Camel Fiber

You learn something new every day. (Hopefully, I suppose.)

While reading Volume 11, Issue 1 of Wild Fibers magazine I noticed a photograph of camel moms with their babies. (Do baby camels have a name, like kids or cria?) One frequently sees llamas, alpacas, etc., but I don't ever recall seeing photographs of camels in a context of knitting fiber. Maybe I just haven't been sensitive to it in the past, but it struck me as worthy of investigation.

The advertisement is for Weaver Creek Fibers. According to their web site they are wholesale purveyors of luxury fibers. I'm afraid they do not have a terribly long list of locations where one can buy their product, as I would love to feel camel fiber. They will blend the fiber with merino wool or silk.

Camels may be creatures of the desert but they need a downy undercoat to keep the suns rays away from their tender skin. Camel down has been prized for centuries and in modern times was in every gentleman's wardrobe, in the quintessential Camel Hair Coat.

OMG, Camel hair coats really are made of camel hair!

The Baby Camel Down is a warm golden brown and so very soft. This short stapled fiber is prepared in a manner that makes it very easy to spin and will do well, whether spun with a lot of loft or tightly for sturdy garments. It pairs wonderfully with merino and silk in our spectacular blends and will take dye beautifully. Camel down is the soft warm inner down of a bactrian camel with a fiber structure similar to cashmere. The down is usually 1-3 inches long. Camel down does not felt easily. Baby Camel Top has been becoming more popular every year.

I wonder if camel fiber is generally used for knitting, as well as making men's winter coats. I will have to ask around. I notice, too, that they are discussing the use of baby camel fiber, not the fiber from an adult animal. What do they do with all the adult animals? I did a google search on the address, and one cannot tell if they have a lot of land and they are raising the animals. (But, perhaps they are not raising the animals, given that they mention yaks, rabbits, alpaca fiber, too.) I was disturbed by the thought of all the adult animals.... So, I conclude, perhaps naively, that they have a source of fiber from a place that has more 'use' for adult animals.

As I read further, I see them discuss the animals. They indicate:

Bactrian camels have two humps, weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years. Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.

What I conclude is that they do not raise their own animals, as the photograph shows animals with only one hump, not two...

I have swiped this image from a google image search.



Ok, I am disillusioned. And I wonder why they would use a photograph of animals with one hump instead of the two humps they discuss in their description.

A baby camel is a calf.