My method of washing a fleece

 

Washing a fleece

 

 

Shearing season is here and there are lots of wonderful fleeces to be had out there! My critters are all shorn and the preparation process for spinning them has begun.

My method for washing a fleece:

I'm asked all the time, "how do you wash a fleece?"  I have a few methods, but the easiest one that I like to use most of the time is the one when I use a salad spinner.

The following pictures will show you the steps in order.

I fill the sink with the hottest water from my tap as possible.

Add the dish detergent (Dawn) it cuts the lanolin. I add about a tsp.

Fill the basket from the salad spinner with fiber. Not packed solid but full with a little push and then add a little more.

Put the spinner in the water in the sink. The water should cover the spinner and fiber well

In a few minutes I lift the salad spinner up out of the water about 3-4 times letting the dirty water drain from the spinner each time.

Let the spinner with wool sit for 20-30 minutes, not letting the water cool down to much or the lanolin will redeposit itself onto the fleece leaving it sticky.

Next drain the sink and fill with the hottest water for your first rinse . Let sit 15-20 minutes. Lift in and out once again a couple of times-drain and repeat 2-3 times, rinse  #2 I add about 1/4 cup vinegar, this helps rinse  out the soap and leaves  the fleece shiny. Rinse # 3 I add about 7-10 drops of lavender essential oil, this treats the wool and helps repel moths while waiting to be used, not to mention the slight smell of the lavender . But of course this is optional.

Next you will place the basket back into the salad spinner and spin!! Empty spun water and repeat until there is no water spinning out from the wool

Notice I have not agitated the wool in any way at all. My hands never touch it until the final spin.

Spread onto a wire screen for faster drying or onto a towel and turn every 4 hours or so, so the wool will dry evenly.

This is my favorite method of washing wool for a few reasons. It does not allow any wool to accidentally go down my drain, I don't have to handle the wool once I begin the washing process and finally the spinning of the wool in the spinner, taking out excess water allows it to dry much quicker.

 

I hope this will help those of you that wonder how in the world you'll clean that fleece!

 

I do an entire fleece in this method. I can do a little each day of spend a few hours doing an entire fleece.

 

 Salad spinner

 Soaking in soapy water

 Lifting up and down

 

  Rince until water is clear

 Essential oil

 

 Spinning the water out

 

 Fiber drying on wire rack

  Needed items

 Dried fiber

 I hope this all makes sence to you. E-mail me with any questions or comments dctfyarns@aol.com Ill be glad to try and answer any questions.

Extra, Extra Read All About It. International Spinning Day

http://www.spinartiste.com/

Read all about our International Spinning Day with the Netherlands by visiting Spin Artiste on line fiber arts blog/magazine. Article  written by Suzy Brown aka WoolWench.  A big thank you to Arlene editor of Spin Artiste!

A great accomplishment and learning experience

I did it!I I finally accomplished the completion of my book of inspirational handspun yarns. It was an idea for a long time and then one day I finally  began the task of photographing the yarns that I wanted to share. I chose a variety of handspuns and  included the fiber used and the technique I used to spin them. This was such a learning experience. I finally learned all about my camera! The requirements for photographing for a book were tedious to say the least. The goal was to show beautifully spun yarns that would inspire the spinner to use their unconventional creative side. So here it is! Out Of The Box Handspun Yarns!

The book is hard cover with beautifully detailed photographs. It sells for 30.00 plus shipping. If interested please contact me at dctfyarns@aol.com

 

Out Of The Box Handspun Yarns

 

Class Fun at Mad Wool!

The first weekend in March I had the pleasure of teaching an into to art yarn spinning class at Madison Wool. Dayna went all out to let us use her back room in the shop. Where better to have a class then the back room at Mad Wool!?

the class was a blast the spinners all completed the task at hand and turned out some awesome art yarns. We first made our own art batts from a washed fleece that I brought and some fun add in's. Then spun a single, next coiled it onto a core. Each gal turned out a great yarn   Its so interesting to watch how we all start with the same material and in the end each skein was so different. A variety of wheels  were used which is also interesting to see how each wheel will spin. I love to see the satisfaction in one's face when they complete their very first art yarn. I remember the feeling. I hope all had as good a time as I did and that this was only the beginning of their creative spinning.

A big thank you to Dayna and all the ladies for providing me with an awesome Sunday afternoon.

 

                                     

The shop looked as awesome as always, Full of new things to touch and feel and of course purchase. You cant go into Mad Wool and not buy something. Its like putting a kid in a candy shop and saying, just look! No way!

I'm hoping to teach more classes at Mad Wool this year so keep an eye out here and Madison Wool's website or FB page.

PS clocks turned back this weekend!! Longer days of light. I love the feeling the first few weeks. Longer days means more time out with my animals, my favorite pass time besides spinning!

Until next time.. XO

Ashford Spinning Wheels, FREE shipping

Ashford Spinning wheels. A am offering FREE shipping to anywhere in the USA and a free one hour skype spinning lesson.

If intested in any of the Ashford products please feel free to contact me and be specific with your wheel specs and I will quote you a price. The best email for this is dctfyarns@aol.com

 

 

The Country Spinner ll 625.00

The Traveller starting at 520.00

 The kiwi starting at 380.00

The Elizabeth starting at 810.00

 I am an authorized Ashford spinning wheel dealer for 12 years.
Pay pal, credit card and money oders excepted

Etsy shop 15% off Everything SALE!

I recently have been updating my Etsy shop with some great art yarns and some awesome new custom batts  I'm offering a Spring fling sale. There is 15% off of everything in the shop and its full! Shearing season is just around the corner in April so there is a need to destash! The sale is for an undetermined amount of time. Visit my Etsy and see if your interested in anything. You'll use the coupon code springfling which is also on my etsy page. You will automatically receive the discount when making the payment.
Spring really is just around the corner. And here on the farm we cant wait! Spring thaw=mud=SPRING! we'll deal with the mud for now...

www.Pamsfiber.Etsy.com

 

Click the link to go directly to my Etsy shop. Tell your friends about our sale

YouTube updates, tutorials

I've added a couple of new free mini snipit tutorial videos.  Take a peek. This is the link to my YouTube page and all my videos. Enjoy, I hope they inspire you to create.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pamsfiber/videos

Spinning with the Netherlands

 

We finally pulled off our international spinning day with the gals from the Netherlands! It was awesome. We met here and made the Skype call at 8 am our time, 2pm Netherlands time. We met some of the most talented women who shared with us information about the most common sheep breeds that are from their area, talked about all the different spinning wheels that each uses. We even had a mini knitting lesson on a beautiful  new st. We laughed a lot and became so inspired by these lovely women. I believe we are ALL friends now on FB so we can continue to share and inspire.

 It all started when Suzy Brown aka Wool Wench and I became friends on FB    I admired her work for a long time and one night I decided to write her and ask if she would be interested in a Skype spinning day with our group of spinners and hers? She immediately agreed and we set a date. Well, the first date was cancelled do to unusual snow amounts in the Netherlands. I believe the same happened with the second date except it was us in the US that had the snow. Then it happened this past Tuesday, International Spinning Day! The Netherlands spinners joined the US spinners right here in my living room. It really was spectacular to meet with women of like minds and who were so willing to share from so far away. We agreed to do a skein swap which is going to be a lot of fun. Our girls all have their own fiber animals and farms and are spinning skeins to swap from their own animals. I really hope this can be the beginning of a yearly if not more often meeting between two groups of women who have so much in common and so love the fiber arts.  Thank you so much to Suzy Brown, ( Wool Wench ) and to all of the ladies from the Netherlands. Ill see you all again soon..

XO

 Some of the Netherlands spinners!

 

 Thank you Suzy for helping host this awesome day of sharing!

 

 

 Sharing a new knitting technique from across the world!

 

This was truly a wonderful experience that left me smiling all day long on Tuesday. Now I'm smiling again remembering the excitement we all shared in my living room while meeting our new spinning buddies! technology can be awesome!