Price List & Information

Further information

Express Orders: We aim to fulfil express orders within 28 working days, often much sooner. Express Orders must be pre-booked with us & are subject to skirted fleeces ONLY. We only accept a maximum of 10kg for expressing each month in total, to ensure we serve those on the waiting list in a timely fashion.

Fleece/ batch weight  Our minimum price point for any fleece or batch of fleece is 1.75kg at the price of the chosen weight of yarn (eg DK). This means that if your fleece weighs less than 1.75kg, it will be charged as if it were 1.75kg. We are happy to add fibre (at cost) of similar colour & quality to your batch to make it up to 1.75kg if requested to do so.

Skirting of fleeces   We prefer to receive skirted fleeces which have been noodled. Full skirting is an additional & chargeable service. Skirting is vital to maximize your yield, revenue & quality of the product we produce for you. Please try to skirt & sort fibre at the time of shearing. We will continue to pick out any undesirable vegetation or fibre you may have missed during skirting throughout the processing, free of charge. Please click the link to refer to our skirting information. There are also YouTube videos available to help you.

Minimum staple length   For best results from processing, a minimum of 50mm (2”) and a maximum of 160mm (6.5”) for both huacaya & suri are ideal. Each batch requires a similar staple length & not a mix of long & short fibre (see skirting information).

Fibre loss during processing    We would expect no more than a 10% loss on a well-skirted & uniform clean fleece weight; however, each fleece is different & no two fleeces behave the same during processing. The more variation over the fleece or fleeces within a batch, the lesser the quality & the overall yield. Each & every fleece or batch of fleeces (excluding felt) is returned to you with a processing sheet detailing weight at every stage, percentage loss & meterage, plus any relevant comments aimed at assisting your future processing decisions.

What yarn to choose?    This is your personal preference, but it will be reliant on the quality of your fleece. Fleeces which are coarser / higher microns / less uniform are better spun in heavier-weight yarns (e.g. aran or chunky) or made into felt sheets, which can also be made from seconds & thirds with a reasonable staple length. Fine & uniform fleeces can be made into any weight of yarn.

If you are having products manufactured, then the weight of yarn may be pre-determined by your maker. Please let us know their requirements on your order form.

The most common weight of yarn we are asked to produce for huacaya is Double Knit (DK) & 4 ply for suri.

Cones, balls or skeins?    Again, personal choice, though, may be determined by an onward manufacturer. The yarn on the cone is under tension, so the full handle will not be evident while wound. Machine knitters & weavers prefer coned yarn, often waxed to protect the yarn during making up/manufacturing.  Balls can be stored easily & can create an attractive display & the yarn is more relaxed than on a cone.  Skeins are ideal for home winding or for those who wish to dye & yarn is in its most relaxed state, displaying the true handle.

Customers choosing balls or skeins will have every available inch of yarn returned to them & any quantity of yarn not making 100g in weight for a ball or skein will be returned in a ‘short’ skein form, which is ideal for smaller projects, sewing up or display purposes. Any batch can be split between any finish. We do not wax balls or skeins.

Fluff   This is tumbled, scoured & opened fibre which can be of any grade &/or colour, mixed or separated. It is ideal for stuffing for toys, soft furnishings, insulation, felting & craft projects etc, for advanced hand spinning, fibre is better sorted into well-graded batches of similar staple length.

Rovings  Fibre is tumbled, scoured, dried, picked, carded & gilled & returned in a long coiled ‘rope’ form. Ideal for hand spinning, craft & home felting projects/kits.

Felt sheets can be used for all sorts of projects from insoles to dog beds, gilets to blinds  – limited only by your imagination & creativity.

Each full felt sheet is approximately 1670mm x 1000mm finished size & we require 1.6kg clean weight of fibre for a full-size sheet. Felt sheets are returned to you rolled & can be cut at home for your intended projects. We do not offer a cutting service at this time.

We can add a cotton muslin to help stabilize & deter stretching & allow for more secure machine stitching. The stabilizer is virtually invisible & supply is charged at £3.70/m.

Seconds and thirds with no less than a 50mm (2”) staple length are ideal for felt, though we can & do make felt from firsts.
We have the UK’s only dry needle felting machine of this brand, which uses hundreds of needles to ‘knit’ the fibres together.

Tumbling does not remove vegetable matter from your fleece – skirting does. However, some micro-particles of dirt are removed from previously skirted & opened fibre during tumbling along with heavier (coarser fibres) and some second cuts, ensuring your fibre is properly prepared ahead of scouring. Therefore, whilst we can employ techniques in the mill to significantly reduce VM, looking after your paddocks & barns for the 365 days between shearing is as important as skirting.

Scouring of fleeces – eco-friendly Scouring or washing of alpaca fleeces is done at low temperatures in our self-designed & automated washing system.

Alpaca contains no or very little lanolin, allowing washing to be done at less than 40 degrees, being far less damaging to the structure of the individual fibres & more environmentally friendly.

We do not use harsh & damaging heavy chemicals (sulfuric acid) such as those used in large-scale commercial scouring plants. Fibre passes through multiple sinks to ensure your fibre is perfectly clean. We then utilise our purpose-built drying system to speed your fleeces to the next stage of processing without any possible colour contamination occurring, as happens in traditional hot air-drying rooms.

Any weight loss indicated on your processing data sheet during scouring is likely to be fine particles of grit being washed safely away & not a loss of fibre.

To download our order form, please click here & for more information on how to send fibre to us, please click here

If you have not processed before, then we will help you along your processing journey. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or concerns. Our help & advice is free & without obligation. We are always here to help you – it is all part of the customer service that East Anglia Alpaca Mill offers to enable a smooth & fruitful relationship with our clients.