Washing my first fleece

I had to try it...the bag sitting in the other room was just calling to me...."please..wash me...I'm soooo dirty". So, last night, I pulled out the most pathetic bag of wool I had..and decided to skirt it and wash it. Both of which I had never attempted...ever...I didn't have a skirting table..so I did the best I could on the bar top....I won't be doing that again...way too much stuff left in the fleece after washing..but like I said..this fleece is from my oldest ewe...and its short and not very good quality...so it really was just a practice run, I don't feel that I've lost very much from doing it..In fact I feel like I've learned quite a bit.

Let me run you through my evening..because I know you want me too :-P

Letisha's fleece...she's 7 years old..and white..not that you can tell she's white from this fleece...ICK!

So the first thing you do after you skirt the fleece is soak it for at least 20 minutes in COLD water. Look at the color of that water already...so nasty.


After 20 or so minutes you take it out..and look at that water!! It looks like tea!! Sooo dirty...ewwwwww...LOL


Next step is a soak in detergent and really HOT water...I used Dawn..because that was what was easy for me to get..there are other detergents that are just as good if not better...Anyway...you need to move the wool from the water to the colandar carefully...any kind of agitation will make it start to felt...Icelandic fleece in particular is apt to do this because it is so low grease.


After the water begins to cool a bit, you take it out and refill the water tub with more HOT water and rinse by letting it soak until the water begins to cool...repeat that process until the soap is all out. Look at how much whiter that wool looks!!


And here it is after a spin in the washer (only on spin..not on rinse cycle). There is still stuff in the fleece itself..but like I said..I really think that is due to my horrible skirting job. All and all it was a pretty easy job...:)

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