Processing small amount of raw wool

[ExcellentCat]

My DD collected about half a carrier of shed wool from round about our last campsite & wants to process it to thread (I know it won’t make much, I’m not sure she understands that)
I recall the process is wash, card, spin? I have googled as well, but a bit of people’s thoughts would be welcome.

Any suggestions or recommendations of what to wash with & whether this project is doomed from the outset (should I buy extra raw wool to bulk it up?!)
I did wonder about steering her towards a felting project instead , but she’s pretty set on wool she could knit with.
TIA

A small amount is perfect. She won’t get overwhelmed.

does she have a drop spindle?

She will learn a lot. What sort of wool is it, cos if it is Lakeland Herdwick it will be very coarse. And I wouldn’t bother, but I like a good result.
I would suggest she buys a kit with a drop spindle and some combed top to practice with, before she tackles the precious wool she has collected. World of Wool have good value kits.
There are loads of videos on YouTube to help with the whole process from gathering wool, washing, combing, (use dog brushes as special combs are ££££) spinning, plying and then knitting.
It’s a great hobby for a whole lifetime. And kit can cost loads or not much at all.

Not yet, although I did think that might be what we needed. Haven’t bought anything yet, we’re both a bit on the thumbs side of deft, so glad you don’t think it’s impossible.

Just had to look up sheep breeds! Possibly Texel or a mixed herd
I will have a look at kits, she’s also not a big one for practicing, prefers to launch straight in, no prep & expects to get good results. It can be hard going:
good news about dog brushes!

Look up ‘wool scouring’ in the internet. There are plenty of how to guides on how to scour raw wool at home. The trick is not to felt it up and the how to guides cover how to avoid felting.

Spinning is definitely something to be learned, and it has taken me two years to produce decent yarn. But my early attempts are gorgeous and I admire them often.
How old is she ?
you do need to be dexterous but if she can knit she can spin. It’s a bit pat your head and rub your tummy to start with.
Texel is nice to spin with. Other good beginner fleece is Shetland and Corriedale and Jacob, all from World of Wool.
Go for it, it will be fun

I wash my fleeces by soaking them in water, then rinsing until the water is clear.

You can get sets of brushes for carding, but it’s quite a slow process. Then you can spin on a drop spindle.

I love spinning, I learned in my 20s but only now am I well off enough to buy the kit to do it properly. It’s not a cheap hobby to continue to the next stage I’m afraid.

Don’t we need soap? Some of it’s not as clean as I might like, bit of old sheep poo etc.
she’s ten.
scouring - it’s words like this that I don’t know that make googling easier thanks. I suspect we will end up with another half project to stay on a shelf, but we’ll see.
knitting is getting better, but still quite wobbly, but she does like it.

You could use a very pure soap, but you don’t want to strip out too much of the lanolin in the wool.
Its best to try and tease out the poo beforehand

I did not know that! I assumed you would want to remove all the lanolin. Go figure. We’re winnowing wheat at the moment so this one’s on the back burner while I research…

I’ve scoured around 40 raw fleeces so far this summer. I actually love the process - I find it really soothing.

There’s no one single “right” answer but I usually do:

One soak in cold water with Fairy liquid (to loosen dirt) - 30 minutes
two soaks in hot water of at least 140F with Fairy liquid - 15-30 minutes each, no longer
two rinses in plain warm water (maybe a squirt of white vinegar if the fleece is whiffy) - usually about 20-30 mins each

This process works the best for me - I’ve tried many different permutations! If the fleece is really filthy I might need an extra rinse but it’s rare.

There are other detergents you can use such as Unicorn Power Scour but they’re a bastard to get hold of. Fairy liquid - not a cheap knockoff - is regularly used by people who process fleeces professionally because it’s good at cutting through grease, which is what you want.

Don’t use anything with biological agents as you’ll damage the fleece.

Don’t do the Fairy scours in hot water for longer than 30 mins as otherwise the lanolin will settle back into the fleece and harden. The goal is to melt the lanolin off the fleece and tip it away with the waste water.

Some people spin “in the grease” which means keeping the lanolin but most others prefer to strip the lanolin out. The lanolin makes it feel quite sticky so it’s not very pleasant to knit with, imo.

Really important - a combination of hot water and wiggling the wool around (agitation) will felt the wool. Poke it into the water - with enough room for the wool to spread out - and leave it until you’re ready for the next step. No swishing it around in the water!

I find pressing the wool gently on a wire table between washes/rinses gets rid of the dirty water the fleece is holding, without it felting.

Don’t plunge it into cold water when it’s just come out of hot water as this shocks the wool and makes it felt. Going from cold water to hot water is fine.

Umm, what else ….

Oh yes! You mention sheep poo. Where you can, cut the really dirty bits off before you start scouring. Heavily soiled bits won’t wash out and all that happens is the dirt gets distributed through the rest of the wool and contaminates it all! Be ruthless before you start and you’ll end up with clean fleece that you can use.

Dog brushes are perfect if you want to card the wool. If you want to comb the wool instead you can use onion slicers (about £3 for two on Amazon).

Hope this helps - good luck, I love that you’re doing this!!

That’s really helpful thanks and exactly the sort of thing I need to know, we’re both incorrigible fiddlers with things, so knowing we definitely need to not touch it helps & I am a cheap skate & would definitely have chucked in whatever bio washing powder I have! 😂