# washed fleece still has matted tips



## neparose (Nov 16, 2009)

I figured I'd start washing up some of the fleece I bought while waiting for my wheel to get done and I'm wondering if I stopped washing too soon. It's LOADED with vm and wasnt skirted so I did my best picking out "stuff"..... I soaked it in hot soapy water 3 times and resoaked it in plain water till the water ran clear but the tips are still matted with ahem.."stuff".. ahem. It sat in each soak for a half hour and the water was a dark orangey yellow color. I was afraid to agitate the wool too much so I kinda pushed it down in the water a few times, but thats all. I'm thinking I may have overloaded my buckets? Anyhoo, can I wash it again after I put it thru the picker? My thinking is the picker would bust up those matted tips so the soap and water could get to them? Dont know if it makes any difference but its a suffolk fleece. ANY help would be greatly appreciated. 
rose


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Are the tips on the whole fleece matted with "stuff"? I wonder if it was a sheep wo lived on a feedlot 

A picker would do wonder to pick open the locks and bust up the "stuff" You may find that is enough to do the trick and you can just card it after picking it. You can rewash it there is no reason not to. If it is Suffolk you don't have to worry too much about it felting. It is best when washing fleeces to give them enough room to be able to swim freely. You can always take handfuls or parts of the fleece and wash it. YOu don't have to wash the whole fleece at once.

Make sure the wool is completely dry before you try to pick or card it. Like hair it is weak when wet and will tear and break.

Post pictures too!


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## FMO3 (Nov 22, 2009)

You have to remember, washing will not remove VM...only combing or fingers can do that. But, is the tips full of VM or is the whole fleece? If its just the tips, then just flick card them out, as that will remove most of the VM. But, the easy way to tell if its VM or dirt and that...let it dry...and take a few locks...and set a match to it. If its VM it will burn longer, if its just dirt...once the match is taken away it will put itself out.

If it dirt and that, then picking will help with it. If its VM then you need to comb it out of the wool.

Suffolk wool is different than a lot of breeds...as even when not blocked out for a show, the tips are blocky. As that is a down breed thing. So, most of the dirt and that is held at the tips of the wool. And this will fall out when opened up more, as the down breeds have a 3-D crimp pattern. Meaning...instead of using rollers in the hair they have a spiral perm. This will trap in a lot of dirt and grime. You down breeds...suffolk, hampshire, oxford, shropshire, dorset, southdowns...can take a beating in the wash tub without felting. They was one of the first breeds used with industrial equipment. Because, they will just take a beating and ask for more...hence why they make the best socks in the world. 

If you think you might be to rough of a fleece...take a handful and wash it like you think you want to. That way if it does felt, you will know just with a handful, instead of a whole fleece. I will not tell you the way I handle wool...as you would have a heart attack. I do it how the woolen mills do, and its not easy for the eyes, till you see how it works.


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## neparose (Nov 16, 2009)

Thank you both! I'm going to wash it again. I'm not so much concerned about vm as much as I didnt get all the "cling ons" gone with the soaking. Thats what I think is in some of those matted tips, as they are a darker brown/yellow that the rest of the lock. Its all dry this morning, so running it thru the picker, will be ok. Hopefully just one more afternoon of washing should do it for this batch. Definately going to go with smaller batches next time. 
rose


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

It could also have been the skirting job you did. Maybe you were a bit too conservative with your skirting?


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## neparose (Nov 16, 2009)

Yep, I believe thats the heart of the problem. Well, its my first fleece. I'm kinda attached to it.lol! Another thing I have noticed after much soaking, rinsing, vm picking, fluffing and drying.... The staple length of what I'm cleaning seems to be 2 inches. Not the recommended 3 1/2....I'm going to dig deeper into the bag and see if the entire fleece is that short. I may have just cleaned alot of compost material.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

When I get full fleece the first thing I will do is to dump it out either on the floor or outside on the deck or on a sheet. Some fleeces hold their shap so I will try to spread it out as best as I can to the shape of the sheep it came off of. When you do this you can see the crotch, the neck, legs, the back and belly wool. This of course is an unskirted fleece. All the dung tags from the crotch area (I think this is what you are dealing with) get tosses into the compost pile. Neck wool is usually bad too but not always. Some belly wool can be salvedged depending on how the sheep are kept. I'll usually make a few piles of wool. Good stuff, ok stuff, and compost or stuffing stuff. Over the years I have learned that some wool is not worth fighting with or for.

Live, learn, and pass it on  It's the best we can do.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

the fleece I'm processing now I am using a dog dematter thing and combing out the tips before washing. If I try to wash them without this extra step the tips just don't open and come clean. I also try to keep the locks in one direction. After trying a comb each lock/section, keeping the fibers all lined up nicely. This is the first time I won't be spinning from roving since a class I took a few years ago.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

FM03, I would like to hear what you do to a fleece that wont felt to get it clean! I have a ramb. fleece that has dreadful tips, worse now since it has sat in a bag for a year. If it will not felt, is the only way to make it useable to comb each lock open, then wash?
Good for you, neparose, to stick with it! You are getting a good education with that fleece..... hope it turns out well in the end.


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## FMO3 (Nov 22, 2009)

InHisName,

Ramboullet is a totally different fiber than most wool. As it is just a breed sub-group of the Merino breed. That its fine fiber, and has A LOT of grease and wax. The way I wash wool, now take in mind that most of the time I am washing low grade wool, rarely above the 56 grade. But, I boil water, and add about 1/8 the amount of hot water from the tap to the boiling water. Then, I use laundry soap, I like Tide the best...add a couple of handful to the boiling pot...then dump the wool into that. I try for water is that about 200 degrees, let it set for about 30 minutes or so...then take it out of the water. 

But, if I had a nice fine wool, and I would wash it one lock at a time. I have done a fleece like this before and it does not that long to wash it. That way you keep the lock formation of the wool, plus you have it already for combing. 

Don't open the wool before washing, that is the one big mistake that hand spinners do with washing. As, that will line up the fibers to felt faster...to get felt you have to have fibers that overlap each other. On a fleece, the fibers are touching but not overlapping. Hence, it would be harder to felt in the fleece than it being open. Also, to get felt you have to have proper movement, lubrication, pressure. If you put a lot of soap in the wash, you will not get felt nearly as easy. As the fibers will slide past each other, with ease.


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