Raw Fleece Processing Step One: Skirting and Sorting
Raw Corriedale fleece being skirted and sorted.
So you found that perfectly soft raw fleece…now what?
Washing can be tricky, and the finer the fleece, the more difficult it can be. It’s pretty easy to felt a fleece, but with a few key rules, your fleece will come out sparkling and super soft every time.
Follow the Raw Fleece set of posts to see the processing method I use for all fleece - fine or medium, lanolin rich or lean.
Skirting and sorting are important steps:
Skirt the fleece. Lay the fleece out on a large surface, pick off the edge pieces that are really dirty, matted, or coarse. Also find the neck wool, it’s often very full of veggie matter and is usually scrap. Give the fleece some good shakes, a lot of hay and dirt will fall out of it. Also watch for second cuts and remove them. Keep all of that “waste” fleece for garden mulch, fleece is some of the best mulch around!
Sort the fleece by pulling off individual or small groups of locks and placing them into a delicates laundry bag. Pulling off locks frees up more veg matter, and also allows you to lay the locks nicely in the bag for processing later. How you organize the locks all depends on how much you want to preserve the lock structure…if combing or spinning from the lock is important, take more care here. If carding is the goal, larger chunks can be placed in the bag. Don’t fill the bag too full, putting too much fleece in can hinder the washing process.
The fleece is now ready for washing!