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Old 09-02-2012, 11:20 PM
  #10  
OHSue
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Ohio
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I am a spinner and can tell you that most animal fibers smell when wet. The smell will go away when it is dry.
I had never heard of alpaca used in a bat. I wonder if the animal was shaved? Most of the fiber we spinners use is brushed from the animal giving us only the softer parts of the coat. But many animals have 'guard hairs' that are stiffer and can be very irritating in a spin fiber. If the animal is shaved those guard hairs will be in the fiber. The poster who said that her alpaca sweater was scratchy probably got something made from yarn that was shaved as opposed to brushed, much less expensive that way for a commercial breeder to produce fibers that can be harvested in a single shaving vs brushing the animal every week or so.
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