A new soft and light yarn: ALPACA BRUSH

Alpaca Brush is the new soft and light yarn that has joined the yarn range of Bettaknit!

The search for new yarns has always been one of our first goals. Every season we look for something new to propose.

It is not always easy to choose among the vast panorama of yarns that the market can offer, but we are focused on some essential characteristics:

  • novelty,
  • very high quality of the raw materials,
  • softness,
  • lightness,
  • colors and style.

Alpaca Brush is all this! It is a new yarn, it is extremely soft and extremely light, but it is also contemporary in style, in beautiful colors that make it suitable for interpreting the fashion trends of the moment.

What’s Alpaca Brush and how it is produced? Information, features and curiosities

What is Alpaca Brush made from?

Alpaca Brush is made from 44% of Alpaca, 44% Wool and 12% Polyamide.

We know that Alpaca wool is very precious, but what makes it so special? Besides its beauty and shine, it is the absence of lanolin. For this reason, it does not shrink and does not cause allergic reactions, making it suitable for children. Moreover, compared to cashmere, it is more durable and resistant. It is therefore an extremely valuable fiber.

In fact, since ancient times it was particularly appreciated for its characteristics of lightness, impalpability and thermal power.

In our new yarn it has been mixed with Wool to make it more accessible, as the cost of Alpaca fiber is always higher due to the scarcity of the livestock.

Finally, there is a percentage of synthetic fiber, a technical necessity of production, to create the “hairy” effect of the yarn itself.

How is Alpaca Brush produced?

After all the preparation steps of the fiber, we move on to two basic steps: fancy spinning and brushing.

With the fancy spinning process – thanks to special spinning-twisting machines made by a well-known Italian brand of the sector – a bouclé yarn is produced, very similar to our Loopissimo or Baby Loop, ie a yarn with many rings close together that create a fur-like effect (it’s to keep these rings together that there’s Polyamide!).

Once this effect is obtained, the yarn is ready to undergo the second important step, namely the brushing.

With this procedure – also obtained thanks to a special machine called garzo (from the same Italian manufacturer we mentioned above) – the rings of the bouclé effect are brushed with metal teeth, in a more or less intensively, but enough to break them.

The brushing of the yarn, breaking the ring, allows to obtain a very particular hairy effect: the yarn is soft, very light but very voluminous.

This is the main and most difficult feature to obtain: volume (as if it were a chunky yarn – so fashionable also for this winter) combined with lightness and softness, to guarantee the highest possible comfort!

Alpaca Brush is made in Italy!

Thanks to the great tradition, experience and knowledge of the fashion world, Italy still remains today the largest manufacturing country in Europe for the textile-fashion sector. Many of the world’s most famous brands are Italian or founded in Italy, and the most advanced yarn companies are Italian as well.

So it couldn’t be born than here a new yarn, so beautiful and quality!

Some more technical information?

Alpaca Brush is available in 16 colors, and it’s packaged in balls of 50 grams per 200 meters / 218 yd.
We therefore suggest to work it with 6 mm (10 US) knitting needles (if you need the needles, you can find them here!).

We, who love a super soft effect, prefer to work it with 8 mm (11US) needles: in this way the yarn will look even softer!

How to wash Alpaca Brush?

Alpaca Brush is a very fine yarn. And to maintain its characteristics over time, care and washing are both certainly fundamental.

These instructions and recommendations apply to most of the yarns, and especially for your precious handmade items:

Hand-wash your finished garment in cold water and mild soap (you can use our Wool Care Kit),
• Do not ever rub the garment,
Do not wring, but wrap the garmend in a towel,
Lay the garment horizontally, far from direct heat sources.

By following these steps you will be sure that each of your items made with Alpaca Brush will maintain the same softness of the first day!

Have you already fallen in love with this wonderful yarn? Touch to believe!

If you want to ask us some questions about this yarn or other products, we will be very happy to answer you! Contact us on our social (Facebook, Instagram); through chat site or writing an email to betta@bettaknit.com.