Black And White

I washed the first of the soaking fleeces this morning. It hadn't soaked the full 5 days, but it did have the start of the infamous white film on top of the water. It was a Jacob lamb fleece and I got nervous. The Cotswold fleeces seem almost indestructible...and dirtier. Wasn't sure about the lamb fleece.



Here is what I started with the other day.

I strained it with the laundry basket (great idea!) and then spun it in the washing machine to remove as much funky water as possible. It was actually already pretty clean. So far, so good (and didn't think to take a picture).

I gave it one hot, soapy wash and it looked so good that I skipped the normal second wash and went straight to rinse. I still rinsed twice just because I'm a worrier and don't want any trace of soap left on the fiber.



This is where we ended up. Now that's pretty bright white, eh?

Here's my problem/question. It still feels pretty greasy. It's not dry yet, but I doubt that's going to make it feel better (could be wrong). So, if I still have to give it the full 4 runs through the washer and I'm not saving any soap (expense and pollution), is there any point?

I think what I need to do on the next one is split the fleece in half and process one half the old way and the other the new way and see what I think. It does seem a little cleaner, dirt-wise and I like that. I'll keep you posted.



Wiwi - who keeps herself sparkly black and white and looks like the princess and the pea sleeping on her new favorite kitty bed. The quilts (made by my grandmother) got piled up there the other day after our company left and she claimed them as hers. We just keep walking around her. We are apparently well trained.

Christine won the birthday book (please email me at thecrazysheeplady at gmail dot com with your mailing address :-).