Carding Alpaca, Cashmere and Other Fine Fibers on a Drum Carder
Fine, short and slippery fibers need a gentler approach. How to card alpaca, cashmere, angora and silk without neps, which cloth to use, and why blending with wool helps.
The Workshop Team
Wool Drum Carder · March 4, 2026
A soft, cloud-like alpaca batt on the main drum of a fine-cloth drum carder
Alpaca, cashmere, yak, angora, camel and silk are a joy to spin, but they behave very differently from sheep's wool. They are finer, often shorter and more slippery, and they break or form neps (tiny knots) easily. With the right cloth and a gentle approach, a drum carder turns them into beautiful, cloud-soft batts.
1. Use fine carding cloth
Fine fibers slip through coarse teeth instead of being caught and aligned. A fine cloth around 120 TPI has more, finer teeth that hold short fibers and open them gently.
A lower drive ratio also helps. On the Fine Fiber 120 Drum Carder we use a 4:1 ratio so the drums turn more slowly relative to each other and you have more control.
2. Prepare the fiber carefully
Alpaca has no lanolin, so it usually needs only a gentle wash to remove dust and dirt rather than a full scour. Remove guard hairs and second cuts by hand where you can. Coarse, stiff guard hairs make a batt prickly.
Make sure the fiber is completely dry and well opened before carding. Damp or compacted fine fiber is much more likely to form neps.
3. Card slowly with very thin layers
Feed fine fibers in very thin layers and crank slowly. Speed is the enemy here: fast carding breaks short fibers and creates neps.
Don't overfill the drum. Smaller batts of fine fiber are easier to lift off without stretching, and they card more evenly.
“With fine fibers, slow and thin wins every time: fine cloth, gentle ratio, small batts.”
4. Blend with wool for structure
Alpaca and many other luxury fibers have little natural elasticity, so yarn spun from them alone can stretch and drape heavily. Blending with a fine wool such as Merino adds memory and bounce.
Popular blends include alpaca and Merino, cashmere and silk, and yak and fine wool. Feed the fibers in thin alternating layers and card two or three times for an even blend.
Key Takeaways
- Use fine cloth around 120 TPI and, if possible, a lower drive ratio.
- Remove guard hairs and make sure the fiber is clean, dry and well opened.
- Feed very thin layers and card slowly to avoid neps and fiber breakage.
- Blend with fine wool to give luxury fibers more elasticity.
The Workshop Team
· Wool Drum CarderThe people who design, build and test every Wool Drum Carder in our workshop, sharing what we have learned from years of carding wool, alpaca and everything in between.
