Alpaca Yarn Weight

After this year's shearing all our fleeces from last year and this year will be making the trip to the mill to be spun into yarn. We never sent last years because the quantity was just too small to be cost effective. The minimum charge is for three pounds of fiber. That means if you only have two pounds in one run (a run would be a single color of fleece) you pay for three pounds. But, with the two years combined we would be well over the minimum in each run. The fun part of having my fleeces mill spun is that I get to choose what weight each run is spun to. The not so fun part is the fact that I have to hand skirt each fleece to remove as much vegetable matter as humanly possible. This is mind numbing at best but a critical step to getting the best possible yarn. The fun part for all y'all is that you get to help me decide how to have it spun. I already know that Bailey's fleece will be spun worsted. He has a somewhat coarse fleece and it is best used for felting or some non-skin contact projects. His fleece is white and will be great for fun dyeing projects. Think colorful felted bags or some of those cute dinos that Kathy has been knitting up. For the rest I'm undecided on what to do. Personally I lean toward sport and dk weights for alpaca. But, only a small amount of this yarn will be kept in my personal stash; the rest will be up for sale in our farm store. So what is your personal favorite? I have placed a poll in the sidebar that will remain in place until the day that we have to make our final decision. Since shearing isn't until the end of May and then I have to skirt it all it will be about two months. If you want to see what colors will ultimately be available visit our Alpaca Nation pages to see our girls and boys.