I did this last year but left the fleeces in the water for 6 weeks. We have limited sun and hot weather in my part of Scotland. I found doing a hot rinse got rid of the last of the lanolin and my fleece was beautifully soft and white (or grey depending on the fleece. I saved the old steeped water in bottles and it makes a brilliant organic fertiliser for the garden.
@@bffiberarts no warning needed. getting dirty is half the fun. plus, now i know to never try this at home. seriously... i considered doing this (out on my balcony... in my apartment... in the middle of the city). you saved an international incident from happening. "NYer beaten to death by baguette-wielding Quebecers" is not how i want to be remembered when i go.
had to suppress a gag reflex at "there's definitely a crust on the top"... then you added "deep rotting swamp water" to the mix! sheepy farm smells don't bother me, but i know that festering, swampy stench of which you speak, and it is particularly nauseating. i would probably have to burn everything i own (and move) after this experiment. that being said, i was super impressed at how much cleaner that first bit turned out with a few sprays from the hose. can't wait to see how it looks/smells after drying.
I tried it once was sick to the stomach cos of the smell so will not do it again good on you for trying it lol xx thanks for sharing your stinky suint bath lol love and hugs tamsin xx
Hey Tamsin, I'm in Wales and our fuel prices are getting so high I decided to try avoiding scouring with hot water this summer and ended up using FSM on all of my fleeces. They came out similar to yours, I found drying made a big difference. I really enjoyed spinning the samples from them. My only concern is storing them with the lanolin still in. I do prefer spinning with some grease still present but don't want them to go rancid or get caked in storage. Do you store fleece in the grease? I may go check on them today. Thanks for a fun video.
I haven't intentionally stored fleece in the grease but the odd forgotten fleece has just been sticky. I haven't had any issues with rancid. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@bffiberarts the one issue I had was when I washed my skeins I didn’t get all the stickiness out. I need to figure that out because knitting with the yarn was a little tacky iykwim. Maybe a hotter water soak and a different soap than the eucalan I normally use? 🤔
When I saw the title I was thinking this might be interesting to try with a Lleyn fleece I just got. I now think I’ll take your advice for those sensitive to smells and pass 😂 Thanks for sharing the process.
@@bffiberarts I’m okay with raw fleece usually, even the poop but I once got one that had been left wet and it stunk of rotting swamp. That made me gag.🤢
Hi Tamsin, I hope you're OK xx ❣️ Thankyou for sharing your experiment . This was a very interesting way to wash your fleece. I hope it turns out to be nice and clean and has a fresh smell or no smell at all Take care and stay well Fibre Friend Love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️🫂🫂🐈⬛🐈⬛
Hi Tamsin (love your name (originally from Cornwall , UK. derived from Thompson !) what about the giant salad spinner ? Where did you get it? All details plz . Cost , name etc . Thanks in anticipation . Watching from nz , just launching into this method . ❤ Pat nz
I got the salad spinner from a restaurant supply store. I think they call them produce spinners. They are a bit pricy. I think I paid just over $100 Canadian for mine but I got the wholesale discount since my bestie owned a restaurant. They're well worth the investment and you can probably find them online but be ready to pay up for one.
I just did a quick search and they call them commercial salad spinners. The price has also gone up quite a bit and they're retailing for $200 now. Since I've had mine for at least ten years that makes sense.
Think Carol is right. Looks like you took it out too soon. Just starting to work on the lanolin (bubbles). Another week might have had that all gone. Of course it would smell worse by then. 🙂
I tried this method and I feel like it was a big fail. I used rainwater and a dirty fleece and it turn out cleaner but I still had lanolin left behind. Yes the smell went away when dry but it came back when it was wet again. 😫 I also noticed I needed to rinse it a ton and therefore didn’t save any water. In the end I actually took the fleece and scoured it.
Yes it does leave lanolin in the wool. It does take a lot of rinsing but if you're in the country if you have a stream you could bag it and let it rinse in the steam for a bit. I haven't tried wetting it again to see if the smell comes back. I'll have to try that.
I did this last year but left the fleeces in the water for 6 weeks. We have limited sun and hot weather in my part of Scotland. I found doing a hot rinse got rid of the last of the lanolin and my fleece was beautifully soft and white (or grey depending on the fleece. I saved the old steeped water in bottles and it makes a brilliant organic fertiliser for the garden.
I'll probably try it again next summer and see if I get better results.
You are a brave brave woman.
Brave... crazy... sometimes it's hard to tell the difference lol.
@@bffiberarts I often say brave or stupid to some of the stuff I do. This is brave, historically accurately brave.
I’m trying to lose weight so I’m going to replay this when I get hungry!🤢
Bwahahaha! If that works for you I won't complain.
☺️
my General Tao chicken is still in the bag an hour later. lol. diet confirmed!
@@n.ayisha maybe I should put a warning on the video....
@@bffiberarts no warning needed. getting dirty is half the fun. plus, now i know to never try this at home. seriously... i considered doing this (out on my balcony... in my apartment... in the middle of the city). you saved an international incident from happening. "NYer beaten to death by baguette-wielding Quebecers" is not how i want to be remembered when i go.
had to suppress a gag reflex at "there's definitely a crust on the top"... then you added "deep rotting swamp water" to the mix! sheepy farm smells don't bother me, but i know that festering, swampy stench of which you speak, and it is particularly nauseating. i would probably have to burn everything i own (and move) after this experiment. that being said, i was super impressed at how much cleaner that first bit turned out with a few sprays from the hose. can't wait to see how it looks/smells after drying.
Lol. Yeah it's not for everybody. It's coming out not too bad!
I through a whole fleece in the bin after trying this cos I couldn't touch it without throwing up x
I have considered doing this ... might need to wait until I have land far from neighbors. Looking forward to your follow up video.
Just try a small tub the first time to see if you can tolerate it. The smell doesn't linger that long lol.
I tried this once with 2 fleece that was given to me and they weren’t that great so I wasn’t upset when I failed at it. 😀
That's why I only used a little bit. Just in case.
I tried it once was sick to the stomach cos of the smell so will not do it again good on you for trying it lol xx thanks for sharing your stinky suint bath lol love and hugs tamsin xx
It is a very powerful smell lol. Hugs.
Hey Tamsin, I'm in Wales and our fuel prices are getting so high I decided to try avoiding scouring with hot water this summer and ended up using FSM on all of my fleeces. They came out similar to yours, I found drying made a big difference. I really enjoyed spinning the samples from them. My only concern is storing them with the lanolin still in. I do prefer spinning with some grease still present but don't want them to go rancid or get caked in storage. Do you store fleece in the grease? I may go check on them today. Thanks for a fun video.
I haven't intentionally stored fleece in the grease but the odd forgotten fleece has just been sticky. I haven't had any issues with rancid. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@bffiberarts thanks for replying so quickly! I’ve just checked on my fleeces and they seem ok and smell so good. Little bit sticky but not too bad.
@@lisahs605 that's how mine turned out too. Since once it's spun it'll get washed again I'm not really worried.
@@bffiberarts the one issue I had was when I washed my skeins I didn’t get all the stickiness out. I need to figure that out because knitting with the yarn was a little tacky iykwim. Maybe a hotter water soak and a different soap than the eucalan I normally use? 🤔
@@lisahs605 definitely want very hot water. Do an extra scour. The hardened lanolin can be hard to remove.
When I saw the title I was thinking this might be interesting to try with a Lleyn fleece I just got. I now think I’ll take your advice for those sensitive to smells and pass 😂 Thanks for sharing the process.
It wasn't bad enough to make me gag but I'm not bad with smells. Definitely pass if you are.
@@bffiberarts I’m okay with raw fleece usually, even the poop but I once got one that had been left wet and it stunk of rotting swamp. That made me gag.🤢
@@runtsgal then do not do this method! Danger danger danger! Lol
@@bffiberarts 👍😂
My grass is growing really well where I dumped mine after 3 fleece through it. Not doing it again. (Neighbours are all very happy about that)
Hi Tamsin, I hope you're OK xx ❣️
Thankyou for sharing your experiment .
This was a very interesting way to wash your fleece.
I hope it turns out to be nice and clean and has a fresh smell or no smell at all
Take care and stay well Fibre Friend
Love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️🫂🫂🐈⬛🐈⬛
Part two is coming so you can see how it all turned out. Be well.
Hi Tamsin (love your name (originally from Cornwall , UK. derived from Thompson !) what about the giant salad spinner ? Where did you get it? All details plz . Cost , name etc . Thanks in anticipation . Watching from nz , just launching into this method . ❤ Pat nz
I got the salad spinner from a restaurant supply store. I think they call them produce spinners. They are a bit pricy. I think I paid just over $100 Canadian for mine but I got the wholesale discount since my bestie owned a restaurant. They're well worth the investment and you can probably find them online but be ready to pay up for one.
I just did a quick search and they call them commercial salad spinners. The price has also gone up quite a bit and they're retailing for $200 now. Since I've had mine for at least ten years that makes sense.
The bubbles you see in the water means that it is working. It also needs a lot of sun to get the heat up. May take 2 to 3 weeks to work.
Spoiler alert! I didn't get back to it Friday lol
Think Carol is right. Looks like you took it out too soon. Just starting to work on the lanolin (bubbles). Another week might have had that all gone. Of course it would smell worse by then. 🙂
@@deborahgauvin44 this is why I experiment. See how it looks at different stages and how to know when it's done.
Where did you get that huge salad spinner?!!!
I bought it from a restaurant supply store but you can find them on the internet. They are expensive though.
I am not sure but if that bin is air tight, that is what may be the mold problem. Any ferment is never supposed to be air tight.....just a thought.
Yeah it was all mostly a disaster lol. I didn't get the chance to try again this year but next summer I want to try it again.
I find the smell is like cleaning out a barn of poop. LOL
I've done that. A whole winter's worth of compacted dung and urine and hay. I think that smelt nicer lol.
I tried this method and I feel like it was a big fail. I used rainwater and a dirty fleece and it turn out cleaner but I still had lanolin left behind. Yes the smell went away when dry but it came back when it was wet again. 😫 I also noticed I needed to rinse it a ton and therefore didn’t save any water. In the end I actually took the fleece and scoured it.
Yes it does leave lanolin in the wool. It does take a lot of rinsing but if you're in the country if you have a stream you could bag it and let it rinse in the steam for a bit. I haven't tried wetting it again to see if the smell comes back. I'll have to try that.
Black may just be a healthy growth of bacteria.
I think it was. The fleece wasn't too bad in the end.