presents Wool Washing ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 1 ou’re ready to take the plunge—literally—into raw fiber processing, and you know that wool can felt and Yshrink into a matted mess. But it doesn’t have to (after all, sheep get wet without shrinking). Let our experts guide you through selecting the proper animal fiber to meet your goals, then through washing wool without fear. It’s not nearly as difficult as you might think, and it produces great results. Have fun splashing in a basin of water. Watch wool transform from a greasy, dirty handful into a fluffy, puffy, silky mass. It’s like magic. Happy washing and spinning! Anne Merrow [email protected] 3 Choosing Fiber—Where to Start? by Diane Lalomia 8 Washing Wool Fleece by Rita Buchanan 11 Washing Wool by Robin Russo 14 On Washing Fleece by Judith MacKenzie Spin•O It’s about making yarn by hand! Spin•O magazine, published four times a year, features articles about the ancient and thriving cra of spinning. Each issue highlights the vibrant and diverse spinning community and explores the intricacies of spinning. spinningdaily.com ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 2 Choosing Fiber— Where to Start? BY D IANE L ALOMIA o many of us choose the project after the yarn is spun, especially when we’re working with just 4 ounces Sof fi ber. But what if you want to make a sweater or another large project? What wool do you choose? If you know more about the fi ber, you can plan the project and not let the project plan you. Sheep wool coarser wool. Fine wool has an average If you’re just start- fi ber diameter of 90s to 60s on the Brad- Some Wools are designated as fine, me- ing out and don’t even ford count system, or 25 to 17 microns. dium, or coarse as determined by the questions know where to begin, It is excellent for fi ne, delicate, soft gar- Bradford count system or by micron here are some questions ments where the feel of the garment is to ask to ask. count (see page 7). These terms re- important, such as baby wear or next- • What type of garment fer to the diameter or thickness of the to-the-skin wear, especially around the are you making? wool fibers. Other characteristics such neck. Fine wool produces a woven fab- • Will it get a lot of wear and tear? Will it as crimp, staple, and luster should also ric that has excellent drape. Some of the be subject to a lot of abrasion, such as the be considered when selecting fiber breeds classifi ed as fi ne wools include heels on socks? for a project. Generally, use fine wool • Will it be used occasionally? Perhaps it Merino, Rambouillet, Bond, Califor- for softness, longwools for luster and will be more decorative than serviceable. nia Variegated Mutant (CVM), Colum- strength, and the down-type wools for • Is this item intended to provide warmth? bia, Comeback, Cormo, Corriedale, their elasticity and resilience. • Will the wool you are using give you the Debouillet, Dormer, New Zealand Half- right amount of drape? Or will it have too FINE WOOLS bred, Panama, Polwarth, Polypay, much drape to retain its shape? Romeldale, Targhee, and Zenith. The • Does your pattern have intricate stitch Fine wools feel softer than medi- fi ner wools have a heavy concentration patterns such as cables? Will the halo of um or coarse wools. However, fi ne of lanolin; therefore, the yield of clean a particular yarn hide the stitch detail in wool fabrics don’t wear as well and are fl eece to raw fl eece is only about 50 per- your project, and is that okay? less durable compared to medium or cent. If you are purchasing a raw fl eece to spin, buy twice as many pounds of raw wool as you will need in a clean preparation, ready to spin. The average raw fl eece for fi ne wool weighs 9.5 to 13 pounds, and the average staple is 3.5 to 5 inches. LONGWOOLS Longwools have a larger fi ber di- ameter than fi ne wools. They are hard wearing and are used to produce heavy knitwear and outerwear, and some are Fine wool: Pol- warth. 1) Raw 1 2 Polwarth wool, and 2) washed Polwarth wool. ©F+W Media, Inc. ■ All rights reserved ■ F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off ■ spinningdaily.com ■ 3 SO_Choosing F.indd 50 2/25/10 10:07:01 AM 02252010100740 used for carpets. Longwools are con- crimp of the fi ber. Down wools have Longwool: sidered lustrous and some have a silky short staples and should be spun with Coopworth. 1) Brown unwashed handle. They can be spun worsted, considerable twist to hold the fi bers in 1 2 3 Coopworth lamb’s and a longwool is ideal for spinning place. They are best spun woolen in- fleece. 2) White semiworsted, a technique that requires a stead of worsted because the springy washed and long and sound fi ber. Examples of long- nature of the fi ber creates a full, round 3) unwashed Coopworth adult fleeces. wool breeds include but are not limited yarn that is lusterless, with a chalky ap- to Bluefaced Leicester, Border Leicester, pearance. True down breeds originated DOUBLE-COATED FLEECES Coopworth, English Leicester, Finnish in southeastern England, and some of Sheep with double-coated fl eeces Landrace, Gotland, Lincoln, Masham, the original down breeds include South- have a long, hairy outercoat that pro- Perendale, Romney, Teeswater, Texel, down, Suffolk Down, Hampshire Down, tects the animal from the elements and and Wensleydale. Dorset Down, Oxford Down, and a short, fi ne undercoat that provides in- Shropshire Down. Cheviot, Clun For- DOWN-TYPE WOOLS sulation. The fl eece is fairly open and est, Shetland, Suffolk, Tunis, and Welsh airy. The outercoat has a slight wave Down wools have a spiral crimp and Mountain are just a few of the other or no crimp, while the undercoat has exceptional elasticity and produce me- down-type breeds that exist today. a crimp proportional to the fi neness of dium- to lightweight yarns that are great the fi ber. Both coats can be processed for knitwear yarns, socks, blankets, and together (providing a fi ber with coarse tweeds. The spiraling form of the fi - grade for outerwear) or dehaired (the ber tends to be crush resistant in woven two coats are separated). The undercoat fabric. Down-type wools are crisp with by itself is considered a fi ne fi ber and a spongy handle. The fi ber diameter is is often suitable for next-to-the-skin fi ne to medium and the staple is 2 to 3.5 garments. The diameter of the outer- inches. The fi ber is actually longer than coat limits the use of the wool when the staple (which is measured without the two coats are used together. These stretching the fi bers) due to the spiral dual- or double-coated breeds have lit- tle grease or lanolin, and therefore pro- Down-type: Clun Forest. duce a high yield of clean to raw fl eece. 1) Adult ewe Clun Forest 2 wool in the grease, and Care must be taken when handling the 2) scoured. 1 dual coats to avoid separating them while preparing the fi ber for spinning. ■ ■ ■ ■ ©F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this issue to be copied for personal use Spin.Off spinningdaily.com 4 SO_Choosing F.indd 51 2/25/10 10:07:03 AM 02252010100741 goats that produce a very fi ne undercoat or down. Cashmere is a type of fi ber and does not come from a specifi c breed of goat. The down is soft and wavy with silklike fi bers, whereas the outercoat (called beard hair) is harsh. Medullat- ed fi bers are absent in the undercoat but very pronounced in the outercoat. The greater the difference between the di- ameters of the two coats, the easier it is to dehair cashmere. Cashmere fi ber is composed of scales projecting slight- ly beyond the cortical (outer) layer that are elongated, very smooth, and almost undetectable, giving cashmere a won- Double coated: Scottish Cashmere. Australian raw cashmere in a derfully soft hand. To be labeled cash- variety of hues. 1 2 Blackface. 1) Washed mere in the United States, the fi bers Scottish Blackface wool, bred goat may have less than 1 per- must have a micron count of 19 or fi n- and 2) unwashed. cent of medullated fibers (medullated, er, with less than 3 percent by weight or kemp, fibers have a hollow core—see of fi bers exceeding 30 microns. To be page 7), and its fiber can still be classi- classed as cashmere, the fi ber must have The undercoat will tend to felt easily, fied as kid. The epidermal scales in mo- a distinct crimp that changes directions but the outercoat will felt little, if at all. hair are faintly visible, scarcely overlap, at random intervals along the length of Some double-coated breeds are Icelan- and lie close to the stem with a very each individual fi ber.