Before you shear

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#3399CC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Sugar River Handknits</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#006633" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FF3300" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC0033" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><B> |     </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sugar River Handknits"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B>Return to</B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Raw Lama Fiber"><U><B> Fiber</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#3399CC" TEXT="#080000" background="45cb8523.jpg"> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">If you dream of having something special made from your favorite llama, you need to prepare for it now. The time to decide what you want to do with your fiber is <B>before</B> you harvest the fiber from your llama.</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What you want is clean, uniform fiber. Take some time to brush and blow the llama's fiber, before you begin collecting the fiber, even if you are harvesting by brushing.  It is amazing how much stuff is down deep in that fiber.  Blowing also helps to remove the sand from the fiber and therefore, is easier on the blades when shearing.  Just like the guard hair, debris needs to be removed before the fiber is spun.   Trust us.  Cleaning the fiber on the llama is much easier than doing it later. </B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Plan ahead and sweep the floor before you begin.  No matter how hard you try, some fiber will get dropped on the ground as you work.  Now, you are ready! </B></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">While you are grooming, notice the differences of the fiber in various locations. You will see that it gets shorter and probably coarser as you go up the neck, down the legs and under the belly.   Unless you are using this coarser fiber for felting, discard this short, coarse fiber.  Your project will be much nicer, by using only the choice fiber from your llama.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Examine the following chart to <B>select only the prime fiber</B> from your llama.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="293fcfc0.jpg" border=0 width="508" height="508" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">To harvest the fiber, you have two choices:  You can </B><B>brush out the loose fiber </B><B>or you can </B><B>shear your llama</B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brush out the loose fiber:</B>  If harvesting the wool by brushing, the guard hair doesn't shed any more than the hair on our heads. There will be the occasional hair mixed in with your wool, more if you don't groom you llama often, but most of the hair will remain on the llama to shimmer and blow in the breeze.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The second benefit of brushing out the loose fiber is that you will be collecting the full length of the wool your llama grows instead of cutting it at a place not chosen by nature. The best part of all this is that while single-coated llamas have lost the ability to shed along with their guard hair, the same as happened with sheep, double-coated llamas retain the characteristic. The line gets blurred with medium-wooled llamas.</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shearing your llama</B> allows them to be cooler than if harvesting by brushing.  Since we decided to shear our llamas, the llamas seem much healthier and more active in the humid, hot summers of Wisconsin.  Climate plays a part in how you decide to harvest your fiber, too.  Decisions, decisions, decisions!</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Wing0a7300a700f011111100.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Harvest all of the wool from the body that is of your best quality.  If you are shearing, try not to cut any area a second time creating what are known as second cuts.  If you have second cuts, discard those.  They are too short to be useful  Just get the bulk of the wool off and bagged up. Once that's done, go back and clean up the edges, evening up any areas that look too bad. Bag this stuff separately.  If it is an inch or less long or very coarse and hairy, you'll may want to put it directly in the trash.  However, it also makes nice nesting material or birds or soap balls (fun project for kids) or even for making fishing ties.  If you are uncertain of its value, keep it separate and ask someone who knows more about fiber than you do - yet.   You could <A HREF="mailto:soukup@palacenet.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:soukup@palacenet.net"><U>contact us</U></A> for more ideas. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>