From the minute I opened the bag of Leicester Longwool Locks I was excited. The curls were wonderful and very well defined.
Here is a close up of some of the locks although these were cleaner than most.
This was just a sample I scoured for fun.
I am recovering from an appendectomy so can't deal with scouring a mass of fleece and in fact that is probably a good thing. Someone told me they only scoured small quantities at a time and this is the way I will proceed with these locks.
Before and after.
I can fit 3 boxes stacked with small amounts of fleece with one empty box to hold fleece down x2 in each bowl. 2 inches depth of water ( 2nd knuckle of digit finger) plus two kettleful of boiling water ( one kept warm in a pan until second kettle ready). gives me just under 150 degrees farenheit. The temperature needed to get rid of lanolin. Left for about 30 mins.
This pan is used only for dyeing process but makes a good weight to be sure the boxes don't float too much and let the fleece float free.
Someone told me they tied the individual locks so I painstakingly tied these and washed them in boxes but I have to say, although I haven't carded them yet, I was more pleased with the results from the boxes in preserving the locks.
This is a glimpse into the airing cupboard to see the fleece drying. In the foreground are the locks that were tied and behind are locks from boxes.
Using dog combs I opened each end of the locks then laid out. I tried to spin from the locks but I am not a very experienced spinner and found this not very satisfactory.
So I added to one hand carder and took off with a second hand carder and that was all that was required to roll into the most amazing rolags ever.
I have spun 4 balls but not washed them yet, when I do I will add to this post.
It spun beautifully.
8 small skeins
The process from start to finish has been a joy.
Dorothy was aptly named - meaning the gift of God.
Incidentally I decided to give all my fleece names working through the alphabet with different types of fleece. If I use the same breed again I will choose a name from the same letter as used previously.
p.s. since discussing my process on Facebook groups I was asked by a 'Master' scourer why I scoured more than once. So I tried overnight soak in cold water, just one scour, one wash soak at lower temperature and two rinses. This is working well for these locks. Apparently too high a temperature too often can damage some locks, especially in finer wool.
I couldn't wait to try dyeing them see
https://orangecottagescrafts.blogspot.com/2020/12/acid-dyeing-using-fibercraft-dyes.html
PS. Eventually I fine tuned my process so I scoured once in boxes as above. Washed once again. Rinsed once in boxes then rinsed each box separately. Squeezed out and dried in airing cupboard
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