why oh why...

...did i think it made perfect sense to start the new year by processing my own wool for spinning??? talk about bad ideas! sometime last spring, when i was in the midst of a minor-major breakdown (read: grad school not going well), i turned to spinning yarn as my stress-reduction activity of choice. i can't quite explain how i arrived at that not-so-logical conclusion. personally, i blame it on The Joy of Handspinning. yes boys and girls, the interweb can be bad for your health.

my (sometimes) significant other loved this idea enough to bankroll my initial setup - a drop spinndle and a few pounds of roving. it was A-MAZING!!! i spun myself silly. i dyed my first batch with a combination of Rit dyes i like to call karma-el (left - the skien in the center was not dyed). the remaining roving was space-dyed using Gaywool dyes in a combination that i originally planned on calling desert skyscape (right), but after one look at the end-product, it became the Bill Cosby yarn (in honor of the very colorful sweaters he is so fond of wearing). i eventually exhausted my stock of roving...which brings me to my present predicament.

washing and carding your own fiber is supposed to be economical and fun (again, the evil interweb). i purcased an 8-lb merino fleece that was supposed to contain "some vegetable matter" (read: sheep are dirty animals). my first clue should have been the cat's obsession with the box. little did i anticipate the horror that awaited me when i broke the seal....."SOME VM" my a$$!!!


there i am not quite knowing what to do with this box of fright, so i sealed it back up, stashed it out of kitty-boo's (name has been changed to protect his privacy) reach, and reviewed all my instructions on fleece-washing. apparently, merino fleece is especially dirty and usually requires at least a second washing. lucky me!


in a nutshell:

i loosely loaded some dirty fleece in a mesh laundry bag...


steeped the bag in my dyepot (to which i added a dash of Dawn dish detergent and a handful of powdered Tide laundry detergent) over a super-low flame for about 30 minutes...


drained carefully...


rinsed for about 30 minutes...


repeated washing, and rinsed a couple of times.


i recognize that this is not the best method for washing fleece. many websites (like this one) offer instructions for washing a whole fleece quickly and efficiently in the washing machine, but i did not have access to a top-loading washer during this adventure, so i had to improvise. in the end... i think it was worth it. don't you agree???

Clean FleeceUsing A Pet Brush To "Comb" FibersThe Finished ProductReady For Spinning!!!