Wool Preparation - Part one

One of the problems of buying a fleece in the spring is that I end up working on it when it is far too nice to be inside. However I am 1/3 of my through washing the 4th and final fleece, and I have almost finished carding the first fleece. I at times get somewhat obsessed to complete a fleece. I suspect that there is a more efficient way to get it all done, but the process that I have developed seems to work for me.

I wash the fleece in small lots – just enough to fit into a medium size pail. It usually takes one soaking with soap and then two rinses to get it clean. There is a fine line between washing it too little and the wool therefore remaining to full of lanolin to be really workable and washing all of the lanolin out which makes the wool too dry to handle.

I then roll up the wool in an towel. Once it is partially dry I lay it out on my bed and start to separate the wool. Sort of finger teasing it out so that it dries faster. I quite frequently spend my evenings playing with the wool this way. I then put it all into large bags made out of old sheer curtains to dry and to be kept clean

   newly washed wool  
This process is relaxing. Playing with the wool feels good. Unfortunately because of the quality of the wool, it can also be frustrating. Sometimes parts of the fleece are so full of seeds and bits and pieces of straw that I have to throw away huge piles of wool. Other times I come across a whole section where the wool has been cut in pieces far too short to spin ( called double cuts) It almost breaks my heart to come across a section that is soft and a wonderful colour only to find out that I can’t use it.



 wasted wool