Originally Posted by redkimba
Originally Posted by thrums
I suggest you "wash" it first.
The easiest way is to fill your sink with very warm water and a strong liquid detergent like Dawn. Swirl to make suds.
Take some of the raw fleece locks and spread them out picking out debris. Fill a colander with the locks of wool and slowly submerge the colander into the water. Make sure all of the locks are submerged also.
Let the wool soak for at least 30 minutes. Do not agitate the wool or it will felt.
Let the water drain out of the sink. Remove the colander of wool. Clean out the sink and fill again with water the same temperature as the wool.
Slowly submerge the colander into the water again and soak the wool. Drain and rinse again as needed.
One you have completed the final rinse, let the colander sit in the sink to drain some more. Then carefully life out the locks and place them on mesh(window screen) to dry.
You should have removed most of the farm dirt and odors.
Does this process remove the lanolin?
It will not remove all of the lanolin as this is more of a "light washing". Note that some sheep breeds produce more lanolin than others. If the fleece is really "sticky" it has a high content of lanolin. You can tell if there is some lanolin by rubbing some pre-washed fleece between your thumb and forefinger.