It’s the dirty little secret most Alpaca Breeders have. It’s the thing about us that Fiber Artists just can’t understand.

We have closets, barns, rooms full of fleece. Just sitting there. It’s not that we don’t appreciate it, it’s just that – for some of us – there’s not enough time to do much with it. (Hey, I’ve got four kids and 75+ alpacas to tend to – that’s been my excuse for years.)

There are the organized breeders who ship it off to be processed the day after shearing. I try to be one of those. Try being the operative word. There are many places where alpaca breeders can send their fleece for cash or to be made into something they can sell. Look for a post with those resources next week.

In the past year, my kids have started school, allowing me to take up knitting and dyeing.  I’ve become more and more interested in processing the fiber myself. So I want to keep it around until I have time to work with it.

This room is where we usually hold seminars. Note the screen on the wall for Power Point presentations. Lately this room has needed to become the storage room while we get our house/farm ready to sell. The Artist has been grousing that he can’t fit his studio furniture in here if I don’t move the fiber. But where can I put 300+lbs. of fiber?

I told my Dad that it would help my marriage if he would please let me store some of my fleece in his shop building. He agreed! When I gave the Artist the news, he responded by singing, “Ahhhhh! Marital Bliss!” in his opera voice.

Here’s the truck ready to haul the fleece to my Dad’s. 53 bags to be exact. What are all these fleeces on the ground? Oh, that’s MORE fleece. Fleece from years past that was shoved into a bathroom in the Boy’s Barn. I had forgotten it was even there. (We ceased being able to USE that bathroom years ago when the fleece took it over) I’ll have to go through all this and figure out what to do with all of it…Tomorrow…I’ll think about that tomorrow.

When I saw one of the best fleeces in this bunch had bugs in it (lots of them) – I really wanted to throw up. I was so disappointed. Atlantis’ fleece. Atlantis, who sheared 8 lbs. of NECK fiber! A harsh lesson in not throwing the fleece in an unused bathroom for four years. Okay, okay. I’ve learned my lesson. *sniff* the hard way.

But I will go through all this and sort it out. At least I made the Artist happy by taking 53 bags of fiber somewhere else to store. I even made an inventory so I know which fleeces are where. I kept at least 15 25 fleeces to work with in the near future.

Recently, I sent some of our best fleece to Chris at Vtknitboy (left photo by Chris). I’m thrilled to report that he loved it and compared it with cashmere. If you would like me to send you a complimentary fleece sample for you to try out, email me at katy@alpacafarmgirl.com with your name, address and color preference (if you have one). Or visit our Etsy shop for alpaca yarn and other products for sale.

Anyone else gonna share their true confessions of fiber hoarding?