What Came Out of the Dye Pot and Romney Takes a Bath

Well, this is what came out of the dye pots from earlier this week.  The yarn is for the Scarf of the Month Club.  The fiber is from Thirteen Mile Farms and is a blend of organic Corriedale, Border Leicester and Cormo.  I dyed 2 ounces with the scarf yarn and 5 ounces by itself.  Once all is dry and skeined or bundled you can have a closer look.



So the Arizona State Fair Grand Champion Romney fleece has been laying all alone it her big plastic bag.  Most of it I sent of to the mill along with some Cotswold lamb and some Shetland fleeces.  I kept back a wee bit to clean and card myself.  So here are a few pictures of this glorious fleece before washing.

So the next step is too fill up a basin with REALLY hot water, but not too hot or the fleece can felt.

As it fills I add a cleaning agent that is totally safe for the environment and separates the grease (lanolin) and dirt from the fleece.

After that I put the fleece slowly into the water.

Then the fleece is slowly, totally submerged.

The next step is to let it sit for a long time so the wash solution can go to work and "take the grease out of your way."

About 5 rinses later I remove the fleece from the rinse, spread it out a little and let it start to dry.  Pictures coming soon!

Regards,

Karen

OPYF