I am weaving a scarf with a Harrisville Shetland wool warp, and a weft that is 50/50 Alpaca and Merino. I need advice on how to full it. I have read that alpaca should only be fulled with a steamer. But I am not sure if that would be enough to get the wool to full. Does anyone have any experience with this or suggestions?

Hi Jill,
I’m by no means an expert on this, but I am weaving a scarf that is mostly alpaca, but has a thread of Harrisville Shetland in the warp, and one in the weft. I used it as the light in a D,D,D,L color and weave sequence. I’m interested in the answer to this as well.

That said, I just wove an all alpaca scarf and at the end of the warp I played a little bit. I did about 3/4 inch of HS in a couple of colors, and then some handspun alpaca after that. I cut off the sample, wet it and squeezed out the water then tossed it in the dryer on delicate for a couple of 10 minute cycles. The HS shrank a bit but not much. The whole sample only lost less than an inch both directions. I’ll take a picture later and post. Right now I only have a pre wash I age. Stay tuned!😉

I would wet finish it as though 100% Shetland. The wool will shrink and full more than the alpaca. I bet it will be beautiful and soft.

Also, I never read anything about steaming alpaca to finish it. My alpaca raising friends wet finish their alpaca projects just like sheep wool. I wove a set of scarves in 100% alpaca and machine washed them on delicate and dried in dryer on low. Came out soft and warm to wear.

I just wove a blanket with Harrisville Shetland warp and 100% Alpaca weft and finished as Harrisville Shetland. It is so soft and nice and they came together so well!

All good to know, Cheryl and Jennet! And as I suspected from my tiny sample experience.

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I finished the scarf by hand, gently agitating in warm water and soap with a warm water rinse. I also added the throwing technique ( throwing the scarf onto a table over and over to help it full) that I learned from Laura Fry's video on wet-finishing from Long Thread Media. The alpaca/merino yarn didn't full as much as the Harrisville Shetland, but the scarf is soft and drapes nicely.

Do we get to see it, Jill?

I'm not sure how to attach a photo here.