One Day of Sunshine
Amongst the days and endless days of rain out here on the badly flooded prairies, there are occasionally days of sunshine - few and far between, but still, the odd day. It was on one such rare day I hauled out a pound of raw Icelandic fleece I had purchased a while back. It needed washing so I divided it between my trusty wash bags ...
It arrived in such a small box - I always find it funny how it sort of bursts out! LOL! It seemed to be a fairly fine fleece and not too much veg matter. It was, however, extremely filthy!
Four hot washes and four hot rinses to get most of it nice and white. There were still some parts, especially the tips, that seemed to still be pretty yellow. I can't help but wonder if I need to use something stronger than Mane & Tail to wash fleece. On one of my Yahoo groups someone suggested Unicorn wash as being better than most other brands on the market. I'd be interested in your feedback!
I did my usual - made a towel sandwich, rolled it up and walked on it, then set up a drying rack in that gloriously lovely sunshine and let nature work it's magic!
Wouldn't you know it? By 5:00 I had to dash out and bring it in because it started raining again, but fortunately by that time it was nice and dry! I'm hoping to card it up this week. It's my first time working with Icelandic fleece so I'm looking forward to the next steps! Cheers all! Hope you're managing to stay dryer than us!
Wouldn't you know it? By 5:00 I had to dash out and bring it in because it started raining again, but fortunately by that time it was nice and dry! I'm hoping to card it up this week. It's my first time working with Icelandic fleece so I'm looking forward to the next steps! Cheers all! Hope you're managing to stay dryer than us!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/6/2010 6:05 PM 
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: icelandic fleece washing fleece
Categories: Spinning, Fiber
Tags: icelandic fleece washing fleece
Wish we could send some of this NYC area heat wave.
103 today and all the sun you could handle.
Night and day between the before and after colors of that fleece. Who would have thought it was supposed to be white from the first look! Good job. I use good ol dish detergent.
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Gosh Doris! I feel for you! And I understand the humidity is frightful! Yes - quite the difference in color. I can't help but wonder if her sheep take dust baths or something...
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WOW was it ever dirty! washing and carding is such a nice process in small batches.
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Yes - it is definitely the "small" factor I like! I have my hands full with a whole llama fleece, I'm not about to dive in to a whole sheep fleece - or two! LOL! And yes - the dirt was phenomenal - a thin layer of gritty mud in the bottom of the first wash sink! Eeew!
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