Excerpts from Star Castle Fiber Mill’s first newsletter, July 2005.

VISITS to the MILL
Many of you that we have seen at shows or who have e-mailed have asked if you can come visit and bring fiber or pick up an order. The answer is always "yes", you can come by. We only ask that you make an appointment since occasionally we close to do errands or go to alpaca meetings.
FIBER TALKS - Ask the fiber lady in person
I was invited to visit a group of alpaca owners and talk about fiber. We had a very busy evening talking about skirting fleece and what is good fiber and what is not. There were lots of very good questions. Education about fiber is very important to me (see article below). I would be happy to come and talk with your group.
KITS
I have created several knitting and crocheting kits that I will be bringing with me to shows. They are designed to use one skein of sports weight yarn that we process. Come by and take a look.

FEATURE ARTICLE: GOOD YARN: So you want good yarn?

Recently I had a visitor who told me that a mutual friend of ours told him that I was picky. What a great reputation to have! You want me to be picky if you want good yarn.
Good yarn doesn’t start at the mill, but with you. There are several things that you can do to get good yarn before it gets to the mill.
Fiber that can be processed here at Star Castle Fiber Mill has to have two major characteristics. The fiber needs to be strong enough and long enough to be processed by the machines.

Lets look at "strong enough" first.
The first, and most important factor in creating good yarn is the animal that the fiber came from. Fiber is a by-product of many of your alpaca businesses since breeding is your main focus, but fiber can tell you a great deal about an animal. As many of you who have seen me at shows know, I will show you fiber with a stress break from an animal that was moved 3 times in a month. This animal was very stressed and the fiber breaks easily at the growth point of 2 months before shearing, which was when she was moved.
Stress breaks are when the fiber breaks in one place across the lock. You can see a line where it breaks. Stress breaks are caused by any kind of stress that the animal experiences. It can be from moving to a new farm, or visiting a farm for breeding, going to shows, new pasture mates, weaning, and many other reasons.
"Well", you might say, "I have moved my animals and they don’t have stress breaks." Very true, but some animals are more sensitive to stress just like people.
Tender fiber is also a concern since the fiber breaks in multiple places along the fiber. Tender fiber is caused usually by health concerns such as an infection, mineral deficiency (or excess), pregnancy, injury, and more.

Stressed and tender fiber is unprocessable at our mill. The machinery tears up the fiber when it is weak for any reason and you are left with "fluff".
You can check for stressed or tender fiber very easily yourself by taking a small lock and separating the individual fibers, holding each end between the thumb and fingers of each hand and pull down. You should be able to pull with 7 to 10 pounds of pressure without the fiber breaking. (If you continue to pull, all fiber will break at some point.) If the fiber breaks in a line, it has a stress break. If it breaks in different places on different fibers, it is tender. If it does not break, it should process without a problem. You might also want to check in several different places from the fleece.

Another concern is the cria fleeces that have tender tips. These break off and cause lumps or slubs in the yarn or can cause it to not process at all. Those cria fleeces that have been "tipped" process better that those that are not. By the way, if you are showing a cria fleece and have "tipped" it, list it as a shearing, because the judges could mark your animal lower for not producing enough fiber.

Now let’s look at long enough.
We have covered the most important factor for good yarn, but there is a second that is just as important, which is length. For our machines to process, the fibers must be between 3 and 7 inches. The ideal length is 5 inches. Some short fiber, about 30%, does work if the rest is 4 inches or more. When I sort the fiber before washing it, I will pull out some of the short fiber. That could mean you are paying for fiber to be washed that is going back in the bag to you.

Where are you storing it?
I have found moths, frogs, mice droppings, wires, dung and hay, and much more in fleeces that have been sent in for processing. You need to remember that fiber is like your own hair and will decompose with heat or cold or moisture or bugs. Plastic bags are fine; just let the fiber dry before closing them up. Basements, garages, attics, and barns are not the best places to store your fiber. To help repel moths and some bugs you can put lavender or a dryer sheet into the bag with the fiber. If you are showing the fleece, be sure to remove the repellant.

Does this mean tender or damaged fiber cannot be processed? Never say never. There are always exceptions, but we can no longer take the time to try to process it. If you are unsure about the processability of your fiber, you are welcome to send me several locks from different parts of a fleece to test for you. I will test it and respond back to you within 24 hours so you know if you should send it or not. If you bring your fiber to the mill, I will show you how to test your fiber and we will check each fleece while you are here.

How do you get the most from your fiber?
Skirting your fleece is a good idea before you send it for processing. You do not need to skirt it as well for processing, as you would for a fleece or composition show. But in skirting you can check for tenderness or stress breaks and can catch most of the garbage (big clumps of hay, guard hairs from the apron, matted areas, etc). If you do not know how to skirt a fleece, please see that section on my web site. It does not have to be perfectly skirted to be processed.
With both you and me checking your fleece, our chances of getting good yarn increase significantly.

These are the major topics of getting good yarn from your fiber. You have to start with good fiber and store it in a dry moderate temperature place. If you have more questions, I will be happy to answer them one on one or in a future newsletter.