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Washing Fleece
May. 10th, 2019 12:17 pm So this spring I signed up to do Level 1 of the Olds College Master Spinner course as a home study. I got the assignment book, did the easy bits and then April came. I haven't been in contact with my instructor contact, but I also haven't poked Olds about it. So instead of asking if I could use fleece I already washed for the breed study (since I have 2 ounces of 12 different breeds, but I didn't save unwashed locks), I bought 4 ounces (Spinning Loft's minimum) of 12 more breeds (actually, there's an overlap of two breeds, CVM and Shetland). My plan was to wash the fleece over the next two weekends, then start spinning when I got back from WisCon. Except when I was planning my work schedule (lots of travel in early June), I realized I really didn't want to work today and that I have a variety of leave built up due the combination of working an extra 45 minutes most days in the office, field work and starting at 6 hours of leave a pay period.
It turned out I have more lingerie bags than I thought, so I washed half of the fleece today. I turned the water heater to max an hour before I started washing. I put 4 ounces in the large bags (the four down breeds, green yarn), and 2 ounces in the middle sized bags (the two fine breeds, purple yarn), with colored and knotted string to mark the different breeds. I used two 10 gallon tubs. I filled up gallon jugs with water from the tap, and added some boiling water from the tea kettle to get the temperature above 140. I added about a tablespoon unicorn scour to each tub, ~6 gallons 140 F water, and then added 2 large and 2 mid sized fiber bags, soaked for 15 minutes (pulling out before temp went below 120 F). Time worked out that I was finished filling up the tub just as the next was ready to be dumped. I did two scours each. Then I filled up one tub with ~7 gallons hot water, and put all the fiber bags in that to soak for 15 minutes (above 120 F). I repeated that, spun fiber out in washing machine and spread out on picnic table (in bags) to dry. It is sunny and ~60 F outside. If it dries today I can wash the other half tomorrow. I need to check the previously scoured fleece to see if it needs more washing.
It turned out I have more lingerie bags than I thought, so I washed half of the fleece today. I turned the water heater to max an hour before I started washing. I put 4 ounces in the large bags (the four down breeds, green yarn), and 2 ounces in the middle sized bags (the two fine breeds, purple yarn), with colored and knotted string to mark the different breeds. I used two 10 gallon tubs. I filled up gallon jugs with water from the tap, and added some boiling water from the tea kettle to get the temperature above 140. I added about a tablespoon unicorn scour to each tub, ~6 gallons 140 F water, and then added 2 large and 2 mid sized fiber bags, soaked for 15 minutes (pulling out before temp went below 120 F). Time worked out that I was finished filling up the tub just as the next was ready to be dumped. I did two scours each. Then I filled up one tub with ~7 gallons hot water, and put all the fiber bags in that to soak for 15 minutes (above 120 F). I repeated that, spun fiber out in washing machine and spread out on picnic table (in bags) to dry. It is sunny and ~60 F outside. If it dries today I can wash the other half tomorrow. I need to check the previously scoured fleece to see if it needs more washing.
