Suri Cloud Lace

***A note on colors: as much as possible, colors are shown on Suri Cloud.  Please note that the following colors are currently shown on Eco Merino Light: High Desert Sunset, Hecate, Cloudlight, Blue Jay, Sulis, and Herbalist.

Variation is normal in hand dyed yarn and a part of its beauty, and the same color will appear different on different fibers, different monitors, and in different light. When possible we recommend buying yarn in person, but if your local yarn shop doesn't carry our yarn rest assured - we offer free returns within 30 days of delivery, so there's no risk to trying something new!***

Suri Cloud is a fuzzy, fluffy, ethereal delight. The fiber of suri alpacas is long, smooth, soft, and shiny, like mohair. Many people (including me) find suri to be softer than mohair, and easier to unstitch when you need to fix a mistake. It drapes beautifully and is wonderful used on its own (a looser than normal lace-weight gauge is recommended as the halo will fill in space between stitches) or held with another yarn to add a beautiful halo and warmth.

Fiber

74% baby suri alpaca, 26% silk

Yardage and Weight

328 yds (300 m), 50 g (1.75 oz)

Care

Hand wash cold, dry flat

Best For:

Fall, winter, spring

Holding with another yarn, such as any of the Eco Merino yarns

Cozy shawls, scarves, cowls, tops, and sweaters when held with another yarn

Airy but warm shawls, scarves, and tops when used alone

About This Base's Sustainability

Alpaca is, in many ways, the most eco-friendly animal fiber. The vast majority of alpacas continue to be raised in their native habitat, where they free-range and coexist very well with the environment. Alpacas are efficient eaters who don't destroy a plant's root system when they eat, allowing plants to regrow. Their soft, padded feet don't degrade the land around them, as hooves frequently do. The lack of lanolin in their fiber makes cleaning the shorn fiber quicker and easier, resulting in less water and fewer cleaning agents needed as compared to other wools. Each animal produces far more fiber than a cashmere-producing goat or even a sheep, and uses fewer resources to make it.  Most alpaca fiber comes from smallholders, providing a highly important source of income to families in the Andean highlands. Even alpaca manure is useful - alpacas tend to pick an area to serve as their latrine, making it easy to harvest their droppings as fertilizer and keeping other areas clean.

Data on silk is mixed and complex, but compared to similar fibers (rayon, Tencel, lyocell, polyester, etc.) silk tends to use more water and slightly more energy to produce. On the other hand, silk comes out significantly ahead in land use (using marginal land not fit for other crops), toxic chemical use, circularity of production (the byproducts from silk production are useful, and end up reintegrated into the local ecosystem), and (specifically as compared to petroleum-derived products like polyester and nylon) its ability to biodegrade/compost. Silk also offers a superior level of performance if looking for breathability, strength, sheen, thermoregulation, hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking, stain and odor resistance, and (especially important for our purposes) the ability to hold a block like nothing else, all in one fiber. 

Like all of our yarns, it is dyed sustainably in our studio with organic-standards-compliant dyes and minimal waste production, and is biodegradable and compostable.