The Cuddly Hubby gave me some alpaca fiber for Christmas. This batt is rather interesting in that it appears to have color but doesn't. The alpaca fiber is white. But it appears to be pale blue and pale pink because it has been carded with blue and pink angelina fibers. Angelina is a rather Christmas-appropriate fiber, as it is basically tinsel, just on a thinner scale.
After reading Deb Menz's wonderful book Color in Spinning -- thank you to JennaB the Yarn Pimp for lending me her copy -- I need to spend some time considering how I divide this batt. I also need to consider whether I want a single, double, or triple-ply yarn. In this case, multiple plies might allow me to create some interesting color variations. Plying pink on pink will produce pink, but plying pink on white should produce a paler pink. And I need to see if the pink and blue will blend visually to produce purple. Also, I need to think about how long I would like the color changes to be. Do I want stripes or do I want a mottled effect?
On the plus side, so far I'm spinning for the enjoyment of what happens rather than to create something I want but can't buy. So I'm not even sure what I want this to be when I knit it up. A hat? A scarf? Mittens or gloves? It is lovely baby colors, but I am thinking that an 85% alpaca 15% angelina blend is probably not baby-proof wash & wear. Then again, this might become another amigurumi. An alpaca teddy bear would probably be just the thing to hug.
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