Fleece from family, part 1

My aunt and uncle sheared their rams last week and sent me some samples to play with. They have Merino, Dorset and Border Leicester sheep.

I found the samples in my mailbox this morning

I popped them into the sink for a cold soak. The Merino was full of lanolin and kept popping up out of the water. The Dorset felt like it had almost no lanolin in it and the water soaked straight in. It had quite a coarse feel to it and I’m looking forward to spinning it.

I tried a new-to-me way of cleaning and put the three types of fibre in different baggies and popped them in a pot on the stove to keep warm for a couple of hours. I used some of the woolwash recipe from the Bosistos site which is down for maintenance, but the quantities are:
Soapflakes 300g
Methylated Spirits 200ml
Eucalyptus Oil 50ml