Today I just finished up this special order for a customer.
This hat was originally a bunch of dirty mucky fluff that was straight off the sheep. It is not the softest of fibers since it came off this customers meat sheep, I believe they are Suffolk. The fiber went from a mucky brown color to a beautiful creamy white.
Since she gave me a huge lot of fiber in exchange for this hat, I tried out this method of washing that I was told that you couldn't do because it would felt the fiber.
Here's what I did:
I washed the fiber in the kitchen sink in super hot water until the water ran clear and no more lanolin was present.
Then came the part that I was told not to do
I put it in the washer to spin out the water and I only have the option of a rinse and spin which the rinse is supposed to felt the fibers. I thought that it couldn't hurt since if this fiber felted it wasn't that much of a loss because of the large amount of fiber I have. Then after the rinse and spin I wanted to play with the fiber right away so I wanted it dry right away. So there sat the empty dryer and so I stuck it in and turned it on fluff and let it go.
Guess what! No Felting!
There is precautions to this though: this was a medium fleece and the felting risk is not as risky. Do not do this to a fine fleece at all!
Anyway, I then carded it into a nice batt and dyed it with kool-aid. Put it in the microwave and then let it dry.
Then came the spinning.
I left the yarn as a single and let it rest on my niddy noddy overnight. Then today I made it into this beautiful hat.
Here are some more pics of the hat.
Since she gave me a huge lot of fiber in exchange for this hat, I tried out this method of washing that I was told that you couldn't do because it would felt the fiber.
Here's what I did:
I washed the fiber in the kitchen sink in super hot water until the water ran clear and no more lanolin was present.
Then came the part that I was told not to do
I put it in the washer to spin out the water and I only have the option of a rinse and spin which the rinse is supposed to felt the fibers. I thought that it couldn't hurt since if this fiber felted it wasn't that much of a loss because of the large amount of fiber I have. Then after the rinse and spin I wanted to play with the fiber right away so I wanted it dry right away. So there sat the empty dryer and so I stuck it in and turned it on fluff and let it go.
Guess what! No Felting!
There is precautions to this though: this was a medium fleece and the felting risk is not as risky. Do not do this to a fine fleece at all!
Anyway, I then carded it into a nice batt and dyed it with kool-aid. Put it in the microwave and then let it dry.
Then came the spinning.
I left the yarn as a single and let it rest on my niddy noddy overnight. Then today I made it into this beautiful hat.
Here are some more pics of the hat.
I am in LOVE with the colors of this hat. I have taken note of how I did the dye process so replication is possible.
If you would like to have a custom order done by me just email me at [email protected]. You could get a similar product made by me or something completely unique.Ryan
Creative Designer
Creative Designer