Washing Day or "get that dirty fleece clean"

Left: unwashed Texel, Right: Washed Texel

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I am crazy for wool. Love it to death. I have been known to nearly bury my face in raw fleece because the smell of fresh lanolin is total heaven! I don’t actually bury my face — there’s a lot of stuff in fleece which I’d rather not get that close to. But the smell of fresh, greasy fleece — ahhhhhhhh. You can’t get all that joy by getting prepped fiber.

I buy it raw, wash it, keep what I want/need (How much does one truly need? That’s a question for the ages). AND then put the balance in my SHOP — all clean and sparkly for spinners to buy and spin.

My first experience with washing fleece was a total disaster. It was free, unskirted (yep there were actually dingle-berries hanging off of it) and really, really, really greasy. Not a good choice for a beginner — I didn’t even have the sense to skirt it before trying to wash it. Long story short, it made great fertilizer tea.

Over the years, I have tried various methods to wash raw fleece, and even gave up for a while. Then I watch Judith Mckenzie’s Three Bags Full — I liked her method and made a few changes to suit my needs. The key?

​Wash in small batches — even if you have 9 pounds of it to do! I also employ a sort of conveyer line of pots for tricky, sticky, “oh my gosh there is a lot of grease” fleece. This might consist of as many as 3 successive wash pots and 3 successive rinse pots (that’s my secret to washing Merino and Cormo)

Materials Necessary

• Pots — the more the better. Sometimes you only need 2 — I had 16 oz of Texel and 10 oz of Texel/Cotswold cross — so 2 BIG pots were fine. If you have really greasy fleece 2-3 wash pots and 2-3 rinse pots work better. Each couple of bags will go in the pots in successive order.
• Shampoo for oily hair, I use Suave Clarifying Shampoo
• Rubber Gloves (the water is too hot to immerse your hands in — and it is icky)
• Lingerie bags (will easily hold 2-4 oz of Fleece) — I have at least 14 of em.
• A way to spin out the rinsed fleece (washer or dedicated spinner)
• A place to let the fleece dry — I use an Herb Drying Rack I found on Amazon.

So what did I do today? I collected my materials, filled a pot with HOT water and got started! Go through the picture gallery below and read the comments –Then I’ll make a few observations under the photo gallery.

Observations
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I use a timer and don’t let the fleece go long — because the water will cool too much and I won’t get to do a second set of bags. The last thing you want to have happen is for the lanolin to re-deposit back onto the fiber. I have had that happen — then I have to start all over! Bummermissimo. I will sometimes “refresh” the pot with fresh hot water.
I do a successive sequence for really greasy fleece.

• First wash pot — 2-3 bags in it. set timer
• When timer is almost ready, fill second wash pot with water and put in shampoo.
• Move bags into second wash pot and put 2 more bags into the first pot.
• Repeat process for rinse pots.