Handy links for Shearing and afterwards

Shearing

This site has specific instruction on how to shear the parts of your alpaca. Nice to have to start out with. http://www.gatewayalpacas.com/alpaca-farming/alpaca-shearing.htm

Here is another video about setting up your shears. It covers some new topics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezqyUQzfqCs

Skirting

Place your fiber on 1"x1" mesh , wire or plastic that has been attached to a frame. The mesh openings allow the dirt, any vegetative matter and second cuts to fall through. A second cut occurs when the Shearer comes back over an area that he/she has already cut. You skirt one side of the fleece and then turn it over and do the other side. Pull out any fiber that is coarse, excessively dirty, or very different in length from the rest.

Skirting Table instructions

http://www.hawksmountainranch.com/skirtingtableinstructions.html

Washing

Once you have the fiber picked clean of debris and second cuts, you are ready to send it to a processor, or wash it yourself. I use a multiple wash process

If your washing machine does NOT agitate on the rinse and spin cycle, then use that. It makes it so much easier. We do not want to make a felt lump of your nice fiber! So if your washing machine agitates, do not use it.

Fill the washing machine with warm, think baby bath warm, water. Add some shampoo or gentle dish detergent. Swish this around with your hand. Now add the fleece, a bit at a time. Dunk it so that the pieces are wet and don't float on the top. Keep adding the fleece until your machine is full, or you run out of fleece. Swish the fiber around a bit to make sure the shampoo is distributed and everything is wet. Let it soak for about 5 minutes then spin the water out.

Remove the fiber from the machine. Fill the machine like you did before, with the warm water and shampoo. Add the fleece and swish. Let soak, then spin.

Now I take a bit out of the machine and put it in the sink with clear warm water. If it is still dirty, repeat the cycle. If it is clean, then take the fleece out of the machine and fill it one more time, but this time, don't add any shampoo. This is your rinse. Swish the fiber a bit and spin out the water.

Now spread it on a screen, the skirting table you built - you built one didn't you? - or put it on a clean sheet to dry. Turn the fiber over occasionally to help it dry. I live on the wet side of Washington, so sometimes this is a challenge.

If your washing machine is not appropriate for this, then the steps are the same, it just takes some ingenuity to get the fiber a bit dryer than soaking wet when you repeat the steps. I have done this process in the sink and the bathtub without too much stress and excessive water all over the bathroom and myself.