I've been washing fleece. No, I have not had my flock sheared yet. I'll wait until the end of May to do that again this year. As much as I used to be a staunch believer in shearing
before lambing, I am most definitely a convert to the "wait longer and you'll get a nicer fleece that comes off much easier" camp. For years, I was convinced that having lambs would destroy the fleece and it would be so dirty that one could never get it clean. The reality is, I've found it to be just the opposite. By waiting until the end of May to have the flock sheared, they have all been off of hay for a month. Which means that all (well, at least many) of those bits of chafe have worked their way out of the fleece. They've also been rained on (and then shook the water off) which certainly helps to clean the fleece! Only the wool directly under the ewe's external genitalia, does get dirtier from lambing. I clean that us with a bucket of soapy water. I know my girls well enough that I have no problem telling who is getting close to lambing. Anyway! I was saying that I've been washing fleece. LAST year's fleece! And in the case of one, white fleece: 2009's fleece! I know. Isn't it terrible? I found a big, plastic bag (with holes punched in it for air circulation) in my basement, the other day. I looked inside and there was a big, white ~ or what had at one time been a white ~ fleece in it. The entire cut side of the fleece was a deep, dark, yellowish gold. Lanolin. Yuck. This was Flash Flood's 2009 fleece. It had been a gorgeous fleece. Now it looks ruined. I know from past experience that no amount of hot water and detergent is going to remove that yellow crud. I wish I had taken a picture of it so that you could see how the who fleece was discolored...
But, I didn't. I did, however, decide to try another method of cleaning the fleece. I filled a Rubbermaid tub with
cold water, in my back yard, and put the fleece into it:
Then, I remembered my camera! The water instantly turned a dark golden brown. It was like the yellow stuff was just sucked out of the fleece.
I let the fleece soak for an hour or two.
Then I put the hose into one corner of the tub, under the fleece and let more cold water trickle slowly into the tub. I didn't want to let the fleece soak in that dark water for TOO long!
After about a half-hour of the rinse water trickling into the tub, most of the dirty water had run out. Flash's Fleece was white again!
And I didn't use a drop of hot water or detergent! I'll probably do one wash with detergent & hot water, just to make sure all the dirt is out but I am absolutely amazed and thrilled at what a wonderful job cold water soaking did on this fleece!
I now have one, lovely, "fawn" fleece (Chance's) drying on my skirting table in the backyard:
I love the soft, fluffy, silvery taupe color of fawn fleece! It's a good thing too because I have plenty of them!
I also have more fleece soaking in buckets:
This is from Hunter! How long ago did I sell him???
I've also got two more buckets of fleece soaking in cold water, in the back yard, one in the washer and several more bags of nasty stuff to go...
DREAM says...
"How come I look so green in this picture, Mom?"
I'm sorry Dreamer. You were standing in the door to the barn and the light was behind you. I know that my camera tends to give things a slightly yellow tint and I guess I overcompensated, trying to correct it. I'll try to do better this afternoon...
