Often the option of spinning without any washing is dictated by difficulty in obtaining sufficient water. When I was in Kenya, women spun Romney wool (chiefly) "in the grease," but it often locked in large amounts of dirt in the process. Wool raised in dusty areas must be washed. In a YouTube video called simply "Dye" a Peruvian woman is shown washing a fleece in creek water. Very dirty, dung-soiled wool should be removed or "skirted" from the fleece. The wool can then be soaked in water. Some of the oils in the wool will react with the alkali sweat compounds in the fleece and saponify. This natural soap will clean a lot of the wool but leave some lanolin or "grease" behind. As this video also shows, wool can be spun without carding or combing, bu...
Often the option of spinning without any washing is dictated by difficulty in obtaining sufficient water. When I was in Kenya, women spun Romney wool (chiefly) "in the grease," but it often locked in large amounts of dirt in the process. Wool raised in dusty areas must be washed. In a YouTube video called simply "Dye" a Peruvian woman is shown washing a fleece in creek water. Very dirty, dung-soiled wool should be removed or "skirted" from the fleece. The wool can then be soaked in water. Some of the oils in the wool will react with the alkali sweat compounds in the fleece and saponify. This natural soap will clean a lot of the wool but leave some lanolin or "grease" behind. As this video also shows, wool can be spun without carding or combing, but often again that decision is dictated by relative poverty. Carded or combed fiber is much easier to handle and contributes to efficient spinning of quality yarns.
Often the option of spinning without any washing is dictated by difficulty in obtaining sufficient water. When I was in Kenya, women spun Romney wool (chiefly) "in the grease," but it often locked in large amounts of dirt in the process. Wool raised in dusty areas must be washed. In a YouTube video called simply "Dye" a Peruvian woman is shown washing a fleece in creek water. Very dirty, dung-soiled wool should be removed or "skirted" from the fleece. The wool can then be soaked in water. Some of the oils in the wool will react with the alkali sweat compounds in the fleece and saponify. This natural soap will clean a lot of the wool but leave some lanolin or "grease" behind. As this video also shows, wool can be spun without carding or combing, bu...
see more »Often the option of spinning without any washing is dictated by difficulty in obtaining sufficient water. When I was in Kenya, women spun Romney wool (chiefly) "in the grease," but it often locked in large amounts of dirt in the process. Wool raised in dusty areas must be washed. In a YouTube video called simply "Dye" a Peruvian woman is shown washing a fleece in creek water. Very dirty, dung-soiled wool should be removed or "skirted" from the fleece. The wool can then be soaked in water. Some of the oils in the wool will react with the alkali sweat compounds in the fleece and saponify. This natural soap will clean a lot of the wool but leave some lanolin or "grease" behind. As this video also shows, wool can be spun without carding or combing, but often again that decision is dictated by relative poverty. Carded or combed fiber is much easier to handle and contributes to efficient spinning of quality yarns.