Washing My Locks

I thought I would try doing something different today. I had heard, and seen some other fiber artist wash their wool "in the locks". What this means, is that the wool is washed in a specific order with the butt of the wool and the top of the wool all in the same direction. In order to do this I need to keep the locks of wool stable during the washing process. In this shot I have some tulle laid out on my counter. I then take some locks of wool, (by the way this is a grey fleece) and lay the locks out on the tulle side by side, with all the cut ends (or butt ends) pointing down, and the tops pointing up. I then fold the tulle over the locks sort of like a burrito and secure with safety pins.

I set up my wash water just like I would do for any fiber, using very hot water, and my favorite wool wash. I gentle lay the packets of fiber in the water and let them soak for about 20 minutes. After they have finished soaking, I carefully rinse the packets out. I then put them in my table spinner to spin out the excess water, and then lay the packets out flat to dry.

This what the locks look like after they have dried and I have removed the tulle.

These are now ready to use on my newest fiber tool that I recently bought. I'll show you what that is next time.