Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Washy washy

So I found this little tutorial for doing a "bit" of fleece, and went out to raid the bags. I filled a 9L bucket full of reasonably clean wool (I think from the sheep's back), which came to 196g. I filled up one bucket with hot water (60°C) and a bit of dishwashing liquid, and put the wool into it, chunk by chunk, while pulling out a few bits of grass and a beetle or two!
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Submerged it by squishing it down with the second bucket, then topped up bucket one and filled bucket two with hot water. After 20 minutes or so, I squished out the water and tipped the wool into the "rinse" bucket for a few minutes. Did this whole soapy-rinse-procedure three times, until the water was coming out pretty clean. Then I squeezed it in a towel and laid it out to dry, which certainly didn't take long in this heat!
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196g of raw stuff.
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Soaking in a bit of dishwashing liquid...
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First rinse Ü
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After squishing out the rinse water the first time
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After it dried: 144g of slightly grassy (but unfelted!) fleece, ready for... well... the next step is carding, if I can find the time and patience!
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Well, Jasmine had her 18 month checkup today (She's 13kg and 87cm already) and then a chickenpox injection. The needle nurses were running really late, so I've just put them in bed 45 minutes ago, and soon I'll have to wake them to go to my midwifery appointment. I can't remember if I'm 37 or 38 weeks now... I didn't get much sleep last night! lol. It was only 27°C inside, which is comparatively nice, but I do have an internal oven going, too, and I laid there sweating until 4am... Finally got some sleep on the couch with the air con back on. Got a tiny bit more semi-sleep during Sesame Street. SO glad I didn't catch the gastro everyone else in this house has had!
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Now to research rolags...

7 comments:

Tara said...

I CANNOT believe everything you're up to at 38 weeks pregnant! Denial, it ain't just a river in Egypt, heh.

Alrischa said...

Of course, there's no time for housework... Ü

kelgell said...

Eww, that first rinse looks gross. Dirty sheep. Carding should make it beautiful. Do you have the tools though?? Oh, I have to come out sometime. I want some help with what to do about knitting the toes of my sock. Actually, maybe I'll drop by after work tomorrow. I'm working out there in the afternoon.

Alrischa said...

I have two dog brushes from the supermarket Ü hehehe. I'll show you later.

Sinéad said...

Wow, how dirty was that water? What were those sheep rolling around in lol. Maybe better not to think about that actually. ;)
Hope the midwife check went ok, and for Gods sake, take it easy woman! Rest up before no3 arrives!

Ruth's Place said...

The fleece came up really well. I have serious fleece envy!

Don't envy you the heat though. We had one 38 degree day this week and I thought I was going to die - South Africa has softened me up heatwise lol

Hope the midwife visit went well.

Kyoko said...

Oh, this is so fun. I haven't spinned for such a long time. DUring the Christmas holiday I dyed two skeins of yarn. It was really fun to do.
x
Kyoko

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