Alpaca?

psquidy · 08-30-2007, 11:47 AM

Okay so just to be clear before i buy it. Alpaca will felt? Is Alpaca wool? So i can buy Alpaca, 100% wool, or felting yarn and that will all work?
Thanks everyone!

Jan in CA · 08-30-2007, 05:00 PM

Alpaca will felt as long as it's not been treated so it's washable.

Just out of curiosity why do you want to felt alpaca? It tends to be expensive and there are lots cheaper wools to felt.

psquidy · 08-30-2007, 05:15 PM

It's not that i want to but i couldn't find the color that i wanted in wool or felting yarn. All they had was multicolor and it wouldn't work with what i'm doing. But i felt the Alpaca and felted or not i'm gonna buy some cause it was sooooooooo soft! I'll look in another store and find some wool or felting yarn if it's a better idea. I was just in Walmart, maybe Michaels would have it.
Thanks for your help!

brendajos · 08-30-2007, 05:24 PM

i would think it would be somewhat fuzzy when it is felted too. i don't know that to be true, just my assumption since my alpacas are all slightly fuzzy yarns.

I have done the unthinkable several times and felted Malabrigo. It is some of the best felting stuff that i have ever used. However, it doesn't retain its softness. It doesn't become hard, of course, but it doesn't have that yummy softness that we all love malabrigo for. (Seriously though it is an AWESOME fabric once it is felted)

The reason I am saying that though is that if you are hoping to keep the softness you might be disappointed. Maybe if you tell us what you are looking for we can find something that will work as well?

psquidy · 08-30-2007, 05:33 PM

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/damask/damask.html

I think everyone has seen this before

I really want to try it!

brendajos · 08-30-2007, 05:36 PM

great... i haven't seen that pattern before and didn't need to see it now...lol. cute!

What colors do you want because i would think just about any felting yarn would work for it?

Jan in CA · 08-30-2007, 05:46 PM

Ooooo I love that purse!

psquidy · 08-30-2007, 06:09 PM

I love it too! I don't really care what the color is but i just don't want the multicolor yarn. I want solid on solid. Thanks everyone for your help! I've actually asked this question before but i really want to get it right so here goes again just for clarity.
I have to read a chart for the flower pattern and i've never done that before. So if the purse is knit flat (wich it is) then i read the pattern from the bottom right to left and then left to right on the next row? But if it was knit in the round I would just read it bottom right to left and work my way up. Is that right?

cristina61 · 08-31-2007, 11:38 PM

I was very happy to discover that alpaca does felt when I was using Knit Picks Andean Treasure. After watching Amy's video of the felted join I tried it on this yarn and it worked beautifully!

It was great because I was knitting a stuffed rabbit and had a lot of little pieces (arms, legs, ears) to knit separately and then sew together, so naturally I had several shorter lengths of yarn left over. I was able to join them together and use nearly every bit of my yarn!