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WASHING RAW WOOL
-Put a small amount of fleece into the bag as long wool has a tight lock structure and you want to allow room for the water to get in and give it a good wash!
-When putting it in the bag have a nice even distribution of fleece across the bag when it's flat so it's not all bunched up at the bottom.
-Submerge the bag into air temperature water. Don’t shock the fleece with too hot or too colder water. Soak for 6-8 hours. If it's particularly dirty do this twice and leave it to drip 10mins out between soaks
-Don’t handle the fleece lots as not to disturb the lock structure and matt the fleece. You want to keep it organised for combing or spinning.
-To remove lanolin, soak the fleece again with water at 65oc for at least 10mins to break it down. Any cooler and the lanolin will adhere to the wool and you will be left with a fleece that is still greasy. Use a Greece removing agent, plant based washing up liquid or a more professional chemical.
-Take out one staple and dry it off between some kitchen rool, check to see how greasy it is. You don’t want to remove all of the lanolin as it makes a nice smooth yarn. You are most likely going to wash it again after you have spun it. If it's still very greasy then you have the choice to do another wash, but don’t over do it to make it dry and brittle.
-Rise once more in Luke warm water and let it soak until the water becomes room tempture (4hours or so)
-Lay flat on a drying rack and let the wool drip dry. This will take some time! Flip the whole bag every few hours to dry it out quicker.
