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Post by Pandagirl on Feb 26, 2015 23:39:43 GMT
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Post by zed on Feb 27, 2015 11:08:06 GMT
It made me so jealous  I want to live in Sweden and have sheep (and watch all the good tv shows before waiting for them to come on Netflix!) |
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Post by Pandagirl on Feb 27, 2015 14:33:13 GMT
Zed, can't you live in England and have sheep? I'm amazed she has the time or energy with a job and two girls.
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Post by jwugg on Feb 27, 2015 14:54:33 GMT
Thank you Zara for the excellent description, the lovely photos & for letting us come on your cleaning journey with you! I was so surprised that you only use water to clean, I thought because of the lanolin it would take special soap or something. Great to see.
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Post by zara on Feb 27, 2015 19:15:09 GMT
Well, I really do enjoy this forum and hope to get a few more Swedes to join. ;-)
Zed - I had no idea that Sweden was faster than the UK in showing TV shows? We sitt here impatiently writing for new episodes of various British detective series and Downton Abbey... But Netflix is a big favorite with the kids. ;-)
Marilyn - the kids are getting really good at helping out with the animals, and felting. :-) Apart from sheep, we have 15 chickens, a couple of bronze Turkeys, Guinea fowl, quails, two dogs and two cats. Would love to have horses too... (perhaps when the girls are older). There is always something to do around here... But of all our animals, I would say the dogs take most time. The sheep at least don't require walks on a leash several times per day! ;-)
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Post by zara on Feb 27, 2015 19:40:17 GMT
Thank you Zara for the excellent description, the lovely photos & for letting us come on your cleaning journey with you! I was so surprised that you only use water to clean, I thought because of the lanolin it would take special soap or something. Great to see. Thanks Jill! The lanolin actually works as a soap when you clean the wool, even producing some bubbles. It is the lanolin that gives wool its self-cleansing properties - garments made of pure wool are often recommended to just be aired instead of washed all that often. Removing the lanolin requires washing at higher temperatures (over 40 degrees celsius). Washing in cold water will remove most of the dirt, but not the lanolin. So, how you wash will depend on what you are planning to do with the wool. Spinning wool is easier with lanolin, while dyeing is difficult if the wool still has too much lanolin. And during wet-felting, with soap and hot water, the wool gets cleaned again. |
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Post by zara on Feb 27, 2015 19:50:20 GMT
If you follow the link below you can see photos of sheep being washed before shearing: docs.google.com/document/d/1sjkjFlxdPI14FXd6G8hS5CYTxCBT717XRlLQeZSH9iU/mobilebasic?pli=1The document is in Swedish, but there are lots of photos. Apparently, washing sheep in a lake or river, before shearing used to be a common practice "back in the days". The thought did cross my mind last summer, when the sheep started looking quite dirty before shearing. But I would look quite funny walking through the village with my sheep on a leash, down to the river for a wash. ;-) |
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Post by zara on Feb 27, 2015 20:11:14 GMT
And another traditional way to clean wool is to lay it out on the first layer of snow, let it snow over and then thaw out in the spring. That's what I'd call cold washing! Haven't tried that yet.
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Post by Pandagirl on Feb 27, 2015 22:43:38 GMT
Zara, I don't know where you find the time and energy for everything. Its great the girls are helping. It's good experience for them.
Wow, cleaning in the snow, that would be my speed -- no repetitive heavy lifting. :-) Thanks for sharing the various cleaning methods. Yes, I definitely think a few more animals are in order. I always wanted horses, but lived in the city. Although we had a little farm in the city with ducks, cats, dogs, turtles, rabbits and anything people got tired of and dropped off at our house. My Dad trained horses so that was how I got my horse fix. Later my sister had horses but they were not very well behaved.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Feb 27, 2015 22:56:08 GMT
I was thinking the same as Marilyn--cleaning the fleece in the snow. Terrific blog!
We never had pets when I was growing up because we had six children. Mom & Dad thought that was enough until the day my Dad brought home a bunny rabbit. We all thought it was so cute but my mom had a fit as soon as she saw it dropping little balls all over the carpeting. End of pets.
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Post by zed on Feb 28, 2015 15:32:44 GMT
Some of the locks I bought were from sheep which were cleaned before shearing, I'm sure it was my Gotland. It's funny, I rarely watch telly, but did while the kitchen was being done and I saw a fella describing the same process from that link, Zara The tv shows I meant were Swedish or Danish like Wallander, The Bridge, Arne Dahl, Rita Marilyn, I could never afford a place with sheep here, so I may as well dream big |
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Post by Pandagirl on Feb 28, 2015 17:31:43 GMT
Yes, Zed, you should always continue to dream big! Perhaps some day you can visit a sheep ranch and get your fix. :-)
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Feb 28, 2015 17:52:36 GMT
Zed--Wallander is one of my favorites. Don’t watch a lot of Tv, but when I do, it’s gotta be meaty, like Wallander!! How is your kitchen looking these days?
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Post by zed on Mar 1, 2015 12:01:09 GMT
If you haven't seen the last series of the Krister Henriksson one, make sure you have some hankies near by  The kitchen looks like the housing association paid the cheapest kitchen fitters they could find, but at least it smells like the IKEA warehouse I made a big mistake asking for 'granite look' worktops, cheap fake granite counters look more like someone spilled/splashed thinned down grey paint on black textured vinyl than any rock I've ever seen |
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Post by Shepherdess on Mar 1, 2015 23:32:48 GMT
I saw on a blog years ago (so no link I am sorry to say) The cleanest fleece the lady ever had was washed in the stream. They sunk it down and walked on it until no more dirt flowed away and then pulled it out to dry on the bank. She said it didn't felt.
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