King Poo Sheep

I've been wanting to learn how to spin my own yarn for quite some time. Months ago, my sister brought me our mother's old spinning wheel so I could learn to spin on it. Go to this post to see a photo of the spinning wheel. I find the idea of learning how to spin on the same spinning wheel that my mother  learned to spin on romantic.  My mother bought a spinning wheel kit back in the 70's, sanded, stained, and put it together.

The idea of using this spinning wheel is romantic to me, what you are about to see, is not.

I signed up for a class, and my first one was yesterday afternoon. I was given a bag of sheep wool and told to clean it before our next class where I would then learn to card it. How hard can that be?

First, you pull out a chunk of wool and start to pull it apart a bit. I decided to do this outside as dirt, grass, hay, and who knows what else tends to fall out onto what ever surface you are on. I didn't want any of this on my kitchen table........

I'm pulling the wool apart here a bit. Separating the ends......

Aside from the disgusting poo, notice how yellow the wool is.  That is the lanolin.  After washing, I was told the wool would be white.  I was skeptical but, it really does turn white after he lanolin is melted out! 

I go to get some more wool and.... is that what I think it is?

Great! Just fabulous! My bag of wool apparently is the bum end of the deal and all that goes with it. Yup. That be poo. I am paying big bucks to learn how to pull poo off a sheeps bum wool.

After all of the wool is pulled apart and the poo taken care of, it is time to get the water in my sink as hot as I can possibly stand putting my hands into and I put the wool into the water. I am to walk away for 10-15 minutes. In that time, the natural oil on the wool called lanolin which holds onto all of the dirt, grass, poo, etc. etc. and more disgusting etc. will be melted off.

What in actuality happens is the water in your sink turns a putrid color of brown which looks like you are washing a bunch of horse poo instead of sheep wool and your kitchen/house smells like it too.

After the 10-15 minutes is up, you transfer your wool to another hot water bath that has a bit of soap in it. Let it again sit and then rinse your wool in another sink of hot water, and be amazed that what was once really disgusting and brown is surprisingly kind of white!

Do this a few times and then take your wool and set it out in the back yard on an old towel to dry making sure to fluff it here and there from time to time....

And that, my friends........ is how you wash sheeps wool right off the good ol' sheep itself. Next time..... I want the neck or body. Teach me for having to do a make up class and getting what was left. Talk about a bum deal!

P.S.  Yes, I did wash my sink after really really good and disinfected it.......