# Cormo fleece



## Annie in MN (Oct 15, 2002)

I bought my first raw sheep fleece, and it came today! Woohoo! It is Cormo that was discounted because of dirty tips. I've just pulled out some locks from the top of the box, but what I've seen doesn't seem felted. 

I have washed a lot of alpaca fleece, so washing isn't anything new for me. However, this is my first experience with washing sheep fleece. Do the dirty tips need special handling? Should I do something with the tips before I wash it? Should I flick all the tips first? Or wash once, flick, then wash again? Don't bother with flicking? 

Any hints for handling a dirty tipped fleece?

I've been spinning I think 7 years, and all of a sudden I feel like a newbie again!


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Annie, I'm sure others will have ideas on this, but what I would do is soak the fleece in hot soapy water being sure not to agitate it as cormo can felt pretty easily. You can work the tips under water to get the dirt out if you want to spend the time. I tend to ignore most of them until I get to the carding or combing; then I'll treat each lock either teasing it or combing it. Yes, the fleece will still be a bit dirty at this stage, but most of the grease and poo should be gone. After you spin the yarn, you'll wash it again which will get it completely clean. There are those who flick each lock before washing, line up the locks in netting and carefully immerse them in water. Too me, that's just too time-consuming. HTH.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Congrats Annie. Just remember you wll spend time on this fleece to get a good spinnable fiber. you'll do it at the beginning or at the end of the process, but it is more time consuming than alpaca.

Before scouring, I go through every inch of the fleece. 2nd cuts are discarded - any heavily soiled are discarded (I like using it for mulch). I shake out as much dirt and vm as I can. If I'm working with a fleece that has a heavy lanolin and the dirt is embedded in the lanolin at the tips, I will go through the tips before I scour, opening them up (teasing them with my hands). 

Fill the washing machine with hot, hot water and about 3 times the detergent you normally use for a 'heavy, dirty' load of laundry. We don't have small children in the house, so our water heater is set pretty high. If yours isn't, you may want to add a pot of boiling (simmering) water to your machine while it is filling.

!!!!TURN OFF THE MACHINE BEFORE ADDING FIBER!!! 

Take the locks and distribute them around the machine, gently pushing them down into the water. close the lid and let it soak a good 30 minutes.

Spin out the water (make sure your machine doesn't fill with water as it spins!!)

Remove fiber & examine - is it clean enough for you? If yes, refill machine with hot water and a couple good glugs of vinegar. Add fiber.

The reason I like opening the tips before I scour is it takes less washings to get it to a clean state that i like to work with.


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