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Has anyone ever bought and used alpaca wool directly from the alpaca? My husband has a potential source of it this spring and i would like to know what would be a fair price to offer for it.
Martha
I have bought and used raw alpaca, and every year there is at least one vendor of raw alpaca at the Maryland Sheep and wool fest. Prices for a full fleece range from about $40 to over $100, and depend largely on quality. A few things factor in here, 1) the softness of the fiber. 2) The quality of the cut. 3) Color, some are more in demand than others. Unless you have other example of fiber to feel at the time, it can be hard to judge softness. Alpaca overall is very soft, baby alpaca which is the first sheer is usually the best. The wool from suri alpaca is also generally regarded as softer and of better quality. When it comes to the cutting, what you want to avoid is fleece that has a lot of second cuts. These happen during the sheering process when the clippers are drawn twice or even three times over the same part of the hair, creating some very short trimmings. It is the sign of an inexperienced hand holding the clippers, and fleece cut this way, even if the softness is great, should come at a serious discount.
