What the little black plastic trays from the plant store are REALLY for...

We were so impressed by the little felted bunnies, felted soaps, and spun angora that our friends at Black Diamond Rabbitry are making that Evan and I decided to pick up some free alpaca fiber (raw & unprocessed) and try our hand at felted animals. We chose bags of brown, tan, cream, salt n peppa grey, and black. We - or rather I - chose a few too many bags, sensing a deal. We saw some very cute llamas.


If, for example, you are not into knowing just how much work processing raw alpaca is, you may skip to the end. What follows are a few paragraphs detailing the amount of work it takes to process raw fiber. You may, or may not be interested in that. You may, on the other hand, wonder how I find the time with a toddler and a nine year old, to do this much work. We are both wondering the same thing, then. Good that we are on the same page.



First things first. Rebag the alpaca to store until I can use it, to avoid wool moths. I may or may not bake it at 140 degrees to make double sure I don't have any moths in my alpaca. I saw some moths at the farm I got it from inside one bag. I must make sure that they do not get into my angora fiber, if I have some.



Then, for felted animals I have to wash the wool (chose a few colors, small amounts to start): soak in very hot water in blue Dawn (it's not just for cloth diapers and saving wildlife) or euchlan (organic wool wash). Soak without agitating, in a lingere bag for 30 minutes. Lightly squeeze out, drain and repeat until water is mostly clear after soaking for 5 minutes or so. Squeeze out by rolling in a towel or run through thr spin cycle in bag. Then dry on racks in sun.


The creamy white is particularly dirty.



Raw black alpaca, prewash, presoak.

So here is the reality, because mama didn't have any lingerie bags, or a drying rack. Time to repurpose and upcycle. I soaked in euchlan, grabbed the wool out of the extra hot water with a spaghetti ladle. Drained in the other side of the sink. Wrapped in towel to dry, squoze water out. Laid it out to dry on a metal patio table. Repeated another three times. Ran out of space. Realized I had a plant tray from my relentless & enthusiastic plant buying hobby, turned it over and it made a very nice drying rack. To think I was considering buying a drying rack. Ha!

Everything is easier with chickens, kids, and bunnies in the backyard.

Brought in to finish drying for the night. Update in the am: smells very clean. Much more so than I thought it would. Because, oh man, did my kitchen stink for a couple hours.

The upside-down plant store black tray makes a perfect drying rack. Perforated so that air flows through for faster drying, stacks for easy storage. Comes with the added bonus, of plants!

In addition, since I need a few more drying racks, it's time to go plant shopping soon!


I was bummed out to find that my cream colored alpaca smells like gasoline. I can only guess that it was stored next to some in the shed. May have to throw it all out. Thought it would wash out. Oh well.