Erm... Fleece

[multiveg]

Just had a family day out at a farm which has other attractions. They did sheep shearing demonstration (one with "shears"). Anyway, without thinking, I bought a fleece for £1.
Ok, now for thinking and all I have is question after question!

1) What do I do with it?
2) Wikipedia mentions scouring - would I be able to do this by washing the fleece in the bath? Should I use some sort of soap or washing soda...?
3) Do I need my head examined?

[Thomzo]

I've no idea what you can do with it but when you do work it out, let us know how you got on.

Cheers
Zoe

[Bonniegirl]

It may differ in the UK but I doubt it. You can send fleece to be washed and carded. Carded means it's been combed, for want of a better word, where the fibres are made smooth enough for spinning, it has a lovely soft feel to it.

You could either learn to spin it yourself or you could probably get that done as well, once thats done you can knit yourself something. A whole sheeps fleece should make you a jumper.

I would contact the place you got the fleece from, they would know some contacts

[flower]

from what I remember carding is quite an easy, relaxing job.

But cleaning a fleece is a pretty rotten job. We did ours (in my textile class) in pieces in a huge bowl but it was slimey and quite smelly and took ages.
(the lanolin made our hands beautiful and soft though)

[red]

you wont be able to get it cleaned for you as they have minimum orders of lots of fleeces.. not just one.

I went on a what do you do with your fleece course.. so... I am by no means expert....

here is what we did ... take a small bit of fleece at a time.. about as much as you could lay in a washing up bowl. pick over it removing obvious debris. then fill a washing up bowl with water as hot as you can handle it.. add soap flakes.. wash wool. - dont rub, just gently swish in the water. empty water out and add fresh hot water and rinse out soap. repeat if particularly grubby. put fleece in pillow case and spin using a spin drier. lay on horizontal drying rack and allow to dry completely

after that.. you can look at dying.. best bet is to get some dyes and follow instructions.. (try a small bit at first!!)

and peg looming is a really good way of using a fleece.

if you can find a one day course close to you - go on it - its great fun. otherwise look for books? this oneis not bad - simple introduction- details how to clean the fleece too.

best advice is to experiment on just a small bit at first....

[Woodburner]

If you use hot water to wash with you must use hot water to rinse with as well otherwise it will shrink! Personally I use cold to wash with; cheaper, simpler and more environmentally friendly.
A good soak and rinsing before washing saves on detergent too.

[Jack]

Gidday

What are you going to do with this wool? Some uses you can actually do unscoured then a quick wash after will do. Are you going to spinn it? make felt? With felt, you actually use hot water and I am sure it will all be part of the process.

I have seen unspun wool used in some quite stunning looking art work so it all depends on the end use.

[Eigon]

I bought a fleece 2 years ago that I'm still using for demonstrations of spinning - you can see I don't spin very fast!
All I did with it was wash it in warm water with soap flakes, or Ecover delicates liquid, which got the mud out.
Top Tip: Kids love carding! Get a pair of hand carders, give them one each and stand back. Some of my wool has been carded about 20 times (which can't be doing it any good, but the kids had great fun).
What breed of sheep did the fleece come from? It can make a huge difference to the best uses for it.

[ina]

Depending on the fleece - type of wool and its state - you may be able to spin straight from the fleece, without washing, carding and the lot. Or you could wash it and use it for stuffing soft toys, cushions etc, if you don't fancy to learn spinning! Felting is another good and fun use.