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July 5, 2006
Washie, washie
I love long weekends. Even though I never, ever get as much done as I plan to, I still love them. There's just something so wonderful about not having to put make-up on and dry my hair and get dressed up for work. It makes me really unhappy about coming back to work, but such is life. This weekend was filled with baking, knitting, reading, movie watching, and spinning, with just a touch of yard work thrown in for good measure. But, the highlight of the weekend was washing the fleece I bought at Estes Park (if you don't give a crap about fleece washing, stop reading now and come back tomorrow for the baking report).
To start, I laid the fleece out on some towels on the patio and shook the worst of the vegetable matter out (and this fleece really didn't have very much).
Then I separated it into lingerie bags - I really could have packed a lot more fleece into each bag because while they looked full, once they were wet each bag was only about half full.
After that I went to the guest bathroom and laid out all of my supplies and reread the information I had on washing a fleece (for about the hundredth time - I was really nervous about this whole process). Maggie Casey gave us some information in the packet we got for our class, plus there is some information in a couple of books, but everyone seems to do it a little different. In the end, I went with Maggie's instructions and kept my fingers crossed the entire time.
I filled the tub about 3/4 full and added a bunch of Dawn dishwashing soap and put all the bags in to soak.
And man was the water dirty after the first wash
I repeated the wash process once more and the water wasn't as dirty the second time
Then I rinsed twice - once with a "glug" of vinegar and once without. Then the bags took a spin in the washing machine to get some of the water out (I turned the water off on the washer just to be sure) and then I laid them all out on the bed in the guest bedroom to dry.
I am very happy to tell you that I didn't felt any of it! I'm not sure if it was that I did things right, or if I just got really lucky, but whatever the reason - I'm very relieved. I see that I missed some vegetable matter initially, but it shouldn't be too hard to pick what little there is out when I'm carding it. All in all, a successful first fleece experience. The entire process took me about 3 1/2 hours just because there was a lot of soaking time, and I got my spinning time in while I waited.
Comments
Great job, Steph!! I knew you could wash the fleece successfully!!
Posted by: caitlyn at July 5, 2006 10:15 AM
All that clean, fluffy goodness!
Posted by: --Deb at July 5, 2006 10:16 AM
Awesome! It looks fabulous, all clean and soft and springy. I knew you could do it!
Posted by: Purly Whites at July 5, 2006 10:25 AM
wow, that was one DIRTY tub! yucky. but the fleece turned out really nice and fluffy :)
Posted by: gleek at July 5, 2006 10:34 AM
Wow... I never knew spinners went through all that! Will you dye the wool next or just spin it? About how much yarn would that much fleece make? It looks like a lot to me!
(And that last picture looks like clouds - so pretty!)
Posted by: Kathy at July 5, 2006 10:45 AM
I love all the white, fluffy goodness on the bed. I never thought about the work it takes to clean fleece - great informative post!
Posted by: mari at July 5, 2006 10:45 AM
Wow - that was one dirty sheep! ;) Glad that the washing went well - the clean white fleece looks lovely.
Posted by: Cyndi at July 5, 2006 10:55 AM
Nice work. If the fleece feels not-sticky after it dries, then you did a bang-up job.
Posted by: claudia at July 5, 2006 10:59 AM
That is some dirty water! Hope you have fun spinning it up!
Posted by: Angela at July 5, 2006 11:06 AM
The fleece looks great. Nice job.
Posted by: Jessica at July 5, 2006 11:09 AM
Yuck! My sister got a whole fleece to wash and it took her about 7 washes before it was even barely clean! Luckily yours was not as dirty! It looks great!
Posted by: Stacey at July 5, 2006 11:12 AM
The secret, if it's a greasy fleece, is to use ENOUGH Dawn. A squirt won't cut it....we're talking a CUP in the washing machine! You could have done that load in the washer, by the way, just spinning out between washes and rinses (which also extracts much of the dirt and can cut down the number of soapings) by just removing from the tub while refilling. You've got to get a washing bag...then you could just hang it outside, in the bag, to dry! But, it looks lovely.
Posted by: Marcia at July 5, 2006 11:20 AM
I am crazy jealous of the sheer (shear? ha!) amount of wool you cleaned in one sitting. I would take me days and days with my small-batch system. It looks gorgeous, good work.
Posted by: PumpkinMama at July 5, 2006 11:58 AM
Very cool =) looks like fun! someday.... =)
Posted by: April at July 5, 2006 1:29 PM
who knew? reading about fleece washing is actually fun!
Posted by: kris at July 5, 2006 1:42 PM
From the pictures it looks like you did a fabulous job! It's so white and fluffy!
Posted by: margene at July 5, 2006 2:08 PM
Wow! It looks like clouds. Great pictorial... and probably a great feeling to have everything turn out so well.
Posted by: Birdsong at July 5, 2006 2:32 PM
I agree it looks like clouds! Just curious, how much yarn are you going to get out of all that? It seems to me to be tons? I like watching your progress!
Posted by: Stephanie at July 5, 2006 2:52 PM
the tub looks like the end result of washing my dogs!!! greyhounds get super dirty--but no way are they as fluffy as that fleece :)
Posted by: cindi at July 5, 2006 3:04 PM
I'm sure you did things right, and it looks great. Thank you for the step by step documentation.
I'll blog about this tomorrow, but Saturday at a farmer's market in town this lady was selling some roving, and she told me she'd sell me a fleece when I'm ready! I'm very excited.
Posted by: Rebekah at July 5, 2006 3:42 PM
I was surprised at how easy it was. That is going to make some gorgeous rolags!
Posted by: Kristi aka Fiber Fool at July 5, 2006 5:43 PM
You're so brave! It looks fantastic, though. And I'm going to process my Estes fleece myself, too.
So, you have a guest bedroom and a guest bath, eh? Hmmmm.
Posted by: Carole at July 5, 2006 6:06 PM
That's awesome! I've never wanted to start with a completely raw fleece, myself, but I still think it's cool. That looks so fluffy! I'll be getting my wheel out now....
Posted by: Julia at July 5, 2006 7:12 PM
The fleece looks great. I wash mine is little batches, but it takes FOREVER. I like your method better, and think I'll try that next time.
Posted by: Jocele at July 5, 2006 8:43 PM
Oh my gosh, thanks for showing the process - great photos! And that end result...if I were you, I'd be tempted, a little, to sleep there tonight.
Posted by: eunny at July 5, 2006 8:50 PM
It looks like you did a great job. I didn't realize that washing fleece took so much time and room! I have a hard time finding a spot to block sweaters, I cannot imagine what I would do if I were trying to dry fleece.
Posted by: Kate at July 6, 2006 5:36 AM
That's quite a colour difference. Was it stinky when it was wet?
Posted by: Abi at July 6, 2006 5:37 AM
Hey, that almost looks like fun! If I buy a fleece, will you wash it?? ha-ha!
Posted by: Theresa at July 6, 2006 7:47 AM
Cool post, I've never seen fleece washed before. Perhaps the sheep should be showered before they're sheared ;-) The guest bed looks like it's covered with clouds.
Posted by: Lynette at July 6, 2006 9:35 AM
what a great post! sounds like a huge undertaking for the fleece washing. i'm sure you'll make great things out of them!
love your barn. so much fun!
Posted by: blossom at July 6, 2006 10:00 AM
Man, the after shot of that first soaking is funky! It makes me want to wash a fleece too and I don't even spin! :D
Posted by: Mamie at July 6, 2006 11:37 PM
