first time wool washer: live and learn

big brown horse

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Meet Dolly my Border Cheviot. I learned how to quietly hand shear her with blades earlier in the summer. I finally got to washing her (BEAUTIFUL, OUTSTANDING) wool. I probably shouldn't have waited b/c the lanolin gets harder to wash out the longer you wait but ya live and learn.

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Washing her wool wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I had a few mishaps, but I worked out all the kinks ;) by the time I was finished. It is now drying on a couple of big towels in the kitchen.

First thing that I was blown over about was the smell of the raw wool. My sheep were sheared a few months ago and I stored the raw dirty wool in feed bags until I was ready to wash it. As soon as I open them up a strong, but lovely smell of lanolin filled the air. I was really shocked, I thought it would be smelly.

I read the directions carefully on line except the part about how much to do at a time. :rolleyes:

(First Mistake)
I filled my daughter's tub up with hot water and dumped a whole fleece in all at once.
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Look how ambitious I was...Dum Dee Dum Dum Dum (Do a little at a time!!)

I used about 1/4 cup of Dawn, I didn't make bubbles, and I carefully pushed the wool under the water.

(Second mistake)
I didn't put the wool into anything, just dumped it in loose. I should have used lingerie bags and I made a huge mess and clogged my daughter's tub.

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Look at all that loose wool!

What I should have done while the fleece was dry (and I did end up doing this later in the process risking "felting" my fleece) was: I should have bagged up the wool in lingerie bags, about 4 bags per fleece for a standard 7x7x16 inch bag with a zipper. This way I could have hung the bags on the shower nozzle while I emptied the tub and refilled...and no wool escapes risking a clogged drain etc.

What I ended up having to do was transfer parts of the already wet fleece to a lingerie bag (I only had one, I should have at least 4 for the next time.) Then moved the whole process to the kitchen sink. You see, if I had the wool bagged up into 4 bags I could do them all at once in a utility sink or a tub. Instead I did one at a time in the kitchen sink. :rolleyes:

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See the lingerie bag? You need 4 to do one fleece...not one. :rolleyes:

(Third mistake)
Anyway, once I got the bag into the sink, I realized my hot water heater only likes to heat one tub worth of water at a time. :rolleyes: And you are not supposed to let the water cool, or else your wool could "felt". So I ended up heating pots of water to use while washing the bagged fleece.

After I got all my mistakes worked out, things moved very smoothly. I "washed" the bags in hot soapy water by pushing them down into it carefully and then walking away for 20 minutes. This gave me time to heat up more water. I drained the dirty water and rewashed 2 more times.

Then I rinsed the bags in clean hot water...twice.

Finally after letting the bags sit on the dish rack in the sink to drip dry, I tossed them into the washing machine for a spin cycle. (I've read you can even use a salad spinner if you have the time...you can only do really small batches.)

The clean dryish fleece is now spread out onto towels to dry for 12 more hours....and it still smells so good! Actually my whole house smells fantastic.

Thankfully I ended up with pretty, soft white CLEAN wool! See:

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(All those little leaves etc will come out after carding.)

eta: I wonder if this should be under "FIBER". Oops!
 

goodhors

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Well I am glad to hear it worked out for you. I wash my wool in pillow cases, in the washer. I tie the open end shut with a shoelace. I find lots of escaped wool, using holy side bags like you used. This would even happen with the tiny net bags. Big clumps in the drain.

I am carefull with agitating the wool while wet and in hot water. Wool fibers are scaley, and when scales are softened with water and heat, they will cling together (felting) when you rub them together. And the more felting from rubbing, then wool or wool clothing item will shrink down. This is why all wool items were dry cleaned or hand washed in the past. No agitation. Washing wool things in a machine caused felting, shrinkage, even washed in cold water.

Spinning out the excess water, double rinsing in plain cold water, in my machine, with no agitation, sure makes cleaning the wool easier.

The finished product in photos is beautiful. Makes you want to just SQUEEZE it! You will need to make a progress report in photos, as wool progresses to a finished product. You will need to find a spinning class now!
 

big brown horse

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Free, of course I have carders! ;)



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:lol:

These are going to have to do for now. I'm making a tiny project so it won't be too bad. I'm saving up for the real deal later.
 

abooth

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Fabulous! I have two border cheviots...a ram and a ewe. I am so excited about shearing them next year. Thanks for the pics.
 

Beekissed

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Sally, I made the same mistakes that you did! :gig All at once in the bathtub.....big, gooey mess!

I dried mine out on my fenceline until I found the other sheep making off with the wool. :he

It is now stored in a pillowcase awaiting my purchasing a set of carders...just like yours! :lol:

What are you going to do with your carded wool?
 

freemotion

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I might be getting yet another fleece!!! Someone just offered me one!

Oooo.....duvet for the bed, maybe a pillow, and a bit of yarn for a shawl or a vest. Who knows. I change my mind every five minutes.

What are you making, Bee? BBH?

I was thinking of getting the dog brush carders, too, as grandma's probably won't hold up (the leather holding the wires is falling apart) and I don't want to ruin them. I'd rather hang them on the wall as decoration.
 
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