Today I washed common, skirted wool in preparation for dyeing a sample with haskap. I started with a weighed half pound. It filled a 20 litre stainless steel pot when it was pushed down, but not packed…
…this is the same half pound set outside the pot…
Temperature set to 160F…
With Tide in the water (stir detergent in gently – no suds), the wool immediately soaked in…the pot was 3/4 full of water…
…after 20 minutes the water was filthy. Gently push the wool down every five minutes or so, but do not agitate or it will felt…
Taken out to drain in preparation for a new change of water, here’s a pic of the first washing (right) next to unwashed wool (left)…
Second wash water…
Following two washes the wool was rinsed…but the water is still mildly dirty…
While it needs a second rinsing, the wool was set out to dry since I ran out of soft water…
…I will rinse the second time before I mordant.
