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At first, it was hard for me to imagine how to take that dirty, smelly, lanolin-filled wool and transform it into stunning, uniform strands that you can knit up into a number of garments, but it's possible and without any fancy equipment.
I've been processing wool for around a year now and have worked with a number of fleeces. My personal favorite is off of my personal sheep, of course, Rambouillets. They have super fine wool with a comfort factor of around 94% -which means that this wool is great for direct body contact garments and I'm sure to maintain their fleece throughout the year to reduce the amount of vegetable matter. That being said, you can use this guide to clean any type of wool.
Step 1: Skirt the wool
I have the luxury of skirting as I shear the sheep, but if you are buying a raw fleece from someone, lay your fleece out flat on a clean floor or surface. I prefer to do this outside on a folding table, because it is a smelly and dirty job.
Remove all the dirty areas with a sharp pair of scissors or by pulling them free. Clean off any pieces of poop from the wool that was around the rear and any hay from the head and neck area. On the very first fleece I skirted, I found quite a few dead ticks which isn't uncommon depending on where you are getting your fleece from.
Finally, cut out any of the wool that’s particularly matted or appears felted.
Step 2: Start the cleaning process
Next, you will want to fill up a bucket (I use a mop bucket) with just hot water (No soap yet!). Lanolin is water soluble at around 140-160 F. Once the bucket is full of water, place around 2lbs of wool (or what your bucket can comfortable accommodate) on top and with a dowel or kitchen ladle (now referred to as a "poker stick"), gently push the wool down into the water, being careful not to agitate it or stir it too much. But, don't be too afraid - it is actually difficult to felt the wool, do what you need to so that the wool is fully submerged in water with your poker stick. Learn from my mistakes here - if you place the wool in the bucket, then add water, the wool will felt. Every time.
Wait around 30 minutes, remove your wool from the water and place it in your washing machine on drain and spin only. You are left with quite literally poop and lanolin water in your original bucket. This water is FILLED with a very usable form of nitrogen and your garden, trees or lawn will love you if you place this water out on them. Don't waste this good stuff!
Pro-tip: Time how long your drain and spin cycle takes in your washing machine so you can walk away and work on another project while you're waiting. Mine is around 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add soap and repeat
Once your wool is all spun out in the washing machine and you've put your poop water out in the garden, add around 1/4 cup of soap to your mop bucket, then fill up with 140-160 F water again, place your wool on top of the full water bucket and push it down with your poker stick, again. Wait 20 minutes this time.
This water has too much dish soap to be useable on the lawn or garden, dump it down the drain.
A word on soaps: I've bought the expensive scouring soaps, but prefer Dawn dish soap. It's cheaper and seems to do a better job of stripping the lanolin.
Spin it out again on the drain and spin cycle in your washer.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2
Step 4: Check it and Rinse
Sometimes, a fourth time in the soapy water is required if you are working with really dirty wool. You will know how much dirt remains by the color of your water. The wool is ready to be rinsed when the water has just has a slight brown tinge to it. On the last time in the mop bucket, do not place any soap and continue with the 140-160 F water. Let it sit for around 20 minutes. Then, spin it out one final time. Your wool should look and feel smoother/cleaner, but you will still see vegetable matter, do not be alarmed, you will take care of this in your next step, carding the wool.
Step 5: Drying
After you finish the last spin cycle, lay the wool out to dry. Outside, in the sun, even not on super hot days is ideal - the wool dries much faster. If this isn't an option for you, a window or door screen work well so you can get good airflow to all sides of the wool. I use the cart pictured above often as it has holes in the shelves for better air flow.
To speed things up, use a fan or two to blow on the wool, especially if drying indoors, this help it dry faster.
An Ode to Raw Fleece
I love working with raw wool - it is a reminder that this wool comes from a living, breathing, warm animal whose heartbeat, along with the grasses on the pasture, made this wool grow. Here and there among these finely crimped, soft fibers are little bits of grass, seeds, and burrs that tell the story of this sheep's wanderings in the pasture. And this entire billowing mass of wool still carries the smell of the animal and the barnyard. There's nothing like working with raw wool to fully feel our fibers' and clothing's connection to land. Next step is carding...
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