Skip to main content

Washing wool


Washing wool


So you have to wash some wool? Yea me too.  I am fairly new at it, Okay really new at it. ;P
I have two sheep, They are South down Babydolls. I absolutely love them and their wool. I was blessed to get a breeding pair, one black and one white. I don't know why, but the male, had an abundance of wool. Like it had been growing longer then the females or something. I suppose his size played a role in the actually amount he had too. Hes a big babydoll.

Anyway I am washing wool and preparing it for Etsy! Fun times. 
You can do fairly large amounts and the washing process is the same, but I like to do mine in very small batches. I pull the "locks" apart into small sections. then I pick through them a little and separate the ends a bit. 

After that is done, I fill my sink about half way with very hot water. Then I add dish soap. Most people say to use dawn I think, but we use Amway stuff and it works great for me. I kind of stir it so its spreads through all the water. I then gently lay each piece into the water.  
 Here I  did less then normal to show the effect the water has. You can see it instantly starts dissolving the lanolin on the wool. The dirt and veggie matter start to fall out and drop to the bottom.
 After you have your wool soaking, walk away! Don't stand there and mess with it. The hot water and soap do a wonderful job on their own. So go read some scripture, or practice the alphabet with your preschooler a few times. Maybe do some squats and push ups. I don't know, but give it 10-15 minutes to sit.

 Time to go back, and YUCK. All the that stuff melted off into the water.

So next gently remove the wool and place on a plate, or counter, or even in the other side of the sink. I use the plate because it allows me to press on the wool softly and drain the gross water off. You don't want to press on it too often and risk felting it. So be careful with that. .

Then I rinse my sink and refill with very hot water. NO SOAP. this is to rinse the wool. I again gently lay it in the water and walk away for 10-15 minutes or so. 

I go back and gently remove the wool and set it aside. I drain and rinse my sink. If I need to repeat the process because the wool isn't clean enough I do. If not I leave the wool sitting for a minute so the water and drain out and then press the wool with my hand and drain the water off the plate and then lay the wool out on a towel to dry. I spread it out a little so air ca get into the center. Then just let it dry there, or if I am washing a large amount I will take it outside to dry. Provided it is sunny. For me, that's almost always. Here in California we are praying for rain. 


 Please comment and tell me your thoughts, and don't forget to follow me. I have lots of projects to share. :)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Water Density Experiment

                 Water Density Experiment                                                            Homeschooling is such a fun way to learn. There is so much freedom in how far we can take  an experiment or how long we can work on it. The other day my husband started to explain to our kids why oil doesn't mix with water. So today we experimented with water density. There are different versions of this experiment and this is how we did ours.   Things needed : Oil, water, salt, sugar, food coloring, clear glasses or jars,measuring cup. Here's what we did: Step one: Fill three clear jars half way each with warm water. ( Helps the salt and sugar dissolve)  Pour 1/2 cup of salt in the first jar and stir it to mix. Pour 1/2 cup of sugar in the second jar and stir to...
Post a Comment
Read more
Wow! Christmas is already here. I have been searching for idea's of what to make my boy's. I make them something every year. This year was hard though, Boy's are simple and so it seems to be hard to find anything besides what I have already done.  Tool belts, capes (which they wear daily) or swords. I decided that since my husband loves ninjas...I would go with that. So I made some ninja stars, and some nun chucks. They were super easy and fast. I used scrap fabric I already had, so no cost! here is how I did the stars. First I drew up my shape on some paper. After that I used the pattern to cut 8 pieces out of felt. I cut the felt pieces larger to include the seem allowance. next I placed two of the felt cut outs together and sewed them around leaving a small opening... Then I lightly stuffed the star. After that I sewed the opening closed. Then I trimmed the edges and corners slightly , The...
Post a Comment
Read more
I have been trying for about two months to make cloth diapers for my youngest son Luke.  I drafted my own pattern, that works great, but needed a little tweaking. So i used a pattern that wham supply sent me and combined it with mine. the differences between the two were so little it was comical to me. I think all pocket diaper patterns are basically the same though, differences take place in the tabs and elastic and such. and your pocket opening. I would love to post a tutorial on how I did it to share, but it will have to wait till later this week. for now just pictures of my finished pocket diapers. SO thrilled to finally have done it. And I have to say that i am so thankful that there are so many blogs and tutorials and info out there. and supply store for this. I am becoming a bit obsessed with these things. my original is the one with the extra snaps. I didn't like the tabs though and  thought the sizing could be a little better. I bought my ...
Post a Comment
Read more