Washing a CVM Fleece

I thought my fleece washing days were over–or at least on hold. We don’t really have the capacity for the task (or so I thought): no utility sink; the problem of *hot enough* water. But Jennifer Rose Guyer gifted me a CVM fleece and I could not resist the challenge!

Here are the steps:

1. Get the fleece home. Yep, you read that correctly. We acquired the flawless fleece in Loveland, CO and had a plane ride between us and home. My dear husband knew what was coming next and asked his mom if we could borrow a carry on bag (what a dear!). The funny thing is that we usually travel SUPER light–as in one backpack each for a 2 week sojourn in Europe  . . . for a walking tour . . . in the winter. But, for fleece, I will check my clothes bag, schlep the fleece all through the airport, bring it past the K-9 security dogs (that part gave Spencer a bit of a fright), carry it onto the plane, and get it home!
2. After than . . . what other challenges can there be, really?
3. Set up a good washing station: I found a shallow plastic tub; S turned up the hot water heater (thus causing scorched hands for the next few days . . .); and we moved operations from the kitchen sink to the refurbished clawfoot bathtub.
4. Sort and wash the fleece: I broke out the old trays, sorted the fleece, and washed it with some Dawn. We dumped the lanolin filled water in buckets, which S took outside–thus saving the pipes from potential clogging.

Mission accomplished! I’ll post a fleece washing video on YouTube shortly for anyone interested in our methods. CVM is a high-crimp, relatively fine fleece, but this method has worked just fine with no felting.