[Ansteorra-textiles] Wool Fleece!

[Jessica]

Hi Audette:

I'll give this question a try... I've washed (scoured) wool before & the BIG thing is not to allow the wool to agitate & be careful about temperature changes... what you saw is the right idea & here are more details:

Load a container with hot water....

It's a good idea to put the wool into net bags: it makes handling it easier.

This can be a bathtub or dishpan, and I've heard of people using their washing machine but I've never tried it...I think the trick is not to allow the water to run while the wool is in the machine & avoid agitating the wool & avoid drastic temp changes...

Then add something like dawn dishwashing liquid until the water feels slimy (I'm never quite sure how much to add, but I probably add too much because I end up having to rinse a zillion times)

Add your wool & allow it to sink into the water or if it's not sinking into the water, then you gently push it into the water... let it stand this way for about 20 minutes or so & then take the wool out of the water (put into another bin) and pour the water out.

This water will probably be very muddy... (Some people say not to pour this water into your septic system.)

Add more water to the container... it needs to be very close to the SAME TEMPERATURE as the water you just poured out.  Put the wool back into this water & again let it sit... repeat this last step one or two more times, again matching the temperature of what you pour out & then when you're done rinsing, squeeze out as much water as you can... at this point your fleece is probably fairly clean.  Let dry.

I can try to chase up a couple of websites with instructions about how to wash wool that would be similar & may have instructions for washing wool in washing machines: perhaps check the spinning lists.

Cheers,

Jessica


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 07/16/2002 at 2:11 PM audette at sapheron.org wrote:

>I have just received some raw wool to play with, and I need to figure
>out how to clean it.  I know I need to be really careful to avoid
>felting it when doing so, but I don't really know how to go abotu
>cleaning it at all.
>
>I saw someone once using two water bins, one with soap, I believe, and
>both warm-ish.  She had a perforated tray that she gently lowered into
>the one with soap, pushed the wool (in the tray) down to force water
>through it (gently), and then did the same in the pure water bin.  And
>repeated this several times.
>
>Is this the right idea?  If so, what kind of soap should I use?  If not,
>what should I be doing instead?
>
>Audette

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