[sweater.alpaca]

[wispfox]

I am immensely fond of the alpaca sweater I'm currently wearing, even if it does still have the itchy aspect I associate with all animal fur clothing.

Warm and soft and snuggly, yes.

And it has a very mild scent which apparently reminds me of my aunt on my mother's side of the family. But from a while ago, when I was a kid.

I wonder if I can manage to find _non_ itchy alpaca sweathers? My alpaca bunny isn't itchy... (but has sharp pointy teeth, courtesy of aelisdeliria.

Comments

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

Actually, alpaca is considered wool. If you are using the microscopic qualities to define "wool",
here's (http://www.gateway-alpacas.com/images/fiberstrand.jpg)a microscopic drawing of alpaca

The differences between what is considered "hair" and what is considered "wool" are not defined.

"Basically terms such as 'wool' are all just types of hair which differ in
their feel, density, length and so on, but are still all hairs. The whole
hairy coat or 'pelage' of a mammal (like the term 'plumage' in birds)
therefore usually consists of two main layers and is known as fur. The
bottom layer (underfur) consists of wool hairs which tend to be shorter,
more numerous, flattened and curly. The top layer is made of 'guard hairs'
which are longer with cylindrical straight shafts and stick out through
the woolly underfur. These are what you see in most mammals and bear most
of the pigmentation.

So, there are physical differences, but no real scientific difference
between them as such as 'hair' is the catch-all term. However, there are
of course also specialised hairs which serve particular functions such as
vibrissae (whiskers) which are sensory."


Also, a good description, from Encarta, can be found <"a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560402/Wool.html#p1"> here.