# Rinsing soap out of fleece



## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

I've been washing alpaca from our first shearing, and I'm a little concerned about getting the soap rinsed out. Here's my procedure so far:
- soak in 5-gal bucket of hot soapy (7th Generation) soap for ~30 min
- transfer to another bucket of hot soapy water ~30 min
- let drain, cool off, then put in mesh bags
- let soak overnight in springhouse trough (small flow of water coming in/out, so no danger of felting). I put an old laundry basket over the mesh bags so they are submersed. 

I squeeze out a handful of fleece and put on netting to dry. They all look a little "sparkly" when seen in the sun, and i'm not sure if it's still soap residue or just water. I've tried putting it back into plain water to rinse, but no soap bubble come out. What happens if there's soap left in fleece? And how many rinses should I do? 

This is my first experience with raw alpaca, and it definitely felts very easily - agh! I think I was swishing around my first few batches in the buckets a little more than I should have. Not enough that it's unusable, but I do have to tug and pull more than I should to separate the fibers for carding. So I've been much more gentle, and don't want to go through more steps than I have to :shrug:


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## organicfarmer (May 11, 2002)

I use Orvus paste instead of soap for my Romney fleeces. You do not want the water to look "soapy". I add the paste after we have filled the tubs with hot water and we stir just enough to dissolve the Orvus paste. We then place our fleece in the water and do not swish at all. Just let it soak for 1 hr. with a plexiglass lid on the tub so the water stays hot. We usually wash 2-3 times depending on how dirty the fleece is and rinse 2x in similar temperature water. If too many soap bubbles are in the fleece it is almost impossible to get out ever. This year I invested in a commercial size salad spinner from Johnny's Select Seeds to spin out my fleece and what a difference it has made in my washing process. It was about $250, but will last a lifetime and we wash a lot of fleeces. It prevents you from squeezing the fleece too much and felting it.

Good luck.


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## betty modin (May 15, 2002)

Because you don't have to worry about lanolin in alpaca fleece, cut the soap back. I'd also switch to a non-rinse wash if you're still worried about it. I have 'sparkly' fleece all the time, and soap residue doesn't seem to be the cause. Wet fleece just looks like wet hair-which reflects light differently than dry hair.
betty


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

It sounds like I'm using too much soap, so I'll definitely cut back on that. There are soap bubbles in the wash water, so waaaaay too much! Thanks OF & Betty. I only have one more batch to go and I'll have finished one whole fleece - woohoo!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

The addition of white vinegar in the rinse water will help remove soap.

With alpaca, your only getting out the dirt, not lanolin, so you don't need hot, hot water.


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## kyweaver (Nov 30, 2009)

I use baby shampoo for alpaca, just a squirt. But I do spin dirty and wash the yarn, not the wool. I use warm water like I would wash my own hair with, and rinse in three changes of water. The last one with a glug of vinegar, like Cyndi said.


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks everyone - I'll try the vinegar tomorrow. I've been washing a few bucketfulls every day, so I'm making a lot of progress. Kyweaver - I love spinning sheep raw, but wow these alpacas are soooo dirty! I tear apart the locks (horrors :shocked: ) before washing, and there's so much grit and dirt that my hands are a mess! I can't imagine spinning that...


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Alpaca and Llama are dirty because they love to roll in the dirt, they take dirt baths. So you really need to just shake the loose dirt out and wash with minimal soap and rinse with vinegar. All of that is covered in the above. Have fun!


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## kyweaver (Nov 30, 2009)

Yeah, they are little dust balls, aren't they. Gotta love 'em!


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

We had a fiber mill, so I know how this is done. Alpaca you don`t need alot of soap as some have said on here. They can be dirty little buggers, but a few good rinses is all you should need. Shampo does work good, also a small bit of Dawn dish soap, we used a commercial fiber soap ourselves. We used washing machines, (with aggitator taken out), fill with warm water, put in soap, add fiber, let soak, drain, spin, refill with warm mater(moving fiber from under the water flow),repete, spin, and rack dry. This work very well for us, and greasy wool will take more washes. Remember felting happens mostly with temperature change and aggitation.>Thanks Marc


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

ok, so, since I am about to start washing fleece I need to know....
Spinning doesn't cause felting?? Why? Just agitation? but then if the water runs on it there will be felting? What is the common denominator here? For some reason I cannot connect the dots!


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

mamaj - I had some alpaca that felted when it got rained on... granted, it was a hard rain, but still. I have some fleece from one of our alpaca though, that I can't even get it to felt! And our sheep fleece don't felt easily either (BFL x shetland). So it must be dependent on breed/animal? (Definitely a newbie here too  ) 

But many people say that it's a combination of both agitation and temperature change that will cause felting, especially going from hot to cold water. Hot water opens the scales up, and if put into cold water, the scales clamp shut, trapping neighboring wool strands in the closed scale, which causes the whole mass to felt together. 

I've been washing in 5-gal buckets, and some of the fine alpaca got felted just from me swishing it up and down in the water. So now I put it in, let it soak, drain it over the edge of the bucket, transfer to clean rinse water the same temp as original, and repeat that again. I put several handfuls in mesh bags and spin it around like a baton - that works really well! Then lay it out on netting that I have tied to my picnic table to dry. (I'll go take some pics)

I let the hose lay in the sun till the water gets hot, then fill the bucket. Great passive solar heating! I'm definitely no expert, but I've been washing fleece for the last week, and this is working well. Some people use their washing machines, but we have a septic tank, and I'm leery about doing that...


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

Here's my steps - 
dirty alpaca fleece:









soaking in hot soapy water (too much soap tho):









draining fleece to go into rinse bucket:









drying fleece in netting tied to picnic table:









(Hopefully this posting works - experimenting with posting pictures) - eta: changed picture sizes and played around with contents - thanks for your patience while I learn this


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Great Pics! Thnx so much. I am going to get brave, cause this sounds do-able. The pictures really help a lot too.
I won't use the washer, we have septic too. And I do have lots of buckets and bins.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Just to clarify Marc's post, once the washer is full of water, TURN YOUR WASHER OFF, add your soap, then put the wool or fiber in and let it sink naturally. Don't swish it or agitate it any. We then keep the lid open, put the dial on the 'spin' area and let it drain and spin. Make sure it doesn't add water as it spins as this will cause felting, too. Put the dial back on 'wash', pull the fiber away from the water inlet and let it fill up. TURN YOUR WASHER OFF. Let it rest then spin out the same way as before. Removing the agitator just made it easier to fill and remove the fiber and gave one less thing for the fiber to cling to during the spin cycle. 

If you use just a bit of soap, washing fiber won't hurt your septic any more than doing a load of laundry will. 

Catherine


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

You can do it mamaj! Everyone here is so helpful too, as you know 

I changed the size of the pictures - is the medium size ok, or was the larger size better? 

Here's a picture of the finished product - I spun a bobbin of sheep (BFL x shetland) and a bobbin of alpaca, and plied them together, then made this hat - it's a little big, so I'm going to carefully try to shrink it a little bit at a time in the dryer :shocked: I really hope it works...


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## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

Catherine - when I'm finished with the first bucket soak, there's a layer of dirt on the bottom that is so thick - that's what worries me...


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## betty modin (May 15, 2002)

I have a front loader, and they do not work well with the washing machine method-but 5 gallon buckets seem to be a bit of hassle. I use a large, old fashioned wash tub which I fill with hot water to do the same process as you describe PKBoo. I have shetlands, so one wash tub holds two large, laundry size mesh bags with 1/2 of the fleece in each one. I skirt and sort first, then my process sounds the similar to yours. I use the wash tub to do the rinses as well-but I remove the fleece filled mesh bags and lay them on the deck while I empty and refill the tub. It has worked for me for several years now-much better than the washing machine (or the bathtub, or the kitchen sink..all previous methods.) It does take a sunny day on the deck for each fleece though-and a day or so to dry. I use an old wooden window screen laid out on the deck table to dry mine. It works for the cat as well (not the washing method, but she loves to sleep on the wool as it dries). 
My BIL has promised to install hot/cold running water outside on the deck, at the point where my washing machine outlets are on the inside, that can be closed off to winter proof them in the fall. I plan a double laundry sink there-one that I can move in winter to the barn. I've seen lightweight, fiberglass double sinks on legs...
I've got it all planned-now he just needs to drive the 5 hours down on a weekend to do the job. Maybe this summer?
betty
(who is thankful for a great sister and a talented brother-in-law)


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

My friend breeds and shows alpacas, very fine fleece. She first cards the fleece to dump out the dirt and stuff. She'll card twice. She then spins it. She washes the knit project. I know this sounds iffy, but she swears by it.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

PKBoo, there are a number of things you can do. Alpacas really do love to roll, especially in sandy soil, so that's hard on any carder and clay soil can pack soil on the carder that just won't come out, so that's not really recommended by us. If the fleece isn't felted, you can put it on a screen or a frame with plastic-coated hardware cloth on it. Then just fluff the fiber and most of the sand will fall through. If it's felted, you'll have to either flick it to loosen the fiber or you can get medieval torture looking device called a picker. Think of a swing where there are nails pointing down and a 'bed' of nails that this swing passes through. As you *carefully* feed the felted fiber through it, while swinging the swing part, the fiber will be pulled apart and fluffed out the other side. Then use the screen/hardware cloth to fluff the dirt out. Then wash as described above. Some of the commercial mills use a tumbler with screens that will fluff the fiber while the dirt falls out. If you want more info on how to make your own picker, PM Cyndi at MullerLaneFarm as Paul made one for her that works pretty good. 
Catherine


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