How to Process Raw Wool
If you want to knit a sweater or shawl or weave cloth from a sheep's fleece, you need to learn how to process raw wool. Processing fleeces by hand can take a long time, but it doesn't require any heavy labor or much specialized equipment. In fact, you need little more than hot, soapy water and a few containers to successfully process raw fleeces.
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Things You'll Need
- Raw wool
- Large mesh laundry bag
- Plastic sheet
- Small laundry bag
- 2 mop buckets
- Dish detergent
- Top-loading washing machine
- Bed sheet
Instructions
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1
Skirt the fleece to remove any tags (fleece matted with animal waste) and areas that are especially dirty or full of vegetable matter. When skirting a fleece you'll usually remove the belly wool, the britch wool (which covers the sheep's rear) and possibly the neck wool.
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2
Arrange the fleece in a large, wide-mesh laundry bag with the cut side of the fiber facing toward the inside. Be careful to keep the fleece intact as you place it into the bag.
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3
Shake the laundry bag vigorously to release vegetable matter from the fleece.
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4
Remove the fleece from the laundry bag and place it cut-side down on a large plastic sheet.
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5
Pick out any remaining twigs, burrs, bits of hay and any other remaining vegetable matter.
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6
Pull a bundle of locks from the fleece and gently place them in a small mesh laundry bag.
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7
Fill a large mop bucket with boiling-hot water to which you've added a mild dish soap.
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Submerge the laundry bag into the hot water bath and let it soak for at least 30 minutes.
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9
Fill a second bucket with clean water that's at the same temperature as the water in which your fleece is soaking.
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10
Remove the fleece from the first bucket, submerge it in the second and allow it to soak for at least 30 minutes.
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11
Soak the fleece in subsequent baths of clean water until the fiber no longer releases dirt or soap suds.
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12
Place the clean, wet fleece in a top-loading washing machine that has no water in it and run the spin cycle to remove as much moisture from the wool as possible.
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13
Spread out a clean bed sheet in the sun, remove the clean wool from the laundry bag and place it on the sheet to dry.
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14
Repeat the steps above to wash the remaining raw fleece.
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Tips & Warnings
You can spin yarn directly from the clean, dry locks of wool, you can use hand carders to make rolags for spinning, or you can card spinning batts on a drum carder (see Resource).
