Washing Wool - Twin Willows Farm

While it is perfectly fine to send that smelly fleece off to the woolen mill, you can save yourself both time and money by washing the fleece at home. It’s not difficult to do and almost everyone has the necessary equipment available at home. There are no toxic fumes or dangerous by products to worry about, just some very dirty water to dispose of.

Woolen mills are busy places with lots of fleeces to be washed. Fleece needs a certain amount of space to be spread out for drying and when that space is filled, the rest of the dirty fleeces have to wait their turn at washing. So a fleece shipped in may wait several days before being washed.

In contrast, a pre-washed fleece that arrives ready to be carded may be carded the same day it arrives. If the woolen mill processes all the fleece that is dry enough to do, they will happily grab pre-washed fleeces to fill in the gap and keep the machines running.

Pre-washing saves money in two different ways. First the woolen mills charge a lower fee to process pre-washed fibers. This is because they do not have to spend the time and energy on washing it first. But pre-washing also saves money on shipping. A dirty fleece can weigh up to twice what the cleaned fleece will weigh, depending on the breed of sheep and condition of the fleece. So you pay less shipping to get the pre-washed fleece to the woolen mill.

So if you like to save time and money, give washing your wool a try! Read my article titled Washing Raw Fleece Basics to help you get started!

Twin Willows Farm - Why Wash My Own Wool?