This is the question we are asked most often, and most answers to it are useless because they quote a single percentage. The honest answer is that it depends on the fleece and on how hard you are prepared to be with it. But you can get close enough to plan a project.
Where the weight goes
A kilo of raw fleece loses weight three times before it becomes yarn.
Skirting
The first and biggest loss, and the one entirely under your control. You are pulling out second cuts, matted tips, short belly and leg fibre, and anything carrying a lot of vegetable matter. A fleece that has already been skirted at the farm loses less here. A whole unskirted shear loses a great deal more.
Washing
Alpaca is kinder here than sheep's wool. There is no lanolin to strip, so you are only losing dust, suint and dirt rather than grease. This is why a kilo of raw alpaca goes further than a kilo of raw wool, and it is the single best argument for buying alpaca raw rather than processed.
Preparation
Carding loses a little. Combing loses considerably more, because combs deliberately remove short fibres and leave you with only the long aligned ones. If you comb, expect to set aside a noticeable pile of waste, which is perfectly usable for felting or stuffing.
What you can actually make
Rather than argue about percentages, work backwards from the project. These are the numbers that matter.
- Beanie: 100g of finished yarn, give or take.
- Pair of mitts: 100g.
- Generous scarf or cowl: 150 to 200g.
- Lace shawl spun fine: 100 to 150g, and it will take you a long time.
- Adult jumper: 700g to 1kg of finished yarn. This is the one people underestimate.
So a kilo of raw fleece, skirted and prepared without being brutal about it, is comfortably a jumper's worth of yarn for a smaller garment or a very good haul of accessories. If you are set on a large jumper for a tall person, buy more than a kilo and buy it all at once so the colour matches.
Buy it all at once
This matters more with natural colours than with dyed yarn. Undyed fleece varies between animals and between seasons, and there is no dye lot to match to. If a project needs 900 grams, do not buy 600 now and 300 in six months.
Metres, not just grams
How far your yarn goes depends entirely on how fine you spin it. The same 100 grams becomes roughly 200 metres at a chunky weight or 400 metres and more spun to a fine 4 ply. Our own mill spun 4 ply runs around 390 metres to a 100g skein, which is a useful reference point for what fine really means in practice.
If you are spinning for a pattern, sample first. Spin twenty metres, ply it, wash it and let it dry properly, then measure. Alpaca relaxes noticeably after washing and your gauge will shift.
Do not throw the waste out
The short fibre from combing, the second cuts, the neck and belly pieces: all of it is usable. Stuffing for cushions and toys, dryer balls, needle felting, rug yarn, twined baskets. It is not garment fibre, but it is not rubbish either.
Our own fibre
Raw fleece from our herd at Mulgoa, skirted but unwashed, in natural black, brown, fawn and white. $40 a 1kg bag plus postage.
If you want to skip the preparation, our carded bumps and mill spun yarn are ready to go. A 200g carded bump spun to 8 ply gives roughly 400 to 500 metres.
See also: how to wash raw alpaca fleece.