely mimics their natural habitat allowing them to travel distance and obstacles throughout the day instead of standing in a stall or munching on lush pasture.

The paddock or pasture is engineered such that a track or lane is formed around the outside perimeter and when possible includes natural obstacles such as creek crossings, hills, down trees, shade trees and more.  Having a track around the pasture area allows the horses to move from point A to point B taking the longest route possible especially if things a horse wants are spread out within the track.  For example: Hay may be at one point in the track but shelter is at another point, water at another and minerals at even another position.  Your equine friend now has to get moving if they want something instead of just shuffling from one corner of the stall to another or one. 

If you want to learn more about giving your horses a more stimulating and natural environment check out these
Paddock Paradise References:
http://www.paddockparadise.com
http://paddockparadise.wetpaint.com/

Since I have been slowing taking down old fencing and putting up new perimeter fencing I have recently gotten out the graph paper and have been engineering my own paddock paradise (pp) for my small herd.

A little about my set up:

Acreage: 11 total but a little over 3 acres for horse use
Horses: 3 total – 2 mare, 1 gelding
Perimeter Fence: Wood Posts w/Electric Tape top and 3 electric braid rope under that
Mud Paddock: Enclosed with field fence with water/minerals and shelter.  Horses are locked full time in here spring and fall so they do not damage the 3 acre field.

Paddock Paradise Changes:

Track Fence: Step in fiberglass posts with Tape on top and 1 strand of braided rope under
Track: Track will be 12’ wide on the long sides and 20+ feet wide in corners to allow for resting/feeding stations
Pastures: Having a track will allow me to easily create (3) 1 acre rotational pastures with different entrance points for each yet keep my single point for water/mineral and shelter.

Dutch Hollow Acres Pasture Paddock Paradise

 

 Why am I making these changes?

–       I really wanted to create rotational grazing spaces but didn’t want to have the extra work of having to halter/lead each horse to the new pasture which also meant having to haul water to each of those pastures.  I also would have to be conscious that there would be no shelter in the rotational parts which would make me watch the weather even more.

–       In spring/fall when the ground is wet and muddy my horses are stuck in the mud paddock and stand still for almost a month or more before the ground freezes or dries enough to turn them out.  The track can be used year round and keep them walking by putting hay far away from shelter/water.

–       My horses are FAT! All that green grass with little walking on their part = one fat horse.  If I were to put a GPS on one of them for a day I’d doubt they’d walk more than ¼ of a mile.  Having this setup has proven that horses typically walk 2-7 miles a day on their own vs 1/2 mile or less with traditional paddocks.

–       Simple answer: Cut my work load down while increasing my horse’s!

If you are thinking of doing something similar I highly recommend getting the book.  It helps you a lot in all the planning.  Get out the graph paper and try different layouts for your property and keep in mind that mechanical equipment like trucks, trailers, tractors, mowers have to be able to get from point A to B also.

I’ve also been toying with the idea of doing a similar thing with my alpaca paddocks.  With the lush green grass in WNY I have some overweight alpacas and I’m thinking if I can get them walking more it’ll keep them in a better body score.  If I add areas with stone dust it would also help keep their nails trimmed too!

Again for more information about Paddock Paradise 

http://www.paddockparadise.com
http://paddockparadise.wetpaint.com/

Fiber Arts Friday – Sock Brigade

Welcome Fiber Arts Friday and Crafty Friday Followers.

This week I’m dedicating my post to the men and women in uniform serving this our country.  Many folks when they think of the mid east think desert and hot dry climate.  But they have winters too and because it is an arid climate their winters can be just as cold as back home.

As a member of the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) I am helping team up with Bentstar in an effort to provide warm alpaca socks to the men and women serving in the military this year.

Now through January 1st, 2011, I will be collecting both money and sock donations which will be sent to the Sock Brigade who will distribute them to those who are on active duty.

Here’s how you can help….

Donate Cash

Donate Survival Socks

Donate Extreme Socks


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If for some reason you don’t trust me to get your sock or money donation you can directly make your donations to…

Sock Donations Money Donations
 Sock Brigade c/o
Barbara Coleman
18100 S. Hwy. 99W
Amity, OR 97101
 Sock Brigade c/o
The Bent Star Project, Ltd.  (checks payable)
443 First St
Woodland, CA 95695-4023

Or online at

 http://bentstarproject.org/SockBrigade.html