Time For Some Wooly Spring Cleaning

Close up details of the unwashed wool blanket with plenty of lanolin and veggie matter to go around.

Warmer Spring weather has kicked up in fits and spurts over the past few weeks. So, it’s time for that giant box of fiber that’s been sitting on a shelf in the garage to finally get some time in the sun and the tub.

My dad sent me a 16” x 16” x 17” box last year. I poked at it a little bit, but wasn’t quite ready to jump into washing it just then. I wanted to do a little practice first and had a much smaller chunk of alpaca that would be a good start to learn how to wash raw fiber. I chronicled that learning attempt here, and it went really well. With a little experience and confidence under my belt, I was ready to get started…eventually.

One of the two bags from the box and absolutely stuffed full of a skirted wool fleece.

I opened this box and dug in before I could change my mind or the weather changed my plans for me. The box was packed with two bags that each contained a full skirted fleece! I only had the time and bags to work with one of the bags, so I left the second fleece in the box for later. Maybe this summer? Hopefully this summer.

A small sample of the wool from this fleece.

A close up of one of the wool locks.

Anyway, I don’t have any details about what kind of wool this, just that it’s wool. The fleece wasn’t dirty and dusty like alpaca, but a little bit greasy and yellow from the lanolin. There was a fair amount of veggie matter and some second cuts - both of which I pulled out much of what I could. While the locks don’t have much in the way of a tight crimp, it is strong with a 4-5” staple length. After pulling out the dirtiest sections (spoiler alert: I should have pulled out more), I divided the fleece into 7 bags for easier washing.

7 mesh bags full of wool fleece ready for a wash in a utility sink.

My original plan was to wash the fleece in a big tub in the back yard, but that was before I had a utility sink. Washing a big chunk of wool seemed like the perfect thing to really break that sink in. I grabbed the 4 of the 7 bags to get started because I only have so much drying room. Then I filled up the tub with the hottest water I could get, 120 F, and added my soap. I’m using Mrs Meyers Clean Day Dish Soap (<- affiliate link) which is sulfate free (and what I used to wash the alpaca fiber). This batch got two soaks in soapy water (so much dirt!) and two soaks without soap. Then I laid them flat to dry. It was so hard not to poke the bags every hour to see if they were dry yet.

A handful of washed fleece showing off the lock structure and a little bit of veggie matter.

When all the wool was finally dry, I was afraid that I’d felted it in the wash! I didn’t - whew! - but the wool was compacted. It takes a little effort, but I can still pull it apart and tease out the individual fibers. Now that the wool was clean I could finally get a good look at it. Most of the fiber is a bright white and only a few of the tips stayed yellow. It is also very soft and fine. I’d say that I lucked out with this fleece. Thank you, Dad!

Of course, I couldn’t resist seeing what would happen after the wool took a trip through the drum carder. This was a learning experience on all fronts. The wool (because it was compacted from the wash), took a chunk of work to get ready to feed into the drums. Then all the veggie matter I hoped would come out with drum carding, didn’t. So I spent way more time picking out grass and hay that I’d skipped over in the beginning. Bah. I also learned that this particular wool is very fine and two passes through the carder is the most it can take. Anything more will tangle the fiber into neps which would be a complete waste of some really beautiful wool.

I was also reminded of a few absolutely key points:

• Don’t wear all black when working with white fiber.

• An apron to wipe your hands and hold tools would be really helpful.

• Save outside drum carding for less windy days.

• Keep your hands moisturized so the fiber doesn’t just cling to your fingers for the fun of it.

• Find all the tools you’re going to need before you start working with the carder.

• Toddlers don’t care about drum carding. Toddlers care about being pushed on the swings. (This one is the most important.)

The first finished batt from the washed wool fleece ready to come off the drum carder.

The fluffy and flighty wool batt after pulling it up to come off the drum carder.

Close up view of the underside of the batt as it comes of the drum carder.

The finished batt is just shy of 2 ounces and only a small fraction of what I washed. The drum carder wasn’t cleaned after my last carding projects so there’s bits of green wool and cinnamon alpaca in there. Still, it looks really good even if it does have more veggie matter in there than I’d like. I’m looking forward to spinning up a few samples of 2 and 3 ply yarns. It’ll certainly help me decide what to make with the finished yarn when I have a better idea of how much fiber I actually have.

The drum carder after removing the batt. The drums are still covered wool stuck down at the base of the cloth.

Now I have to go pick all the stray fibers out of my drum carder before I can card the next batch.

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This post contains an affiliate link which means, if you decide to buy through that link, I’ll get a small commission. My opinions are my own, and formed after multiple uses. I wouldn’t recommend this soap if I didn't think it worked. Thanks!

Adventures in Washing Alpaca Fiber

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of family and friends, I have accumulated a fair bit of alpaca fleece in a few different colors. The most recent addition was a 16” x 16” x 17” box from my Dad packed full of beautiful grey and black locks. It’s still sitting in the box too because it has a distinct aroma. Now that warmer temps are here to stay for a few more months, I’m ready to give washing and prepping alpaca fleece a try.

So far, the bulk of my fiber processing experience has been with wool and alpaca that’s already been washed and dyed. The lone exception was this alpaca handspun I made a few years ago. That yarn started as fiber that I turned into batts with a drum carder. But I didn’t wash the fiber before hand, because the general consensus from what I’d read was that you didn’t have too since alpaca don’t produce lanolin. Yeah…no. The finished yarn was wonderful but spinning it left dirt everywhere - my hands, the drum carder, my lap, kitchen table, etc. So all of this new stuff definitely needs a wash.

Before digging into that box and committing to a massive washing project, I’m starting small with 7 oz of cinnamon brown alpaca from a friend. It smells pretty clean, but there’s a lot of vegetable matter and my hands definitely feel a little grimy after digging around in the fiber. A lot of my researching and learning about how other people wash alpaca has shown me that there are a lot of different methods. What’s been the same is this:

• don’t agitate the water - let the fiber soak

• use warm to hot water

• gentle dish soap works really well

• mesh bags are a must

• if you’re going to use a machine machine, it has to be a top loader

So, keeping all that stuff in mind, here’s what my set up involves:

• A big flexible tub to soak and wash the fleece outside my washing machine is a front loader

• Mild dish soap - I’m using Mrs Meyers dish soap which is sulfate free

• Lots of mesh bags

• An old towel

• My patio table

One more important note before getting into the grit of it, I’m washing stuff outside because I don’t want to clean the tub more than I have too. Let’s get started.

The first step is shoving all the alpaca in bags. I ended up splitting the 7 oz into 2 bags so it’d have room to loose dirt. I also picked out a few bits of bigger veggie matter and removed any second cuts I happened to find.

Now for the tub. I filled it up with water from the hose which is definitely on the cooler side. To warm things up I used an electric kettle to boil some water. It didn’t get anywhere near as hot as I expected but it was warm. Then I added a few tablespoons of soap and smooshed the bags under the water until they stayed completely submerged.

This is what the water looked like after 20 minutes. I could not see the bottom of the tub even a little.

I pulled the bags, rolled them up to squeeze out some water, and emptied the tub. Then I refilled the tub with the same amount of hot and cold water for a rinse without soap. The bags went back in and I set another timer.

The bags sat in this water for closer to 30 minutes because I had other stuff to do. This time I could almost see the bottom of the tub.

Decided to do one more soak in soapy water. I didn’t have to add any hot water this time because the hose sat in the sun long enough to heat things up.

After another 30 minutes (took a lunch break), the water was clear and I could see the bottom. Plus, the water I squeezed out of the fiber was only slightly cloudy. Looked good enough to me so I gave them one last soak in plain water to rinse out the soap. After taking the bags out of the tub, I rolled them up in a towel and gave them a good squeeze.

Here’s what the still very wet alpaca looks like. The larger VM is still there and I’ll probably have to pick it out by hand, but the dust and dirt is gone. Yay! One step closer to spinning this up.

I left the fiber in the bags so it wouldn’t blow away while it dries on the patio table. I did arrange it into a more even layer so it would dry faster. The day’s weather was hot and arid, but it still took the rest of the night inside to dry.

What did I end up with after a morning’s worth of work and a day’s drying time? Much cleaner fiber. The larger bits of VM are still there, but the dust and grit are gone. Doesn’t feel like I stuck my hand in a bucket of dust after touching the stuff. The fiber isn’t felted and I was able to pull apart some of the locks to get a better look at what I have to work with.

It’s definitely going to be work getting the rest of the fiber to this point, but I’m looking forward to getting this on the drum carder.

On the whole, washing this batch of alpaca fiber went pretty well. There’s not much I’d do differently. Hotter water will probably be a requirement for dirtier fleece so I’ll add 2 kettles worth of hot water for the big batch. Gloves might also have to be a thing for the really dirty stuff. I also wish the bags I have were a bigger mesh to let larger chunks out, but these still work fine. There’s still a few more things I want to try before digging into that massive box - like picking out more of the veggie matter and sending this fiber through the drum carder - but that shouldn’t hold me up too long.

References

This video from Jillian Eve gave me a good idea of what needed to be picked out before stuffing the fiber into mesh bags for cleaning. Might help you too if you’re using a washing machine to wash the alpaca.

This video focuses on tumbling and hand washing alpaca. Really makes me wish I had a double basin utility sink.

A short and to the point list about how to wash alpaca.

Washing Socks

Weeks of unrelenting pollen? Check.

Frequent rain storms? Check.

70° (F) temperatures? Check. 

Tornado Warnings? Check. Thankfully, nothing happened this time. 

Yep, it’s finally time to put away the woolens and the comfy hand knit socks. What finally convinced me to put away the wool was several days spent wearing flip-flops. Flip-flops and socks don’t mix unless you happen to be wearing tabi socks. Even then, doesn’t work most of the time.

My condolences to any who live farther north and are still being buffeted by cold temps and sleet. 

Before my socks could go into hibernation for the season, some of them needed a bath. So they got a soak in the sink with grapefruit Eucalan and a good squishing before going on the rack to dry. I really don’t mind hand washing my socks even though I could put all of these through the washer and dryer.   Soak. Squish. Hang. That’s all there is to it.The socks get clean, are spared the abuse of the washing machines, and I get to see them looking pretty while I go about my day. 

Anyone else putting away the wool hand knits for the summer? Or at least thinking about it?