Amanda wrote:
I love the feel of alpaca, soooo super soft. I’m still worried I might be allergic (goes with the rest of nature LOL) Did you teach yourself how to spin or take classes? I’m debating on the classes and just getting a book. Nice skeins tho

Many people who are allergic to wool are not allergic to alpaca, but some who are allergic to wool are allergic to alpaca as well. To oversimplify, there are three primary sources of allergy (irritation) in wool – lanolin, scales, and prickle. Alpacas have body oils, but they don’t have lanolin, so those with lanolin allergies should have no problem with alpaca. The scales on alpaca fibers differ from those on wool fibers – they stick out less from the shaft of the fiber – so alpaca should be less irritating to those with sensitivity to scales.

That leaves prickle. Prickle is primarily caused by the cut end of fibers over thirty microns. If you take alpaca and wool of approximately comparable quality, the alpaca generally will have a larger average fiber diameter – about five microns according to some studies. In addition, the variance in fiber diameter – coefficient of variation for statistical purists – tends to be greater among alpaca fibers. As a result, alpaca fiber is likely to have a greater fraction of fibers over thirty microns than comparable quality wool. If the source of your wool allergies is prickle, alpaca is potentially more irritating than wool.

Of course, there are other sources of allergy and irritation and we’re all different…

About the skeins, I took two lessons with a spinning instructor, and then started out on my own. I think I spun a couple pounds of wool before switching to alpaca and I’ve been doing almost all alpaca ever since.