[in the hills]

The Soay ladies are starting to drop their fleece.    We are planning to do a bit of rooing as soon as it is dry and I want to use the fleece ...... mostly for felting.

How should I wash the fleece? Any advice please? 

[Fleecewife]

From roo'ing the fleece will probably not be whole.  Sort through it all - some of this can be done as you roo, so you discard any bits not suitable for spinning, felting or whatever.  This includes any bits contaminated with faeces or heavily contaminated with veggie bits ie hay, burrs, bits of thistle and so on, plus any very coarse bits.  If you want to use the coarse bits for another project then put them in a separate pile.

A Soay fleece is not usually very large, so you can often wash the whole thing in one go in a 3 gallon bucket.
Fill the bucket with hand warm water and a good squirt of your cleaning agent - this might be 'woolwash', Ecover washing up liquid, or a special wool scourer from a spinning supply shop.
Dump the fleece on top of the water and let it sink in itself.  Never agitate the water or rub the wool, just let it rest for the first wash to loosen the dirt.  Tip the bucket upside down somewhere like on a path to remove the wet fleece once the water looks wonderfully filthy.  If you have a free standing spin dryer these are great for getting the water out once you've tipped out the fleece.

For your second wash you have a choice of another hand warm wash, which will remove dirt but leave some of the lanolin in the fleece, or you can use a very hot wash to remove every spot of grease (you need to do this if you intend to dye the wool)  With a hot wash you must be even more careful not to agitate or rub the fleece.  For this wash I gently and slowly squeeze the fleece, as it lies in the water, to get the last dregs of muck out.  Tip it out or spin as before, then prepare a bucket of rinse water.  This should be at a similar temp to the last wash water, although in practice I find the fleece will have cooled down after tipping out.  Repeat with a second rinse if the water is still soapy.

Lay the wet fleece out on an old towel, either outside if it's not windy, or on a flat dryer indoors somewhere warm.  leave it to dry then get going with your crafty project.

The aim of the care you take is to prevent the fibres from felting together.  The conditions which aid felting are water, heat, soap, agitation and whacking (when making felt one stage involves slapping the partially felted fleece repeatedly on the table) so tip your bucket up gently.

HTH

[in the hills]

Thank you so much FW ... a brilliant explanation as always.

Pouring with rain today, can't wait to give it a go. Need some dry weather before they drop it all. 

[Fleecewife]

Glad to help 

An advantage of roo'ing Soay fleece is that it tends to leave behind the guard hairs still attached to the sheep.  Soay guard hairs tend not to be as extensive as a double coated fleece, but are annoying to have to pick out of your prepared fibre as you spin, so leaving them behind on the sheep is a good move.
The guard hairs will eventually fall out on their own.

Let us know how you get on with the washing then with whatever you are planning as a project 

[Lesley Silvester]

And don't forget that we love to see photos of completed work.

[madcat]

I found a green plastic garden sieve was a handy thing to tip wet fleece into to drain, bit bigger than a colander

[Fleecewife]

I found a green plastic garden sieve was a handy thing to tip wet fleece into to drain, bit bigger than a colander

Excellent idea, esp if you keep it above the ground on a couple of bricks

[in the hills]

Sunny and warm here in the hills so put my first fleece in to soak. 

Only washing a small amount to start with in case I mess it up. So can drain in a big sieve .... thank you madcat.

Are the guard hairs the thicker white coloured hairs (in the case of the light Mouflon Soay)? 

Should you be able to roo the entire ewe in one session? It seems that some areas are literally dropping off and yet others are well attached. We never pull very hard so only get a small amount each time from each sheep. 

[Fleecewife]

The thick white slightly wiry 'hairs' are kemp, which you definitely don't want in your fleece - very spikey in a garment.  Many breeds have bred out, or nearly bred out, kemp, but of course Soays are 'as they come', so you just have to pick it out - from the fleece, as you spin, as you knit or weave, and from the finished garment.

The hair coat is like the outside of a yak coat - warm fluffy woolly undercoat and strong, longer top coat.  In the Soay it's not complete, so is found to varying degrees over the body.  Many Soays have a hair mane and chest wig, while others only have the hair coat over the britch.

Only roo what comes off easily.  Usually the britch is ready last, the neck first.  If you wait for every last bit of britch to be ready before you start then the neck wool will have been shed.
Taking small amounts at a time is better for the sheep, especially if this is the first year they've been roo'd.

[in the hills]

Thank you FW. We have roo'd before ...... just thought they may feel better for it  but not used the fleece which seems really wasteful so going to attempt to needle and possibly wet felt it. I have been making and selling needle felted brooches and was kindly sent a box of prepared native wool by a customer. I have managed to needle felt with Shetland and Gotland fleece and my daughter has made sheep using Leicestershire Longwool. I am becoming slightly obsessed but have a lot to learn.

Shall continue to roo in our usual 'bit here, bit there' fashion. Thank you. 

I've had a quick look on the net but can't distinguish the 'guard hairs'. 

Hoping to go to Smallholders Show at Builth this weekend. May make a pest of myself if I can find any 'feece'/ 'spinning' people. 

[Fleecewife]

It could be that your Soays have only the wool layer of fleece.  After all, Shetlands were once a double coated breed but mostly it's been bred out to give lovely fine spinning fleeces (except on Foula).

A way of having a closer look for hair fibres is to spread a small staple of fleece wide between your fingers to make a fine web, then lay it on a piece of white paper.  Have a look for thicker fibres with no or almost no crimp (but not the kemp).  Use a magnifying glass if you have one.  I've forgotten whether it's 20 or 30 microns which are the threshold for prickly yarn, but it's academic if you're felting.  For spinning fine yarn you would need to pick out the hair fibres, but for a 'stronger' yarn you would leave them in.
Because you are roo'ing you should in fact be leaving most of the hair fibres on the sheep - do they have a fuzzy appearance after you've finished?


Of course we need pics of your felted critters and brooches 

[in the hills]

Yes, they are definitely 'fuzzy'. Just been to have a close look at them. Some have short 'fuzz' but the 'fuzz', on others is actually quite long and wire-like. I can see strong, thick, light coloured, straight hairs protruding through the 'fuzz' on some of them. Is that the 'kemp' or the 'guard' hair?

Ours vary quite a bit in fleece type. Some have longer, softer fleece and others shorter, tighter fleece.

[Fleecewife]

I tend to call it 'top coat' rather than 'guard hair', but I suppose it's the same thing.  The fuzz you c an see left on the animal should be the top coat, so no wonder you couldn't see it in the fleece    It's a so much easier method to separate out the two layers than picking it all out by hand from a shorn fleece.

The kemp is short straight usually very white hairs.  If you look at them closely they appear to be hollow or maybe flat sided-ish, and are pointy at both ends.  Sometimes on dark sheep the kemp can be dark too. There's a white breed of sheep which I'm sure others can remember the name of - has lovely big horns - comes from the south west of England I think, which has no real fleece but is totally covered in kemp, which falls out all over your clothes, hands, everywhere    I'll modify once I remember what it's called.

[in the hills]

Arrr ... thank you. So, does that 'top coat' fall out. I thought that it was their new fleece that I had revealed from underneath the old fleece as I removed it. 

Think I've identified the 'kemp' ..... reminds me of my Labradors short, straight, sharp hairs.

My fleece is now drying. 


Would it be a bad idea to wash the fleece in our bath?

[Bionic]

I have been washing my fleece in the bath and didn't find it a problem.
I also have a friend who like to spin and knit the kemp in (she is a bit funny though  ) she thinks it adds character to her jumpers.