Sheep to Shawl: Part I

When I bought my Ashford wheel a few months ago, the seller asked if I would be interested in a leicester fleece. Apparently, she used to have a sheep, and had never gotten around to processing all of the wool. She sent along a picture of the sheep, who's name was Laverne.

Laverne the sheep

Of course, I jumped at the chance. Even though all the guides said to be wary of free fleeces (you usually get what you pay for) I knew that she was a hand spinner, so hopefully it wasn't too bad. At the time though, I didn't know about the volume that would soon be filling my small apartment.

It turned out that Laverne had produced three laundry bags full of wool, although, as you can see, she was a white sheep, not a black one. The first bag was washed, but had yellowed terribly, probably from sitting in some attic. The other two bags were unwashed, but had been sitting around long enough that the lanolin had hardened. Thus began my saga of trying (and mostly failing) to wash this wool.

Step one: a 24-hour soak in cold water to get out the dirt (and dung).

Wool soaking in the bathtub

Step 2: go out and buy soap to remove the lanolin. I bought Woolite gentle, although afterwards, I saw warnings that it wouldn't work. But they were for the regular Woolite, so I figured I would give it a try.

Step 3: wash with very hot water, the hottest that comes from the tap, and let sit in a bucket for 15 minutes first with soap, then two hot water soaks without.

Step 4: discover that the wool is still greasy. Decide that the problem is the soap, and buy several bottles of Dawn dish soap, as recommended by other fiber processors.

Step 5: repeat step 3.

Step 6: discover that the wool is still greasy. Decide that the problem is the heat of the water, and carefully add boiling hot water from the microwave to every part of step 3.

Step 7: discover that the wool is still greasy. Decide that the problem is the hardness of the water. Repeat step 3 with ammonia in the first soak, and vinegar in the second.

Step 8: discover that the wool is still a bit greasy. Give up and decide to spin "in the grease" and wash the yarn afterward.

Next up in part II: prepping the fiber to spin!