Scouring Wool at Home (Step by step Guide)

How to scour or wash raw wool and fiber correctly (without felting it!)

Did you buy a raw sheep fleece or alpaca fiber at a wool fest and now you are not sure how to get it nice and clean? No worries!

It is actually super easy to clean even the dirtiest fleece but there are some basic things your need to know so you don’t end up with a bag of expensive felt.

These simple instructions will show you exactly step by step the basic steps for scouring of wool or other animal fiber. You will be able to take a stinky, greasy, dirty sheep fleece and turn it into lovely, clean wool, ready for spinning, carding or felting!

As I was going through my old posts the other day, I came across a tutorial for washing wool or fiber with rainwater. Well, I apologize because that article is totally inadequate.

Really, the timing is perfect since I just bought a bunch of greasy sheep fleeces at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Fest which are super filthy and have to be thoroughly deep cleaned before I can use them.

The really fun part of washing a ready dirty fleece is that unless you know the animal, you don’t really know what color the wool will be once it has been washed. It is usually much prettier than I expected.

By the way, if you happen to find moths in your yarn or fiber stash, here are some ideas for getting rid of them.

What is Scouring?

Scouring wool simply means deep cleaning or washing it. Sheep wool, in particular has a lot of lanolin or grease which you need to remove in order to process the wool into yarn or roving, for instance.

Other animal fiber such as alpaca or llama does not have any lanolin so you basically just wash out the dirt and dust.

Surprisingly, I have found it easier to get greasy sheep wool cleaner because most of the dirt is removed with the grease.

What causes wool to felt?

This easy wool scouring method works great on all animal fiber including sheep wool, goat (mohair), alpaca, llama, etc. because you can wash deep clean it without felting it. What does that mean?

Have you ever accidentally put your favorite wool sweater in the washing machine and it came out about half of the original size?

There you go, that is felting. It is when animal fibers are bound together tightly, making a piece of fabric that can even be cut without raveling.

Basically, there are two things that cause wool to felt:
1. Agitation (moving wet fiber around)
2. Drastic change in water temperature

So, how to you prevent felting when you are scouring wool? Avoid going from hot water to cold or vice versa. And, don’t move the wool around very much in the water. It is tempting, but no stirring!

How do you scour wool fleeces?

Skirting the Wool

Skirting your fleece is optional but I highly recommend it as it makes scouring so much easier.

What is skirting? It refers to the removal of anything you do not want in your wool such as hay, poop, clumps of dirt, sticks, short cuts or matted fiber.

After you have thoroughly picked through and skirted your wool, place it in one of the Mesh Laundry Bags and zip it closed. Be careful not to overstuff your bags or the fibers will not get clean. It is better to wash smaller batches than one big one.

Now fill your wash tub or bathtub with HOT tap water and then add a few squirts of soap. (Don’t add the soap to running water or you’ll have a mess of bubbles).

Soaking

Next, take your mesh bags and place them in the tub and gently press down to submerge.

CAREFUL, the water is HOT! This is where your rubber gloves come in handy. Make sure the fiber is completely covered with water but don’t agitate or move the fiber around in any way. Just push it down and then let it soak for about 20-30 minutes.

Now, pull the bag of fiber out of the bucket and gently squeeze out the dirty water. Try not to move the fiber around too much. Just press out the water.

Refill your bucket with clean water and add a squirt of soap. Remember to make sure that the temperature is about the same as the water was when you pulled out the bag. It may have cooled somewhat.

Again, soak your wool for about 20 – 30 minutes. If the water is still dirty, repeat with another wash, but don’t add any more soap to subsequent soakings.

Drying

Once your fiber and water are clean, add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to the final soak. This will neutralize any remaining soap residue in the wool.

Squeeze out the water and lay your fiber out to dry on an old table or screen.

You can also run it through the ‘Spin’ cycle of a top loading washer to remove the excess water. Just make sure the machine doesn’t start a ‘Wash’ cycle.

Once your wool has dried completely, it is ready to be processed further. At this point it is ready for carding, spinning, wet felting or needle felting.

That is all there is to it! I hope you find these instructions helpful. If any of the steps are unclear, please let me know in the comments below.
Enjoy!
Annette

Scouring Wool at Home (Step by step Guide)