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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

What's Cookin' At The Wool House?

Not much. I wish Saint Tim would get home from his fishing trip. I'm getting tired of eating cereal ;-).

Actually, there is something cooking up there. I'm trying Judith MacKenzie McCuin's wool washing method I read about in the Fall 2008 Spin Off. If I can get my fleeces cleaner, with less water usage and few chemicals, I'm all for it!

I skirted the first fleece, dirty Woolliam. That should be a mighty fine test!



I dumped it from the skirting table into a laundry basket.



Carried the basket around the corner and set it down into a tub of cold water to ferment for several days. Using the laundry basket was my brilliant (I hope) idea, so as to not have to reach down in there to get the wool out later.



Back to the skirting table for two more. I'm not sure what I like better right now, the table or the ceiling fans.



I have a perfect place to set these soon to be really nasty smelling tubs. We'll keep the Woolliam picture handy to compare before and after.



Okay, let's return to the laundry basket shot. Did anyone catch Camouflage Comby up against the back wall?



Brushy is, of course, not far away. He was so zonked that I had to actually wake him up when it started raining.

Somebody just shoot me.

10 comments:

Christine said...

Hey! I have that exact same laundry basket and the same tub. You're brilliant. So is it just soaking in water? Or did you put something in with it? You need to remember some of us our newbies and need explicit details. LOL

Peacecat said...

I could post this comment every single day. I LOVE YOUR BLOG POST AND PHOTOS. Thanks for them.

Dana and Daisy said...

i think all your animals are pretty much livin' the good life!

DayPhoto said...

This is interesting...don't foget to post the next step and the results. I'm hooked! I want to know more!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Nancy K. said...

I've been waiting for it to cool down before I try the cold water wash method. I read, somewhere, that somebody tried it when it was hot out and it got ruined. (maybe it's just SUPPPOSED to get really smelly?)

Can I come live with you?

lisa said...

That looks like a lot of work! A friend of mine that weaves also has just started to learn how to spin her wool!

Alice said...

Can you add ice cubes to the water to keep it freezing cold? A change in temperature would make me nervous... would it change the texture of the wool?
Great shots for those of us who are spectators only.

Ed said...

Thete ya go again spinning more yarns..:-) Cats have it made....

flowerweaver said...

Those silly cats! Comby is doing a great imitation of a piece of wood!

sheepsclothing said...

I found that the initial cold water soak is a pretty good pre-wash, but I think you only get the full benefit of the method when you use the same bath for subsequent batches- and I don't wash enough fleece to justify keeping a fermented suint bath around for very long. Just too stinky! The laundry basket is a really smart move. Wish I'd thought of that!