Brown merino fleece of 5.9 lbs. From a ram named Ernest. Purchased at the fair in 2017.

Used a cold soak overnight first. Washing with Dawn in pots of water on the burner. I don’t trust my newer washer to fill hot enough (all that stupid stopping and sensing) and not randomly spray water into the tub while the wool is soaking or spinning out. I sure miss my trusty old washer.
First wash completed on 7/28/2025. Planning a second wash on the burner and then rinsing tomorrow. Might not be a great idea to leave it un-rinsed for a day, but I ran out of time and steam. With so much lanolin I want to ensure that I wash it well enough but don’t want to felt the merino. It feels quite fine compared to other fleeces I’ve processed.

3/17/2026
Started back on this project! I had to wash the fleece over and over to get out the sticky lanolin. First time processing a merino so I’m not surprised I underestimated the amount of water to fleece that I needed.
There was one batch that seemed a little more felty than it should have been so that was the batch I carded first. Did that last summer/fall. Carded in some silk and made some beautifully soft batts. There are some neps but not bad. The next batch should be a little better. This was a covered fleece so no VM.
Started spinning it yesterday afternoon so I could enjoy the start of our heat wave. Didn’t get too far since we had to take Aunt Betty to get stitches (actually glue) when she fell and hit her head. I hope she isn’t too stiff this morning from the fall.
This is going to be a nice spin. I’m trying not to spin it too fine and tight. I’d like it to be a sport to DK weight in the end.