This is the Scottish Blackface, in the bag, all washed up and and pulled out into kinda-sliver.
And the Lopez Special at the bottom. I pulled some locks off, and drafted them out, and had my friend Trin hold on to the lock while I spun my Ashford drop spindle. It was surprisingly soft and easy to spin. I'm not sure whats in it, but its really super gorgeous.
I'm really loving all the fleeces I got from Island Fibers, they are all cleaning really easily, and spinning just beautifully. I have to say, for my first non-processed fiber purchase, I'm really happy with the results. I never thought cleaning fleece could be so easy. I do have to credit my extensive About.com research, and the Yarn Harlot post on cleaning for my success, I think.
Although I took alot of inspiration from her method, I do mine a little different.
This is how I wash fleece.
Gather-
A big wide pan- like one of the tubs bus boys use to clear table, got mine at the Dollar Tree
Some dish soap, I use whatever is cheap, I think Sun, again from the Dollar Tree
And your Microwave. Well you probably won't need to gather that, since it's kinda heavy.
Then We Wash!
- Separate the fleece into locks, or if its pretty mangled, just pull it into strips.
- Fill the tub with as hot of water as you can stand to stick your hand into, and squirt a good 1/8th cup of soap into it.
- Push the fleece strips into it, keeping them separate, submerging them until totally soaked.
- Let sit for 20 min, until water is super gross.
- Pour water off, and run more in, bouncing it off the tub, so it doesn't felt the fleece. Don't add any more soap.
- Microwave for 5 min, then let cool for 15min, and microwave for 5 min again.
- Let cool, and drain again, just holding the fleece in the tub.
- Rinse with hot water again, maybe two-three times, until the water runs clear, and no soap foam comes up when the water runs in.
Sometimes, if the fleece is really crunchy, and doesn't draft out easy, I just spritz a little Suave leave-in conditioner on it, while it dries, and that softens it up a lot.
And that's what I use, at least for now. I will probably change it up, and try something different next time, but this worked well this go around.
Any suggestions would be awesome.
How do you clean your wool?
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