Washing and Preparing Wool

Every spinner wants to spin at least one fleece from the beginning, as in the whole fleece off of a sheep. Often, this urge is enabled by a sheep owner hearing of a spinner and then giving the new spinner a fleece.  You need to look at this carefully. How clean is the fleece? You will need to wash it, card or comb the clean fiber, and then you can spin it. If you buy the fleece at a fiber fair such as the Snake River Fiber Fair, the Black Sheep Gathering or from another spinner, you can buy a covered fleece or at least a very clean fleece.

Take the fleece and spread it out. Remove all of the dirty tags, the middle of the back if it has hay or debris, and any damaged parts. We spread our fleeces out on a raised screen so the short pieces (second cuts, etc.) fall off. If it has insects or is too dirty, put it in a plastic bag and throw it away. The process of removing the outer part is called, skirting. If you are buying a fleece for the purpose of spinning, it should be skirted by the seller for you and you should pay nothing for the skirted portion. The skirted fleece is what should be weighed and paid for.

Very fine wool fleeces, such as those from Merino, Rambouilett, Targhee, Cormo sheep, are best washed a small amount at a time in a basin. It is very easy to felt this wool. I don't like to send this to commercial processors because it seems like it always comes back pilled. The process is 1) fill the basin with hot water and grease cutting soap.  2) submerge the wool into it and let it soak. 3) before the water cools, lift the wool out, squeezing gently, 4) repeat 1 through 3, 5) rinse by putting hot water into the basin and placing the wool in and after submerging lift it out and repeat until you are satisfied with the result. At the end, put it into the washing machine for the end of the spin cycle to get the maximum amount of water out. Lay out to dry.

For all other wool, I do this process in the washing machine, using my last spin cycle. I fill the tub, put soap in, add the wool pushing it down with a plunger dedicated to this purpose, and let it soak for 2 or three hours. Then I move it over to the end of the spin cycle and spin the water out. IT MUST HAVE NO AGITATION!!!! Remove the wool and Repeat as above. I prefer doing about 4 lbs at a time.

Use enough soap so the water is slippery. I prefer Louet's Wool Wash but before I used Dawn dish washing liquid (it takes about 1 cup). The dawn cuts the grease but Louet's product leaves the fiber softer and with a very nice fragrance.

Wool can be spun from the lock. I like to do that with damp very fine wool. But as a practical matter wool and other fibers need to be combed or carded so the fibers are aligned for easy spinning and a nice yarn.

Wool combs are best used for long fibers and for worsted spinning. Worsted spinning has a smooth outside finish such a the threads in a wool suit. I have Louet's popular mini combs. The come in single ($73) and double ($109). Louet also has Dutch combs that are large combs, one of which is anchored to a table to use ($185).

Wool that has been combed is called top. Top has uniform length fibers and is of the highest quality. Wool that has been hand carded and is then rolled off of the cards is spun from the end. Fiber in this stage is called a rolag.  Fiber that has been machine carded whether hand driven or electric can either be in a batt which is a rectangular piece or in roving. Top is also sold in roving but not in batts.

Cards, hand cards or drums cards are used to prepare most fiber for spinning. This aligns the fibers but allows fibers of different lengths, etc. to remain.  Whole books are written on combing and carding. I  and both Ashford's and Louet's hand cards. Ashford's hand cards ($58) are cheaper and are great for most fibers.

This is the Ashford Book of Carding.

For really fine fibers, you want Louet's cotton cards shown here at the left ($65).

If you have a lot of fiber to process, you may want to send it to a woolen mill to process it for you or you may want to purchase a roving or drum carder.  The roving ($345) and drum carders ($535) are expensive due to the cost of the carding cloth. You will find all carders are this expensive. The most popular carders are the Louet's because the do a great job and they are very easy on the shoulder to operate.

  Happy Spinning