Washing Wool

First, a word on choosing a fleece.

Obviously, the best way to buy wool fleece is in person at a fiber fest or the farm of some close friend. If you buy off eBay or some other internet source beware! I've received more than one fleece that was not as clean as it was billed.

This is a nice, clean fleece from M Nine Bar Below in Lebanon, Oregon. Diane coats (the sheep wear canvas coats that are changed as their fleece grows to keep out burrs, hay and assorted other things that you dont want to have to pick out later) her sheep year-round and then skirts heavily and I never find anything undesirable in the fleece.

Good, fresh fleece does have a sheepy smell, but it is a fresh animal smell, not stale or moldy. The wool has a greasy feel to it from the lanolin that protects every strand, but it should not be sticky or feel gritty (the former means that it's been off the sheep for quite some time, and the latter is tiny bits of dirt that are hard to completely wash out). A clean fleece in the grease (unwashed) should not have any sheep droppings in it if it was skirted (the nasty bits at the edges taken off and composted) adequately.

This is a not-so-clean fleece that was given to me. I've gotten fleece from this shepherd before, so I knew what to expect - her sheep are range sheep and get no special care, and the skirting is less than ideal from a spinner's point of view, but I know that it washes up nice and takes dye well and makes a lively, bouncy yarn, so I am willing to put up with more dirt and the time it takes to wash it properly. And, hey, it was free!

So, how do you know if your fleece is nice or not? Take a lock and stretch it out between your fingers. A sound fleece will feel strong and not break if you tug fairly hard on each end of the lock. If it breaks easily or bits of hair just crumble in your hands, reject it. Don't even bother to save it - you will only end up frustrated with crappy yarn that won't hold up very well. Life is too short, and there are a lot of very nice fleeces out there.

Some sheep are dirtier than others and some fleeces have much more lanolin in them than others (Merino is especially greasy) which will hold more dirt and take longer to clean, but it shouldn't discourage you from buying, especially if it's cheap (by cheap, I mean less than $5.00 per pound. Any more expensive than that, I expect a well skirted fleece, with a moderate amount of dirt, and certainly no droppings in it. If I pay $10.00 per pound of fleece it had better be clean and have some outstanding quality that makes it stand up and beg me to take it home) If the fleece has a sour odor or is sticky, reject it - likely it is from last year's shearing and will require much more time to clean. If you don't mind, go ahead and get it if it's sound, but be ready to wash many times before it's suitable for spinning.

Length of lock is another consideration - very short fleece (2" or less) is not something that I want to work with because its harder to spin, so I like a lock that is at least 3" long, but no longer than 6". If you will be combing the fleece you can handle a much longer staple, but I use hand cards or a drum carder and anything longer than 6" is just a PITA. A nice Romney fleece about 4" in length is my favorite wool to process and spin.

So you have your fleece, and it's clean, but still in the grease.

I generally wash small amounts in my kitchen sink since I don't have a lot of space to dry it in my small apartment. If you have lots of room to let the wet fleece sit around for a few days (and no cats that like to lay on a thick fleece bed) you can use the washing machine and do the whole fleece all at once (see instructions below).

I fill a dishpan with hot water (as hot as it will go - the heat helps dissolve the lanolin) and about a tablespoon of shampoo or Dawn dish soap (Dawn really cuts the grease fast but doesn't leave a residue). Some people use Orvis paste, but I never have.

After the pan is full, I put some fleece in and push it under the water. I swish it around a little and then put more fleece in, being careful not to get the dish pan too full (usually about 6-8 oz). I let it soak for 20 - 30 minutes and then dump it into a strainer to drain off the dirty water. The water will be very brown, no matter how clean the fleece appeared to be, so don't be surprised.

I gently squeeze out as much of the soapy water as I can from the wool and fill the dish pan up again with water the same temp (VERY important - a change in temperature can cause the fleece to felt) and a glug or two of white vinegar to help cut any soap residue. I put the fleece in after the pan is full (don't run water over the fleece as this can felt some of the finer wools) and gently push it under and let it sit another 20 - 30 minutes. Don't rush - soaking is the best way to get the dirt off.

You can see that that the water is quite dirty with the first wash, above, but the second wash will be almost clear.

I rinse again with plain water (no vinegar) and repeat until the water runs clear and the fleece feels squeaky clean.

When it's clean, I roll the fleece in a towel to remove as much water as I can and then lay it on a dry towel to air dry, turning it whenever I happen to walk by.

Washing wool fleece in the Washing Machine

Or, how to get more wool clean, faster.

Using your washing machine is a very effective way to get larger amounts of wool clean faster than doing small batches in the sink. I have a large, top-loading washing machine, so I generally wash as much as 3 pounds of wool fleece at a time, less if it is very dirty. YMMV, depending on the size of your washer. If you have a front-loading machine, you're on your own.

1. Turn off the cold-water tap to your machine. Temperature change is the best way to felt fleece, so you don't want any cold water coming in when the machine is spinning out the dirty water.

2. Fill the tub about 2/3 full with hot water and your soap of choice. I like cheap shampoo (lavender scented is my favorite) or Dawn dishwashing soap.

3. Turn off the machine and start adding fleece, gently pushing it down under the water. If you want to keep the locks intact, you can put the fleece in mesh bags before adding to the hot water, but I usually don't bother. If you use mesh bags, be sure to arrange them evenly around the washer tub so that they spin out evenly. Make sure that you don't overload the washer - the fleece needs to have plenty of water around it to get it clean without having to rinse many times. Less is more!

4. Let the fleece soak for at least ½ hour. It's the soaking that releases the lanolin and dirt from the fleece. It's very important that the machine be off! You are soaking and then spinning, not agitating the fleece! Close the lid to keep as much heat inside the tub as possible while the fleece soaks.

5. Turn the washer back on with the dial at the last spin - this way, if you walk away, you don't have to worry about the washer filling back up and starting to agitate. Let the cycle run to get as much dirty water out of the fleece as possible.

6. Open the lid and start filling again. When the water reaches the 2/3 mark, turn off the water and smoosh things around a bit to make sure the fleece is equally wet all around. Let it sit another ½ hour. You can add a bit of vinegar to this rinse to cut the soap if you wish.

7. Spin it out again and see if it's clean enough for you. I like to rinse twice, and if you do, too, it should be enough, unless the fleece is particularly dirty or has a high lanolin content, like Merino.

8. Run it through a final spin and lay it out on towels or screens to dry. Fluff it occasionally as you walk by to make it dry faster.

That's it! If your SO is squeamish about the sheep "residue," run a load of towels or jeans after you finish with the fleece (don't forget to turn the cold water tap back on) and the evidence will disappear down the drain.