Colour Surprise

I bought this carded alpaca fibre at last year's Bendigo show. I didn't have any particular purpose in mind for it. And I haven't done much with it in the ensuing 15 months or so. It came to light on the weekend when I was pulling out various bits and pieces in preparation for the spinning workshop. I left it on the table.

Yesterday I was feeling rather aimless and decided to spend a few hours spinning alpaca, just because it was there. I was surprised to find that despite being carded commercially, there was a distinct colour change as I worked my way through the fibre. You can see the first colour in the roll of fibre on the left of the pic. The first 50 grams or so were this light silver-grey colour. The remaining fibre is at the top and right of the pic. It's definitely a darker brown. What you can't really see is the gradual shift between the two shades. After getting over my surprise, I'll have to decide how to use the colour change. And I have yet to see what colour will come through the remaining hundred grams or so. I'm tempted to make the most of the contrast, rather than try to disguise it. For now, I'm just going to keep spinning and see what happens.