Washing Fleece

So, after having a private blog for just under 10 years, I'm going public! I love to share all my fiber adventures, always accompanied by photos, so here's my tale of washing fleece...

I've always admired fleece, especially when processed by Miss Laila of LaiGrai, lovingly washed yet still slightly sticky with lanolin, a soft reminder of the origins and soul of the fiber itself. It didn't come from some corporate store, all washed and dry and perfectly processed. Instead it was skirted with thoughtful fingers, washed with delicate hands, over and over and over, until it was clean--but not so clean that you forget it came from an animal still wandering the fields of a farm.

So in my efforts to educate myself on fiber prep, I purchased some lovely uncoated raw merino fleece from handsandnotions in order to practice. Here's the result:



The first of many rinses




Drying




& Dyed



Overall, it was a wonderful process. I then decided to buy some nicer, coated merino fleece, which resulted in this beauty:




I've already carded some of the first batch, and as I expected, I'm head over heels in love.


Look out for the launch of my hand-dyed and hand-carded fiber in my etsy shop!