Monday 2 August 2010

Fibre washing fail

Last week I finally collected two fleeces that have been waiting for me at my parents' house since shearing. They are mainly Suffolk, with a small amount of various (including Welsh Hill sheep, don't know what else) mixed in many generations back.
s
I resisted the temptation to play with them instead of working all week and got to them this weekend.
s
I attempted to roll one out on a sheet, couldn't quite work out how it was rolled so just kind of spread it out, one sheep makes a lot of fluff!
s
The really dirty skirting bits had been pulled off at shearing time before it was rolled up.
s
s
According to the books and interweb the next step is sorting, I didn't really know what I was doing (nothing new there!) but even I can see these locks are different lengths:
s s
I went across the fleece pulling out a lock here and there and comparing the length, it seemed to be mostly two lengths. Most of it was the shorter one, which is in two piles at the back and the longer length which is in the front pile. The longer stuff also seemed to be the dirtier bit, no poo but fairly yellow (wee?- hmmmm why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, cheap floof).
s
s
I found some laundry bags (Dunelm Mill, 99p for a three size pack for any UK residents) and put the longer length fleece in, not too much in each bag.
s
s
Next step is washing, there are so many different instructions online I just decided to go for it and see how it went, after all if it felted I have plenty more!
I did a cold soak with Fairy liquid first, was not going to do this but had to go out for a bit and could not start hot washes but wanted to get on with it.
s
s
Quite a lot of dirt seemed to come out in the cold water, so next up was a hot wash. Hottest water my tap could provide (that is pretty hot, too hot to put hands in) with fairy liquid and soak for about 30 minutes. The water was still hot when I changed it. Lots more dirt, and presumably lanolin, out at this stage.
s
s
I did a second hot soapy soak, followed by a no soap wash and finally one with some vinegar and hair conditioner.
s
Then squeezed most of the water out and took it outside to dry. I was going to try spinning it in the washing machine, but decided against it as I am not too convinced about the success of the washing.
s
The bits that were generally quite white at the start seem to be cleaner, the more yellowy bits have not changed very much. It also still smells pretty sheepy, although it is still wet so that might be making it smell stronger.
s
s
I am going to let it dry and then have a look through, will be able to pick out the white bits and card those, not sure what to do with the yellowy bits, maybe dog comb them open and try rewashing, if they are really dirt encrusted and smelly (especially if it is wee and poo) I am not too keen to use them, especially as I have a lot of other fleece to play with.
s
The next section for processing seems much cleaner to start with. Also from a combination of lessons learnt and more reading online I think I will do several cold water washes, maybe an overnight soak or two to get the dirt out. Then hopefully just one hot wash to remove the lanolin. I was not keen on the amount of hot water I had to use- home processing should surely be helping my pocket and the planet?!







3 comments:

  1. Congrats on washing your first fleece! I have been avoiding the Targhee that's sitting in my office.

    My girlfriend scours hers by putting them in her washing machine (in the laundry bags, with all the extra veg matter picked out first) on hot, gentle cycle, using an enzyme-free laundry detergent (All Free and Clear here in the States - not sure if you have the same brand there). She's had pretty good success with it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've never washed an entire fleece... only a little bit of alpaca here and there. But it sounds like it was rather successful. I wouldn't call it a fail at all... just an awesome learning adventure. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wonder if I'll ever try this. But I can't tell you how much I appreciate your making the experience available to me. You've taught me tons already -

    ReplyDelete