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FIBER WASHING DIRECTIONS
BACK ACRE FARM
11307 Baldy Hill Road
Middlesex, NC 27557
(252)235-6197
E-mail us at BackAcreFarm@bigfoot.com for ordering information and questions.
Washing wool and mohair isn't really hard - especially if you do small batches. What I do is use my double vanity in my bathroom. You could do the same with 2 tubs. Mohair needs several washes before it is clean. Sometimes you can wash it lock by lock and gently separate the fibers in the lock.
- Fill both sinks with hot (as hot as possible) water with a squirt of liquid dishsoap in one (Ivory or Dove work very well), plain water in the other. Don't use dishmachine detergent or laundry detergent. Some people use Orvis.
- Put some fleece into a mesh bag (like what onions come in - or the ones for washing lingerie) and place into the soapy water. Now, if I'm just washing a sample bit - then I skip the bag or if the fleece has lots of vegetable matter (hay) in it, washing without the bag lets it float out better. The danger of this is some fleece will go down the drain and get into the pipes - so you can put a piece of nylon over the drain.
- Resist the urge to squish, wring or agitate the fiber in any way. It will not get clean on the first try (or sometimes the second!).
- Leave it in the hot, soapy water for about 10 - 15 minutes (but not long enough for the water to cool). This warms up the grease (lanolin) and allows it to leave the fiber along with all the dirt.
- Gently lift the fiber out of the water (this is why the bag is nice to use) and put it into the clear hot water in the 2nd sink. Again, do not agitate in any way.
- Allow to set in the clear water for about 10 - 15 minutes.
- Repeat process if necessary (depends on the amount of dirt and lanolin in the fleece).
- When done, gently squeeze (not wring) excess water out. Place the fiber somewhere to dry. I use an old window screen and drape that over my bathtub. It can take several days to dry depending on the humidity.
The key is to avoid agitation and temperature changes. Some folks like to add a bit of vinegar in the final wash to remove oders. Some folks add a drop of lavender oil to the final rinse water. I don't because after I spin a yarn, I wash it again and if I dye it, I wash it one more time, so all of this washing takes out oders!
Washing gets out dirt. Bits of vegetable matter will still stay in the fleece and need to be picked out by hand. My goats do have a bit of VM in their fleeces. The sheep have less (except the lambs, who scamper into the hay trough!) My goats do not sleep on hay, but rather a dirt floor - so that reduces a lot of the VM.
E-mail us at BackAcreFarm@bigfoot.com for ordering information and questions.
