Wool Quality

04/02/19 • 25 min

Modern Wool

Flash primer on sheep [1:50]
Learn how to ‘read’ a fleece [7:48]
Listen in on a skirting conversation with Sarah Pope [11:11]
Dual breed East Friesian [15:22]
Discover the interesting history of Romeldale and CVM [17:49]
Wool Study [23:42]

Previous Episode

Welcome to Modern Wool

Thought Experiment on finding our connection to the natural world [4:25]
A walk through where yarn comes from [8:06]
Examining a fleece is like reading a story that only gets told once [9:20]
From spinning wheel to fiber mill [11:15]
An answer to the important question: What do I want to do? [14:44]
What does local and sustainable mean? [20:37]
What’s happening with wool in the United States right now? [24:08]
Celebrating the value of our small family farms [25:30]

Next Episode

Wool Scouring

In this episode we’ll unpack the nuance of one of the greatest barriers to sustainability of small batch yarn, wool scouring. We’ll share the 4 essential requirements for scouring, discuss fermented suint, reveal 3 types of scouring baths we use at our mill and also pro-tips on how to tell whether you’ve washed your wool effectively.

Highlights

Lydia tells the story of her first time washing a fleece [2:36]
Four essential requirements for scouring wool [11:50]
- Choosing a vessel [12:52]
- Hot Water [15:08]
- Soap & pH [19:30]
- Extraction [24:55]
A few cautions for the home scouring setup [28:10]
Fermented Suint Method or Cold Wash [32:34]
Three type of scouring baths we use at the Abundant Earth Fiber Mill [37:15]
Picking as part of the scouring process [40:12]
Three tips to tell if you got all the grease out of your fleece [45:18]