Saturday, June 6, 2009

Wool, Wool, and More Wool!

A friend of a friend gave me bags and bags of raw wool. I will be making a futon, spinning some, and doing other various craft/art projects with the rest. The first thing to do is clean it all, which is a very big job! To clean raw fleece here's what I did:
1. laid it all out on a blanket and picked through to get rid of the clumps of poop and vegetable matter
2. filled up a bunch of lingerie bags from the $ store
3. used my grandma's top loading washing machine (front loaders don't have enough water)
4. soaked in hot water with Dawn dish soap (I don't know why Dawn, everyone just seems to think it's the best) DO NOT AGITATE!!!!
5. spin DO NOT AGITATE!!! Spinning is okay and won't felt your wool.
4 and 5 again. repeat
6. rinse in cold until water runs clear DO NOT AGITATE!!!
7. let dry in sun
8. made two "combs," basically make a T with cheap wood (one part for the handle, the other for the comb), drilled holes for long nails alternately spaced along one end.
9. combed the wool (videos on Youtube)
10. carded at the Eugene Textile





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