Alpaca yarn: how to choose it

Alpacas are camelids, at home between 3,500 and 5,000 metres in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. The Incas kept them for their fleece, and the Peruvian highlands are still the world's main source of the fibre. Alpaca yarn has no lanolin. At the same weight it is usually warmer than sheep's wool, and most of it is softer to the touch.

If you are here to buy, we keep a dedicated alpaca category.

Huacaya and suri: two fleeces, one animal

Alpacas grow one of two fleece types. Huacaya is crimped and springy, and makes up the vast majority of the world's alpaca yarn. Suri grows in long, separate locks that hang along the body. Suri has more lustre and a looser drape, which is why lace and lightweight shawls suit it.

Micron grades: from royal to adult

Softness in alpaca is measured as fibre diameter in microns. Finer means softer: royal alpaca is around 19 microns, baby alpaca up to 22.5, super fine up to 25.5, and adult from about 32. One thing the names hide: "baby" is a fineness grade, not an age. Adult animals with fine fleece produce it too.

How it knits and wears

Alpaca has less crimp than sheep's wool, so it springs back less. The fabric drapes in soft folds and can relax over time. For fitted garments, knit a slightly tighter gauge or choose a wool blend, and the resilience comes back. In return you get warm knits that stay light, fibre that barely absorbs water, and a natural palette of more than twenty shades from white to black.

Blends

Alpaca is often blended, and the blends make sense. Silk adds sheen, mohair adds a halo, polyamide keeps bouclé loops in shape. The composition and metres per ball of each line below come from the product data.

Three alpaca lines we stock

What to knit with it

Alpaca drapes, so it suits shawls, wraps, snoods and relaxed cardigans better than structured, fitted pieces.

Lace-weight alpaca such as TRILOGY or Uma makes very light shawls. Held double, two strands of a lace yarn knit up like a fine sport weight at roughly half the metres per gram: a denser fabric without buying new yarn.

Bouclé is at its best in simple shapes such as scarves, hats and blankets, where the loops are the pattern. Cables get lost in the texture, so keep the stitch simple.

Care

Wash gently in cool water, do not wring, dry flat and reshaped. Store alpaca sweaters folded rather than on hangers: on hangers they grow. And check the ball band first. The manufacturer's instructions for that specific yarn beat any general rule.

Browse all alpaca yarn. If nothing quite fits, the substitute matcher finds an alternative by fibre and metres.