From Llamas to Pajamas | God's World News
From Llamas to Pajamas
Critter File
Posted: February 14, 2019

After Adam and Eve sinned, God covered their bodies with animal skins. But it probably didn’t take long for people to figure out how to turn animal fur into cloth. Archaeologists say artifacts show the ancient Babylonians wore crudely woven clothes. For most of history, yarn and cloth were made from wool by hand. But even with today’s machines, the same steps take place.

Shearing

Before we can put on our wool sweater, the llama has to take his off. Llamas are sheared in the spring, producing about five pounds of raw fleece per animal.

Dying

Llama hair is a range of natural browns, so it usually isn’t dyed. But when it is, the process is the same whether it is done to raw fleece or finished clothing: Dissolve dye in scalding water and soak.

Classing

Llamas don’t go to school, but their fleece gets a grade for quality. Fleeces are broken up and sorted. Are the strands long? Are they thick? How curly? What color?

Scouring 

Llama fleece isn’t sweaty or greasy like sheep’s wool. But llamas do like to roll on the ground. Almost half the weight of a llama’s fleece is dirt. A llama may never have had a bath in its life, but its wool will go through a series of washings in hot water, soap, and ash.

Carding

Raw wool is made up of tufts of tangled fibers. Carding is like combing your hair after playing in the yard. Bits of dirt are removed and the hairs are pulled straight in the same direction.

Spinning

Fibers are pulled gently while being twisted. Hairs cling to each other to form a long sliver of loose yarn. Changing the twisting speed and the amount of pulling changes the thickness and strength as yarn is spun into thread.

A closer look: Animal hair is keratin, the same stuff that makes up your hair and fingernails. Llama fleece has a tough, protective outer coat. An insulating undercoat of shorter, softer, and more curly hair keeps the animal warm. It makes better cloth. Like other wool fibers, llama hairs have tiny scales. As a tuft is pulled and twisted, one hair catches onto another and another, forming a strand of wool. Llama hairs are partly hollow.  Air spaces make good insulation. So a sweater made of llama fleece is lighter and warmer than one made of sheep’s wool.