These are Icelandic sheep, Stella (white), Althea and Zan, the ram. This is a How-To series on processing wool... the Twisted Fern Farm way.
First you learn to sheer them. Stella held very still for me and let me hand sheer her with sewing scissors... Oy, I could use some more practice.
Althea is very skittish so we put her in the stanchion and gave her gentle messages. I did a little better job with her.
Then you hook up with your lady friends for a fun evening of washing the wool. Thanks to Zan and Stella's breeder for hosting us and teaching us.
One bucket for washing and one for rinsing. Make sure both are the same temperature, we went with 110 F degrees, and used Dawn dish detergent as a cleaner.
Check your temps! Keep lids handy to maintain the temperatures.
Adding Stella's wool to the wash bucket first.
She's a dirty girl!
While waiting, one should partake in some fabulous red wine from Redneck wine glasses!
After 30 minutes we transferred the wool from the wash to the rinse.
Let it run a bit before putting into the rinse bucket.
After 10 minutes, remove the wool from the rinse bucket and let drip and gently press excess water out.
Place cleaned wool on a towel and roll it up.
The towel will soak up more excess water.
Using your old re-purposed freezer bins, spread the wool out to dry.
Now you've had a warm up practice and the party can get started!! On with Althea's wool!
Wash...
Laugh...
Rinse...
Oh, she's a dirtier girl, that Althea!
Spread to dry.
I put Stella's wool in front of the fire place for better drying.
And, Althea's wool on the drying rack.
Stay tuned for carding and spinning!
