Is it garbage, part 2

This is the fleece drying.

It is on a screen that is setting on a couple of 5 gallon

buckets that we use to water the sheep. They are both

cracked, so they now have other purposes. Today, fleece drying. 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've taken this fleece, and another, out onto the

deck to photograph in the sun.

 LOOK at the color difference.

I knew these fleece all had some mud on

them, but who knew how dirty they were.

This was 2 soaks with HOT water and blue

Dawn and 2 rinse soaks in HOT water.

(I have my hot water tank at 185 degrees

because of the number of fleeces I wash.)

 Click on the pictures to see the dirt and lanolin

in the dirty fleece, and to see how much of it is

gone in the clean fleece. Amazing!!

 I will be picking and processing this clean fleece

at some point in the upcoming week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am not sure, yet, the breed of this fleece. 

Or, if it is even one of mine.

It has a lot of straw, or coarse hay on it.

It also has burdock in its front.

I thought we got rid on all of the burdock

on the farm, but this spring (not long before I

broke my ankle) I noticed the dock/burdock

plant has spread. 

 I have taken a large chunk out of this fleece to wash.

At the bottom of the picture where the fleece goes up

in a point at the left, and across the right of the fleece,

I have taken that big chunk out.

 You can see the VM in this fleece clearly.

 Yup! That is my newest cast under the sheet.

And, the next pictures down is the milk crate I 

use to transfer myself to, or from, the wheel chair.

It has a nice long staple, and I do like the color.

I hope I do!! I have a number of Dorset/Romney 

in various shades of brown. 

The fleece has now had 2 washes in HOT water

and blue dawn. I did not take any pictures as the 

bowl had a lot more water in it since I took twice 

as much fleece this time around. Suffice it to say,

the first wash water was as dark as the fleece, the 

2nd wash was 1/2 as dark. As I type this, it is in its 

first hot water rinse soak, and the water is already a 

lot clearer. I will set in up on the same screen set up

that I had for the gray fleece.

Now to get into the guest bedroom and find 

a VM'd and dirty white fleece!

One thing I wish I had done was to have weighed 

each 'chunk' of fleece before I shook them out and

washed them. The scale is set up in my living room,

but unfortunately I am unable to plug the scale in 

by myself with this cast. I can not get close enough

to the outlet. I think when I find a white fleece, I 

will have hubby plug in the scale. In this 'study',

I would like to know just how much weight is being

lost in shaking out the VM and washing out the dirt

and lanolin. If I do this with the white one, I will also

try to remember to weigh it again after it has been

processed into yarn. Stayed tuned!!