Washing Sheep's Fleece

Generally these days, we wash our sheep's fleeces before carding and spinning.   Greasy fleeces used to be a "thing", especially in the 70's when there was a crafty revival and people were teaching themselves crafts without all the resources we have today.  However, spinning fleece in the grease generally leaves your equipment dirty and it's a pain to clean.   Why am I writing this post explaining this and more?  Because today, while finishing washing up the last of the black fleece, I came across a little note that had the date the fleece was skirted and then a small added scribbled "washed" below it.   I didn't realise the fleece had been washed already.   Yes, there was less lanolin in it than the other two fleeces.   However, it still had some lanolin and it was obviously dirty.   While this fleece may have been washed, it wasn't washed properly.   I'm going to explain a simple way to wash fleeces.  There are other ways to wash fleeces but this is a pretty basic method which is effective.

First thing to know.  Lanolin needs hot water and soap to be removed.  The water needs to be at least 120F, to "melt" off the fibre.   A bit hotter is better so that you have some working time.  If the water cools too quickly, it may settle back on the fibre.   If your hot water source isn't hot enough as some water heaters have safety measures of lower temperatures, you need to heat up water on the stove or in your kettle to add.   While I'm using a laundry tub for this demo, this applies to using your top loading washer if you're using it to soak and spin your fleece.   

Washed fleece should not be this dirty!

Next you'll need soap.  A high quality dish soap like Dawn for Fairy, Orvus or other quality animal shampoo or a wool wash.   I don't use wool wash because it's way out of my price range, but I've seen some results and it works well.   I also use a citrus degreaser in the first and sometimes 2nd wash.  I use Zep,  because it's available locally, in 4 litre containers at the big box hardware store and smaller amounts available at a local hardware chain.  This is effective in the first wash to help remove the lanolin and some of the excess dirt.  I usually use a glug or two of Zep and about 2 or 3 tbsp of Dawn in the first wash, along with only hot water.

Remember -  felting is caused by 2 things.  First, is agitation.  Be gentle when you move the fibre through the water.  The second, is temperature changes.  It's not hot water that shrinks sweaters, but going from a hot wash to a cold rinse, or the agitation cycle of the washing machine.    You always need to be careful that the water temperatures remain close to the same, or if you leave for a while, that you use the same temperature water as you just drained out.

Start the hot water and add the soap and degreaser, or wool wash.    Once the tub is full, gently press in some fleece.  Don't over load the tub.   You want enough fleece to be a full layer, allowing enough depth in the water for water to move through the fleece and not be bogged down with depth. This will help get the dirt and lanolin out of the fleece.  It usually takes several washings to get the dirt out of the fleece and then several rinses to remove the soap.  I found so many short cuts  and neppy bits with this fleece that I ended up repurposing my little strainer to scoop up as many bits as I could.

Non-scientific explanation of how the soap does it's job when washing fleece -  When the water is hot enough for the lanolin to melt and has enough soap etc, the lanolin gets attached to the soap and the soap gets attached to the water.  This means when you drain the tub, the lanolin gets washed away with the water.   The soap is hydrophilic and hydrophobic which is the science stuff you need.  The soap will do the same to a lot of the dirt.   

Once the wash water is clear or at least clearish, you can start rinsing.   Remember the water temperature should be similar to what you just used.   Washing should be in hot water, but rinsing just needs to be in similar temperatures to the water as it's cooling down.  Here you can see that there is still soap in the water and some dirt  or dirty water being removed, so it will need another rinse.

Once the rinse water is clear and not soapy, you're almost finished.  Now you need to gently squeeze out the excess water.  You can do this with a towel, or if you have a mesh bag, you can put the wet wool in it, go outside and use centrifugal force by whizzing it over your head to remove the water.   If you have. a fancy extractor that works well.  I have an old lettuce spinner which does the trick, although it's a slower solution.  

Dirt left in the bottom of the tub, from the supposedly washed fleece.   Just no-  this will muck up your hand cards or drum carder.   If your fleece has this much dirt left in it, you need to wash it again!

I'm a bit ticked because I shouldn't have had to rewash the fleece, if it had been done properly in the first place.   I'm glad I hadn't noticed that it was supposedly washed because I would have hated to run that through a friend's equipment.  

more project updates

The shawl is finished.  It was an easy pattern to remember since it was all garter stitch and increased 1 stitch at the start of every other row.   Once I had the stripe pattern done once, it was all that was needed to refer to once in a while.  Most of it was self explanatory.   I am sort of thinking I should have gone for the blue for the dark stripe like the pattern suggested but I'm happy enough with what I chose since I already had some of that dark brown/grey wool on hand.  I didn't add the fringe because it would have made the shawl less useful for warmth while doing things.  I just did a single row of double crochet along the edge to tidy up the side with all the yarn joins.   This pattern is in Peterson's, 1862, jan - June, pg 419 or so.

I was also knitting this bunny toy at the same time.  Well I'd started the bunny, set it aside while I knit the shawl and am now finishing up the bunny.   It's a large toy and it's taking a while to knit it, mainly because by setting it down for a while, I started knitting again at the wrong gauge.   Now I'm having to re-knit some of the pieces so that they match properly.   I just finished my 2nd set of arms.   I have the body done, 2 arms done properly, 1 leg.  I will start the second leg tonight hopefully and then re-knit the head which is the fussiest part.   It's the wrong tension though and looks odd with all the other pieces. 

This bunny takes a lot of knitting.  It's done on straight stitches so takes even longer.  I'm using handspun merino/cashmere/silk so it's really soft though.   It has knitted clothing as well.  I'm going to dye up the body pieces when I'm finished knitting them but before I sew and stuff them.  I'll also dye the clothing yarn at the same time.

Ashleigh got a new drum carder and want to play.  Since it's a spinning day next week, I'm washing up

some guild fleece to try out.   The guild was given 4 fleeces to play with.  The gals who picked them up were hoping we could spin them up for them to weave with.  However, they have no idea how much work that will be.   I'm not sure if they checked the fleeces when they got them, or even if they got to choose them.   The gal who was gate-keeping them finally let me have access when she was tired of storing them.  I just tossed them in my garage where they will be cold enough to not get moths all winter.   

However, in washing them up, one fleece turns out to have a significant break in a good part of the fleece.   Ashleigh has been playing with that one and with her new drum carder has gotten something useable in 5 passes - that's a fair bit of work.  The lamb fleece is so short and so much lanolin that I've test washed some and after 3 washes with soap and de-greaser, and 3 rinses there is still so much lanolin left in.   The other white fleece is meh- full of neps and lots of dirt and sand.   I couldn't card it but had to comb it with over 50% loss.   Not fun at all.   This is the last fleece, the black one.  It's really black and night time lighting doesn't show it up.  It it cards up it could be a nice enough fleece, but with the others being such as they are, I'm not holding up a lot of hope.  However, having a nice large carder to try it out with should be fun.

There are tons of second cuts that I've been picking out while washing.   I also heard a rumour that the farmer has sold off all its sheep because they couldn't get their wool processed in a timely fashion.   Some of the small mills around here have ridiculously long waiting lists, so I can understand the frustration.  It's nice having the skills to do it myself if I need to.

Winter walks, garden visitor and shawl update

Hawk, right side, middle of picture.

 Here is a photo of the hawk visiting our garden.  He sticks around for over an hour at a time and has a couple of spots he likes to hang out.   With his dedication and patience, we're now thinking it might be the hawk who got one of our chooks.   DH says he found that hen just inside the door of the chicken coop, so it's possible.   The poor girls have been stuck inside since then.   With the risk of a hawk attack so likely, I'm keeping them in the coop.   They aren't fond of the snow regardless.  They'll make a track to the feeders and sometimes to spots where they can sun themselves, and mainly they hangout in the open part of the barn, making a mess of things.

The photo was taken through a double pane window which I didn't think needed cleaning this fall.  I was wrong.  It does.  The hawk is fairly large, like a crow size or a tad larger.  His back is grey and his underside/tummy is white and brownish.  He has a greyish head, which makes it hard to see, but he scanned the area constantly from that perch and I watched him sit there for over an hour.  He's been back daily, sometimes multiple times a day.

We headed out for a walk today.  I needed my sunglasses when we left the house.   The skies were mainly white, with some patches of very pale blue.   The sunlight was reflecting on the snow so it was bright, despite the high clouds.   By the time we were halfway to the chosen trail, I no longer needed my sunglasses.  There was a light flurry as well.   Luckily, the winds and the real snow, didn't pick up until we got back home.   

The trail was white.   Enough people had been on the trails by the time we got there, that the fluffy snow we had over the past 2 days was partially packed and easy to walk on.  No slippery spots and no ice.  Just light fluffy snow and lots of foot prints.

The lake or pond is mainly frozen over.  I don't think the ice is really strong enough to walk on yet, but there were foot prints on it.  They were likely animal prints, but we didn't go close enough to the shore to find out.   We were on top of the hill when we took this photo.   There are some houses and a train track on the other side of the lake.   You can't see them once the trees are leafed out.  This time of year though, they are able to be seen, and I'm betting they have great views as well.

The sun came out briefly (sort of) just as we were near the end of the trail , which runs beside the river.   It's not actually as steep as the photo suggests, but a weird angle to capture that tiny bright spot, the sun and trying to get a bit of the river in as well.  I don't think I was horribly successful.

The winds only picked up after we got home, which was nice and now it's snowing the kind of big flakes which tend to suggest we'll get some accumulation.  

Shawl update:   I'm getting about 4 -6 rows a day done if I put some effort into knitting right now, due to the length of the shawl.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to make this the last repeat.   It's certainly big enough to be a useful shawl, and maybe useful enough to be worn like a sonntag or tied shawl.  It's small enough though that I could also use it as an under-shawl and wear my larger one over top of it for warmth.   I'm also trying to decide whether I'll put the suggested fringe on it or just crochet a simple edging around the sides of it.    I fear the fringe might get in the way of wearing it for warmth while doing things like baking at Westfield, although the fringe in the sample picture was very pretty.

A New Knitting Project

Today I filled my buckets up with birdseed and peanuts, to head out and fill the feeders.  It's been pretty cold and blustery so the birds empty them fairly quickly in this weather.   Because I did this sort of by rote, I didn't look up in time to get a photo of the Coooper's hawk sitting on the garden gate, right beside the feeders.  It was really pretty.  I scared him off when I noisily shut the garage door.  If I'd looked up and seen the hawk there, I'd have been far more careful and tried to get a photo. 

I'm knitting a new shawl from a Victorian pattern.   The pattern is from Petersons which was a ladies magazine.  The pattern is in the 1842 edition.  The picture of the shawl and the pattern are separated, which made it a little more difficult to begin.   However, it's an easy pattern and is far more modern than expected.  It's a shawl knit from the corner up and there is nothing symmetrical, lacy or other things we might expect from a pattern from that era.   The original was done in blue, grey and white.  I used the darker grey instead of the blue, because I had some at home and had to purchase less.

Shortly after I photographed the shawl, I found Kevin had settled on it for a nap.   What is it about cats always sitting on the projects I'm working on?   After Kevin had his fill, Dion spent a few minutes on it.  Dion though is far happier sleeping on finished projects or puzzles.  Our Christmas activity is usually jigsaw puzzles.  As soon as we take a puzzle out, Dion is right there either playing with the pieces or sitting on it.   If we don't cover the puzzle at night, we find that he's played with it and have to redo parts of it.

This is the pattern and the picture from the magazine, which is actually a hard bound book.   The book is full of stories, recipes, patterns, music, colour plates and drawings of the most up to date fashions.  

From what I can tell, zephyr yarn from the time, was the weight of fingering or sock yarn.   I've chosen a worsted weight wool yarn, which is larger and faster to knit up.  It's a bit warmer as well.  So far the main downside I've found is that with all those colour changes, there are a bazillion ends to sew in.  Also, the pattern as written has the pattern flip every other repeat so that the colour change shows on both sides.  I added an extra row of the second white section so that there is a clear front and back.  This is mainly because I didn't want to sew in ends at the neck edge, which also has the increases.