Another winter acivity at Meduseld is preparing wool for hand spinning or for sending off to the fiber mill. Yesterday, I spent much of the day cleaning and dying wool. These batches of wool will be combined into a multi color yarn. Following are the steps to clean and dye the wool.
I took Royal’s fleece from last year. She is a lovely purebred Romney ewe who is friendly and always one of the first at the feed trough. She produces a high sheen yarn and she makes about 8 pounds of fleece per year. That is the weight before it is washed of its lanolin. Between that and the loss that always ocurrs during processing, we’ll end up with about half of that in yarn.
First, take the fleece and wash it in the hottest water the tap will provide. Dawn dishwashing soap seems to be a favorite among wool enthusiasts, but we prefer to use organic detergents. Usually, we use Ecover which does a wonderful job removing the grease. You want to make sure you don’t handle the wool too much – its not like hand washing clothes. You want to move it about enough to get it to shake free the dirt and lanolin, but you don’t want to over compensate and felt your fiber. Felting just doesn’t come undone. Rinse several times with hot water until the water comes out clear. I don’t worry about making it crystal clear at this point since I am about to simmer the wool. Here is the cleaned fiber in a large stainless pot.
It is important to use stainless or enamal cookware since we are going to be using Cushings Perfection acid dyes. You don’t want to have a chemical reaction with your pot or stirring spoon, and aluminum will react. I am using a stainless spoon, but I also have a wooden spoon that I reserve just for dying wool.
This is what the Cushing Perfection Dye packets look like. Each packet is costs around $3.00 and will color approximately one pound of wool, although I have had success with larger amounts. Cushing recommends 1/2 cup vinegar per pound of fiber, but you can use more. I used one cup of white vinegar that you can buy at any grocery store. A good pair of rubber gloves would handy, too.
Combine boiling water, the dye packet and the vinegar. Try to eyeball how much water you’ll need to cover the amount of wool you are dying. Cushing says to wet the wool, but ours is already wet from washing. Now, quickly and smoothly, put all your wool in the pot. You have to be rather quick about it, or the portion you put in first is going to be darker than the part to go in last. Stir the fleece around a bit and make sure that all parts are exposed to the dye liquid.
Now, we are going to heat this back up to a simmer and let it stay that way until the wool absorbs the dye. You can see the difference, because suddenly the water will go from being richly pigmented, to suddenly looking almost clear, and your wool will have taken on the dye. It is very important to continue to gently stir periodically during this process so that you achieve even distribution of the color. Here is a picture of my dye pot, and you can see around the edges that the water is still quite dark.
Cotinue stirring until the water clears and look for uniform color in your wool. This blue is turning out nicely, with deep bold coloring.
Take the pot off the stove and drain the wool. Rinse several times in hot water until the water is clear. You don’t want to rinse in cold water because this might cause the wool to felt. It is important to make your temperature changes gradually. I make each rinse slightly cooler so that by the last rinse I can handle the wool.
Now the wool goes out on the drying racks. This time of year it may take several days to dry, especially if the temperatures remain freezing. During the summer, it will dry overnight. Here I have several batches set out to dry.
You can see Cushing’s Blue, Burgundy, and Egyptian Red drying on my porch. When these are dry enough to card, which means to comb the fibers, I’ll have a post on carding and spinning to make a multi-colored yarn.
We are very excited to announce that Meduseld yarns are now also available for sale at The Shop on Mainstreet in charming Edinburg, Virginia. I had the opportunity to meet Joan Reistetter, owner, yesterday and to tour her lovely shop. Filled with eye candy in every nook, her store carries antiques, silver, jewelry, and of course, an entire room deidcated to yarn and knitting. If you are seeking rare, exquisite buttons for your next sewing project, she also has one of the largest collections of those I have ever seen. Please visit her Facebook page for more information. The Shop on Main Street
You can now purchase Meduseld Yarns through three locations – online through our store, at The Shop on Main Street, as well as at the Market at Silver Lake Farms. The Market at Silver Lake farm opened the first weekend of June and speciallizes in selling crafts from local artists, as well as local produce from their farm and others, and some seriously good steaks! The Market at Silver Lake Farms
Much of our inventory is running low or out of stock due to high demand. Contact me directly if there are specific yarns or colors you are seeking so that we can customize future mill orders. This year’s fleeces will be going in soon! Thank you for your support!
Our third roving is inspired by our dominant Peacock, Beau. He is best friends with Beauty and Beautiful. Despite the cool weather, he has already grown his splendid tail for the Spring, and it trying to impress the ladies.
Romney Roving “Beau”
Romney Roving “Beau”
This roving can be found in Meduseld’s store here.
We have had some more lambs the last few days. Here is an angelic darling born this morning. Her mother is a Jacob-Shetland cross named Elsa, and her sire is Samson, a very friendly Romney.
Here is another photo of Aslan, who was born a month ago. He has already grown a good deal and is looking very fit.
We have been liming the pastures and will be over-seeding them with mixed pasture grasses and legumes. The legumes fix nitrogen in the soil and provide more diverse grazing for the sheep. February and March are good months for doing this since with the thawing ground the animals can “hoof it in.” In other words, the sheep’s hooves press the seeds into the ground and save us from having to till the seeds into the earth.
The groundhog saw his shadow last week, but I don’t believe him. The birds are making spring calls outside already, and the geese have been mating on the pond. Hoping for an early Spring
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