Washing Wool: The process I use, plus some tips and tricks

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Washing wool is an important part of the fiber preparation process because it helps remove all the undesirable dirt, dust and lanolin that comes from sheep living outside in all kinds of conditions.

Technically speaking, the wool washing process is called "scouring" because it uses hot water and a degreasing agent. I personally prefer Unicorn Power Scour (linked here) because it is an environmentally friendly and biodegradable way to wash the undesirable things out of the fibers. If you are interested in learning more about Unicorn Power Scour and what they do, here is the link.

When it comes my process, I followed most of the steps that are found in Mary Egbert's book "Camaj Fiber Art's Scouring and Fiber Prep Guide the Art of Washing Wool, Mohair & Alpaca, Scour Wool Like a Boss: Where Art and Science Meet for Excellent Outcomes" (found here). She is a wealth of information when it comes to washing wool and other fiber preparation. Her website has a lot of information that I would encourage you to check out because her process may differ from mine, and it could work out better for you!

But, to get back on track to the wool scouring process...

The wool I am washing comes from Ranching Tradition Fiber. It came off a Targhee Ramboullet sheep, the staple lenght is 3.5 inches, with a micron count of 22.2, spin count of 62 and a comfort factor of 94.6%. If you are interested in learning more about the micron count, spin count and comfort factor, I would highly encourage you to check out Kami's page as she breaks it down very well. I purchased one pound solely for this blog series.

The first step is to make sure that all the really, really dirty stuff is removed. Sheep live outside and are exposed to a lot of stuff. Sometimes they lay in their own waste or one of their herd mates may poo/pee on them. There is any number of ways that sheep can get dirty, which is why the first step is to manually remove any of the really nasty stuff. Often times this is done during or shortly after the shearing process and it is called "skirting". It is always a good thing to check out a newly purchased fleece to make sure that it has only the wool that you want and nothing more. Sometimes the fleece may have sticks, long pieces of grass, poo tags, discolored wool from breeding grease or even bits of feed. Removing these things from the start will make the whole process easier in the long run.

Note: Before any wool growers come after me for saying that I don't think they are skirting their fleeces well enough, that is not the case! All I am saying is that a hand spinner or fiber artist may have different standards for what they are willing to work with than what is often sent to a wool pool or commercial mill.

This is some of the stuff that I picked out of the wool. If you look closely, there is even a little bug!

After the raw fleece has been picked through and looked over, the next thing is to put it into mesh laundry bags (like these or these) because it will make the wet wool easier to work with. The amount of fiber that you put into each bag depends on how much fiber you have, the size of the bag and your wool scouring set up. I prefer about a pound in the larger bags and a few ounces in the smaller ones.

The next step is something that I do because I feel that it helps remove a lot of the dust and dirt before the scouring process. Not everyone does this, but it has worked out well for me. I prefer to soak the wool in cool water for a couple of hours before scouring, sometimes is 2-3, other times its 24ish. To be honest, I have forgotten the wool until the next day more than I care to admit but it still worked out well. To soak the wool, I use cool tap water in an old kitty litter container and fill it mostly full. Then, I add the wool and close the lid. If I am doing a lot of wool at the same time, then I use a larger container. The goal is to allow the water to saturate the wool (as best as it can with the lanoline) and open up some of the fibers. This allows any loose dirt and debris to fall out a lot easier. When choosing a container, it is important to make sure that there is enough space around the wool which lets more water around the fibers. I like using the cat litter containers for washing wool because they are sturdy, have a lid, and a handle.

Note: The same container can also be used during the scouring process

Once the wool has soaked for a while, then it can be removed from the container and gently squeezed to get as much water out as possible without felting. The dirty water can then be used to water plants or dumped in the garden.

There is a lot of dirt and stuff that comes out with just the pre-soak, which is why I tend to do it. Not every fleece needs to be pre-soaked, so soaking a sample could help determine if whether or not this step is needed. As you can see, this fleece needed it!

Note: It is not recommended to dump the dirty water down the drain because it can cause issues with the plumbing, septic and other systems. This is also true for the scouring and rinse waters. They need to get dumped in an appropriate place, like in the garden or yard.

Next is the scouring process! Once the water has been squeezed out of the wool and the container is rinsed, I fill it up with the hottest tap water that I have available. The hot water heater in my house is factory set at 160*F. The temperature is important because lanolin has a base melting point of 120*F. While the Power Scour is very effective at removing the lanolin and other debris, it is important to have the water be hot enough for the duration of the process because the lanolin can solidify back onto the fibers. If the lanolin reattaches to the fibers, then it will be a lot harder to remove later.

The amount of Power Scour that I use depends on the wool itself, how much there is and how dirty it is. However, for a general, basic fleece, I tend to use the following chart from Unicorn:

I poke the wool down into the container with a stick/dowel because the water is really hot. I don't swirl it around or mix it up because I don't want to risk felting the wool, just pushing it into the water can be enough to felt some very fine wools, if you aren't careful.

I like to leave the lid on the cat litter container because then I can close it to retain as much heat as I can. I leave the wool in the container for 20-30 minutes so that the water does not have much time to cool off.

When the time is up, I pull the wool out of the container and squeeze as much water out as I can before putting it into an old washing machine to spin out more of the excess water. Before I had obtained an old washing machine, I used a commercial sized salad spinner (like this one) to remove most of the water. The more dirty water that you remove, the better and more effective the scouring process is. Then I dump the rest of the water out onto my yard, garden or flowerbeds. I also rinse any dirt and debris out of the container.

You can see the little drain spout on the bricks as it drains right into my flowerbed. I do this for every step of the wool scouring process to keep the water and sheep stuff out of my pipes and septic tank.

The inside looks like this and it spins the water out of the wool, which makes a big difference. The more icky water that can be removed, the more effective the overall process will be.

After the wool has been spun out, then I fill up the container with hot water and add the wool. This is a rinse cycle, which helps remove more lanolin and debris. Sometimes I take a wooden spoon or stick and push the fiber down and gently stir it around as I use the same temperature water throughout the whole process. The rinse time should take 30 minutes or so. You don't want to wait too long because the water will cool off and the lanolin can reattach to the wool fibers.

Note: Any time you are working with hot, wet wool, it is important to be careful and cautious for a couple reasons. You don't want to burn yourself, nor do you want felt the wool. Felting is caused by too much agitation and/or sudden changes in temperature, usually from hot to cold. When washing wool, it is key to keep the water at a consistent temperature to minimize felting, regardless of what that temperature is. The initial rinse in cold water and the change in temperature for the scouring has not really been an issue for me. However, if you are unsure, then I would either use a sample piece of wool or skip the pre-soak.

After the fist rinse, this fleece looks like it needs another rinse. The process for rinsing is the same each time.

This was after the second rinse. I did end up rinsing it a third time, however I did not take a picture of it.

I rinse the wool 2-3 times, depending on how dirty/greasy it is.

Finally, the last step in souring wool is to let it dry. I like keeping it in the mesh bags because they allow me to move the wool around with minimal agitation. I also really like using one of these herb drying racks (here) and hanging it on a clothesline outside.

These are nice because they let the airflow through the wool, which helps it dry faster. The mesh helps keep bugs and other material out. I heard a horror story of a woman who scoured her wool, placed outside to dry, her husband mowed the lawn and sprayed the grass clippings all over her freshly washed wool!!!!

The divided sections help keep different wools apart from each other. So you could wash different breeds wool and keep them seperate. It also keeps the wool from blowing away, which was a lot better than the table I used to use....

Anyway, the process of scouring wool is fairly straightforward, even if it takes some time and effort.

Here is the end result and, while there is still some vegetable matter and whatnot, the lanolin and dirt is pretty much gone. The next step is carding and/or combing, which I will get into in their own blog posts (coming soon!).

And in case you forgot what the wool looked like before, here ya go!

I can't wait to share the next step in the process of wool and fiber preparation!

Until next time, stay wooly friends!

-Jody