Our llamas produce soft, silky fiber which we use in various felting, spinning,
and weaving projects.  Our finished products  take time and care to be created.   Special orders are encouraged.   Items are normally one of a kind and colors, yarns etc. cannot always be reproduced as an animal only produces limited fleece a year and the fiber quality and color changes with the animal’s age.  Colors are all natural and vary from llama to llama and from year to year as does the softness and texture. 

Special orders are welcome with a deposit of 50% down with the balance due upon receipt. We can make no guarantees as to exact color, softness or pattern as the fiber availability varies so much. Raw fiber and yarn are also available for sale.

Contact us at: ljb@graustarkllamas.com

Choice of 100% llama or 90% llama fiber  with ribbon and colorful yarn accents

 Crochet Lace Scarves—$125 

Woven Table runners— $60-$75 (24-36 in. long/ 10 in. wide)

Afghan or Throw—$400

45 in. wide  by 60 in. long

Camelid Fiber Processing 

After the fiber is sheared from  the animal, it must be processed into yarn. .  Fiber processing by hand is labor intensive.  This could be done by sending the fiber to commercial processing mills, however, part of the joy of working with the fiber is taking it from start to finish. 

 It all begins on shearing day…    Here at the farm, we try to blow much of the debris out of the llama’s coat before shearing.  We sometimes brush the animals as well, but weather and time constraints usually make shearing something to be accomplished as quickly as possible. Remember, the llamas are sheared for their comfort—the fiber is just a by-product.   We hand shear our animals while they stand tied to a fence or on a small enclosed area.  A bag of hay makes the process easier for everyone.  For us, shearing involves cutting the fiber from the animals using Fiskar© spring loaded hand shears. This leaves a nice 1 inch length to help prevent fly bites and sunburn.

 A normal show cut takes about 20 minutes with a full body shear doubling the time.  The fiber is then  bagged and labeled.  
 

When we are ready to use the fiber, it is carded using a  drum hand carder before it is washed.  Llama fiber contains no lanolin like sheep wool so it  is not greasy or sticky to work with.

 It is then hand spun on a spinning wheel and plied.  After plying, the yarn is washed in normal hair shampoo and a cream rinse is sparingly applied. After the yarn is dry it can be used for weaving, knitting or crocheting projects. 

 Finished projects are washed again in shampoo and cream rinse and the excess water is spun out in the washing machine.  The product is then dried in a machine dryer on low heat to  full the fabric.   Llama fiber does not shrink much, but should not be agitated or it will readily felt.

 All of our items are produced  at the farm.  Many of our products are standard, but we occasionally have specialty items available or these can be ordered.  These may include:  Ear Warmers, Purses, Felted pictures or other Felted Items and  Felting Kits.