Washing Fleeces

I took Claudia's class on washing raw fleeces last night, and here's the jist:

- Don't wash whole fleeces in the washing machine. You'll just gum up your laundry system with lanolin.

- It's hard to get the water in your bathtub hot enough to effectively remove the lanolin.

Here are the steps, quick-and-dirty. If I ever try this at home, I will actually have photos:

1) Seperate the fleece into 1" locks; each lock should have a complete tip and butt end.

2) Line the locks up flat in a lingerie bag - all stacked in the same direction, about three rows deep or however much your bag will accomodate.

3) Set up two large tubs of just-boiling water; add Dawn diswashing detergent to one.

4) Set each lingerie bag in the first tub, gently. Do not over-handle or agitate the bags or the fleece will felt. Let soak for 5-10 minutes, or until the water starts to cool (if the fleeces are left in the tub to cool, the lanolin will redeposit and you'll have to do the whole thing over).

5) Transfer the lingerie bags to the soapy tup. Let them soak for 15-20 minutes, adding small amounts of hot water as it cools down to keep the temperature consistent.

6) Set up 5 rinse buckets; the first two must be hot, the last thre can be just warm.

7) Gently lift and "flat squeeze" (squish like you're making a pancake) each lingerie bag out of the Dawn tub. gently lower, rinse, and flat squeeze each lingerie bag in each bucket in succession.

8) Once they're all rinsed, put on the spin cycle of the washing machine or twirl it around your head or set them out to drip off the excess water, whatever is more convenient.

9) open each bag and gently remove the washed locks. set them out on a flat surface (a sweater dryer is good) and open the locks. Leave them to dry completely.