First Fleece Wash

 So today was the day. The calendar was wide open and no commitments. So I leapt into this project with all my fins flapping. The Rambouillet fleece needs to be washed to remove the lanolin and the suint. Suint is sheep's sweat. And a lot of other dirt still needs to come out. So the top picture is where we left off after the skirting and manual picking. This was very time consuming.

 Wash Number One. All throughout I am using nine lingerie bags to contain the fibers. The detergent of choice is the blue Dawn dish detergent (do not use the type with enzymes!). I cranked up the hot water tank to 160 deg F and am doing this in the tub. For each step the time is set for twenty minutes. Enough for the lanolin to dissolve and for grit to fall to the bottom, but not enough time for the water to cool and the lanolin to re-deposit onto the wool. First water quite murky.

 Wash Number Two is noticeably cleaner. Between washes I am gently pressing out as much water as I can, and rinsing a bit with my Water Pic shower head (on a hose). During the soaks it is okay to mush the bundles down into the water a bit; I am using a metal slotted spoon. You need rubber gloves for everything.

 Wash Number Three is cleaner again. Yippee. Why not cram all the wool into more mesh bags and fill the tub right up? Well, because you need to ensure that water can move around the wool quite freely.

Rinse Number One. Just skip the detergent and otherwise everything is the same. At times it was so hot and steamy, that it felt like I was having a sauna with all my clothes on.

And finally Rinse Number Two. Very clean water around the lingerie bags with wool inside.

Now I remove the wool from the bags after spinning the water out in a salad spinner. Do that in the bottom of the tub please. The wool is laid out on an absorbent towel and once all the wool is on the towel, roll it up from one of the short ends. At this point I take the rolled up wool outside.

And here is the drying rack with the much cleaner wool happily resting on it. This rack is sold as an herb drying apparatus, but I tell you, it works perfect for this. The sides on the levels keep the wind from racing off with my hard won white wool. I have six levels altogether that are snapped together. The final picture is a close up of the wet fleece, now drying. (I can't seem to be able to add this text below it. )

Altogether I had four bath tub's full of wool to wash. So that's 20 separate cycles of filling, waiting and then draining and rinsing. In fact it is dark now and I am still not done. Two more rinses to do and that's it!  Okay, so then there's the washing out of the tub and a few other choice chores. So if you're wondering why good wool costs so much, I would say because a lot of time and effort goes into the preparation and cleaning of it.

Skirting a fleece

 Yesterday I was extremely lucky and got the call to come pick up a freshly sheared fleece. The owner told me it was a Fine Wool Type and my amateur investigations suggest this is a rambouillet fleece. The ewe was a huge gal, lovely in her Hill Country home range. The first photo shows the conversion of my laundry/clothesline platform to a skirting station. The fleece is in the green bag and must weight between ten to fifteen pounds.

                                     
Here is a random photo of the raw wool, straight off the sheep's back. All kinds of debris and dirt. What you can't feel or smell is the lovely lanolin that permeates all the fibers. Can you see the gorgeous crimp of the fibres?

 In skirting, one has to throw away the parts of the fleece that are too dirty or too damaged. So far I haven't found any damage and I can see this is a good, strong healthy fleece. The vegetative matter, feces, burrs, straw, etc all have to be hand picked out. Large sections at the rump and parts of the belly area are thrown out right off the bat. Gravel and small rocks fall out with some shaking.

 So the good stuff is going into this plastic tub. It still has plenty of dirt, tightly held in by lanolin, and suint ( a sweaty excretion).

 The crud I don't want has fallen through the screen to the tarp; or I have tossed it down there. There are also stubby sections of wool called second cuts. That happens when the first pass of the shears does not go right to the skin; so a second pass is needed. This really short stuff is not useful for spinning. I am finding very little; suggesting an expert shearer handled this ewe.

And here I am (in 32 degree Celsius heat by the way), after I have skirted out the first part of the fleece (what fit over the entire screen area). This fleece was not intact as one piece, so I didn't need a huge surface to work on.  So on top of the silver screen but below the black one is the part remaining to skirt. The plastic bin is what I am keeping. Doesn't it look lighter, cleaner? and then the dark pile is the rejects. Pretty obvious that.
I've done two "screen's worth" now and I estimate that half the fleece is done.Next step will be to finish the other half of the fleece. The more I handle it the more eager I am getting to start spinning with it. It is of a very high quality and low micron count. It will make for a lovely soft wool.
Once the fleece is all skirted I will then move to the washing process.

In Florence



 

Okay so a person shouldn't be this happy about buying a set of dishes. But you don't understand. This is the first set of dishes I have bought. Sure there were the four plates on an insurance claim, and the partial set (with few pieces) bought to support a charity. All my dishes have been hand-me-downs.  I have been meaning to buy dishes for years now, and today I found the set that turned my crank.



 

 

Made by Metlox in California, this pattern is part of their Vernon ware and is called Florence. Little fruits and apple blossoms and leaves lie in relief around the outside. Why do I like them so much? I guess the colours, the playfulness and the way it all reminds of the spring time that is bursting out all over the place here.

 

I was in a resale shop and found this set of eight. It's nice that they are made in the USA and not overseas like so much these days. It's a vintage pattern, but I don't know what year it was produced.

I am doing the Snoopy Happy Dance!