THE DAILY CHUM

I’m back from a weekend of sheep, spinners, knitters, and fibery people. The Black Sheep Gathering is held yearly in Eugene and is a mecca drawing people from far and wide.

My intent was to have a good time, shop at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth, and buy a raw fleece.

I came home with 4 skeins from Blue Moon (2 for other people), 1 pound of fine wool roving, 2 oz Pygora roving, THREE raw fleeces and a new wheel. Musta been the wool fumes. Or the sheepy smell from the barn attached to the vendor building

Needless to say, it was a good trip.

Once I got home, I dove right into the fleeces. One of them is a Bluefaced Leicester from a yearling ewe named Silver. I was lucky enough to meet the yearling and her owner before she was sheared.

Silver, #51, a silver/grey Bluefaced Leicester ewe

The owner of this darling ewe had trimmed the tips in preparation for the show and she was almost completely free of all veggie matter. All I needed to do was skirt the belly area. I made my husband and kids ooh and ahh over the fleece. The kids thought it was neat, my husband did his obligatory “it’s nice dear” and went back to reading the sports page.

The full fleece before skirting. The belly wool is on each side. The center wool is the best quality.

I found washing this fleece to be more of a challenge. My previous fleeces were of medium wools like Romney, Longhair and Jacob fleece. With those, you can be a bit more rough with the wool and not have any problems. Little did I know if you even LOOK at a Bluefaced Leicester cross-eyed, it will felt.

I’ve met many people who say “It’s too hard to wash a fleece”. Or “I don’t have room to process a fleece”. Or “I don’t want to take up my bathtub with fleece”. Never fear, you don’t need much room, or a bathtub, or much of anything. Just 2 small tubs (like a dishpan, or small rubbermaid tote), some lingere bags, and dish soap like Dawn detergent. You won’t be able to wash the entire fleece at one time. Actually this is a benefit, if you make a mistake and felt the batch, you didn’t ruin the entire fleece.

This is my method. Many people have other variation and I don’t claim to be an expert by any means. (And as my father used to say an “Ex is a has been and a Spurt is a drip under pressure”. )

Get the water as hot as you can out of your tap and add a generous amount of dishwasher soap into the first tub. Fill the second tub with the same temperature of water and put aside. This will cool off at the same rate as your fleece soaks in the first tub and you won’t shock the wool when you rinse out the soap.

Put a section of your fleece into the mesh bag. Don’t pack it too full, about 1/2 or 1/3 full so the fleece can move around easily. Gently put the bag into the hot soapy water. It will slowly sink or you can very very gently submerge it. Set a timer for 15-20, have a cup of coffee, or surf the net. Don’t let the wool set longer than this or the lanolin will re-solidify and deposit back onto the wool.

First soak on the left, clean rinse water cooling on the right.

After 15-20 minutes, take the mesh bag gently by the corners and let most of the water drain out into your tub. Place the bag into the clean hot water tub and let it sink. Dump the dirty water outside, use it to water a plant or your lawn, it’s full of nice organic fertilizer. Don’t dump it down the drain, the lanolin will solidify and eventually clog the drain. Don’t ask how I learned this.

Letting the dirty water drain out of the fleece. Do not be tempted to squeeze the wool!

While the fleece is in the second tub, rinse out the first tub and fill with water at the same temperature as the first tub. Drain the fleece and place it in the now clean water in the first tub. Rinse out the second tub and fill with water. Alternate between the two tubs until the rinse water is fairly clear.

Gently let the wool drip and place on a thick towel. Roll up gently and let the towel absorb some of the water. Remove the wool from the mesh bag and air dry. I use wire baking racks to allow for some air flow. Or you can put on a dry towel and be sure to turn the wool over when the top is dry.

Left: wet fleece ready to be rolled in a towel. Right: wet fleece on drying rack.

This washing method doesn’t remove all of the dirt, but most of the greasy lanolin is gone. I don’t want to agitate the fleece enough to remove all the dirt. Most of the dirt comes off in the picking/carding process and then again after setting the twist in the spun yarn.

Hope this didn’t bore you! I love raw fleece because of how relatively inexpensive it is to purchase and for the feeling of accomplishment I get when I spin a fleece I processed myself.

Silvery grey Bluefaced Leicester locks!

Monkeypal, also known as Michele, is a native of the rain drenched state of Oregon. She can be found lurking in local yarn and spinning shops when not tending to her gang of small children. She can also be found under mossy rocks, on her blog, and can be reached by e-mail. monkeypal@limenviolet.com

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