Wool prep for Tour De Fleece in Tales from the Spinning Siren

A few groups reminded me that i HAD To get some wool prepared for tour de fleece. Even if im not going to “compete” and just participate. I need to have wool ready to go! It kicks off in 4 days.
I realized i have a good lb or two of mohair near the front door. Still dirty and stinky from the goat it was cut off of. Goats smell… i mean on top of the lanolin smelling, They smell musky lol. Very farm! So i got a good bucket and filled it to the top with dry dirty fleece.

Now i know this mohair is white. Its not kid mohair ( baby soft) But its should be a nice shiny white. However muchy fleece. Covered in lanolin has it dull beige. The first wash is hot water and dish soap. The water turns murky milky colored. Literally like dirty milk. I soaked that for a bit. Because its 100 degrees out, I let it sit about 15 minutes, then dumped. Normally I let it sit an hour and cool down. But its so hot, that i wanted to dump and wash again haha.

Second wash is faster. Water as hot as i can stand it and just a few tablespoons of soap vs the quarter cup i put in the first wash. I let that one sit a half hour. Still milky from lanolin but not nearly as bad.

Third is a rinse. I rinse to be sure all the soap is out. Now the locks are wavy and white. Still not as shiny as i like. But better!

I do a fourth rinse with the hose. Literally. Cold hose water for my final rinse. I spray through all the locks then spread it on a hardware cloth covered frame to dry. The hot dry air should absorb moisture. Hopefully those locks are shiny! If not its “older” mohair. Seems like it looses sheen as the goat ages.

These are still a bit dirty at this stage. So i have three options.
A. Dye the wool,
B. Card The wool.
C. Spin it dirty.

So dyeing is obvious. Ill throw it in a pot and toss dye colors in and let the colors fall where they will.
Or ill get separate pots and do each pot a different color so no colors are blended.
B. Carding the wool. I run the wool through my wool carder, which is two beds of nails, hundreds of them, moving on wheels opposite one another. It aligns all the fibers and straightens all the wool. I loose the curly wavy texture of the lock . Or at least a lot of it.
C. Spin it dirty. So i dont bother getting any more dirt and debris out. I just spin it. I end up with a lap full of dirty and the wool ends up fun and textured.

OR D i guess.
Do all three haha!

Right now i have natural colored merino im carding. Wensleydale im drying ( from kettle dyeing) and mohair im washing :) Then ill move to carding the wensleydale, and dyeing the mohair! haha. Go right on down the line.
but still i feel like im not getting anything done!! Heaven help me.

Last updated July 07, 2019