Almost Done!
I have nearly all of the wool washed. This is 25% of Freya's wool on the right with the Blueface Leicester & black lambswool.
The little cutie is Callisto knitting her first scarf from some of my early thick handspun.
The wheel from Sue is a Saxony type that needs replacement parts and much care/clean-up. Callisto has been spinning the wheel and pretending she's riding in a wagon. I'm a little bummed that I couldn't monkey around and try to spin something right away. Dean says that he'll fix it up for me soon, sweet man. I have to start somewhere, right? :-)
posted by Elisabeth | 11:36 AM
5 Comments:
You have really been busy!! I can't wait to see what you do with all that wool. The wheel looks like it needs some TLC but I am totally sure that once it's cleaned up it will give back the love by making wonderful yarn for you. Do show us what it looks like after it's had a facelift!
oh how fun, elisabeth! i love reading your blog. and it'll be great that you now have a wheel and we can watch it from sheep to knitting!
How *do* you wash loose, freshly-shaved wool? I mean, isn't it just a big mound of (sheep) hair? Wouldn't it get all tangled up when you wash it?
Wow, that is so much wool! Impressive beyond belief.
(Yep, she is a little cutie!)
On washing wool - It's not too tricky. It's not really a mound of hair, it's more like a sheepskin rug without the skin.
The shorn fleece sticks together and if you shake it you get rid of most of the second cuts. It doesn't get tangled up during washing unless it's worked too much and it felts.
Anyway, to wash it I fill my washing machine with hot water, at least 180 degrees. I put in Dawn dish soap until it's a nice shade of blue, about 15 good shots. :-)
I put about 8 ounces of wool each into 2 lingerie bags, then gently introduce them to the hot soapy water.
They soak for 1.5 to 2 hours. Then I take the bags out and bring 'em to the tub. I use 2 large plastic pans with one holding the bags and the other filled with rinse water. I start with hot water, putting in the bag and gently submerging. After the entire bag has been gently rinsed I lift it and dump out the dirty water into the tub. I alternate bags and fill the rinse pan with new water each time, gradually lowering the water temp until it's nearly cool. By this time the water runs clear from the bags, no more yuck. :-) Then I take both bags to the empty washer and spin them out. I lay the wool out on newspaper on whatever large clean surface is available. It takes overnight to get it really dry.
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