Smelly Yarn...

[silverspinner]

Hi everyone this is my first post and because of this question I found you.

I am in England and a new spinner and loveing it. I use a drop spindle. I ordered some jacobs wool for spinning and its a lovely dark brown. Its washedc carded and all the fibres are long and in one direction. Now while Its lovely to work with there is a slight smell of sheep. I didn't expect it to have a smell at all other than wool. The smell became stronger when I set the spin in water but has now become faint again. Is this usual?

[mullerslanefarm]

I will apologize for sitting here and chuckling at your statement

is a slight smell of sheep. I didn't expect it to have a smell at all other than wool.

Wool can smell like sheep unless real harsh chemicals are used on the fiber to clean it basically because, well, :chuckle: wool comes from sheep.

It is not unusual for a true wool to have a sheep smell when it is wet.

There are some options:
Soak it for a long time in detergent (not soap) & water

Lay it out in the sun on some grass (the oxygen the grass gives off will eliminate the smell, but it will also fade the color}

Buy a Wool Wash and use as directed.

[silverspinner]

Thankyou for your words of wisdom ... I will try the ideas, the main reason I wanted to know I want to order more fibre and I like the company but just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting bad fibre ... It does sound weird when I re read it

[silverspinner]

update... I re washed and the smell improved ... Heres a couple of pics the first attempt then the second.The first one thickened up, I think because the spin had not been quite tight enough, not sure. but it perfectly usable




This is the second ball I made and it really improved. much more consistent than the first and it didn't thicken up when I set the spin...

[mullerslanefarm]

Very Nice!!!

[silverspinner]

Thankyou... I ordered some Corriedale roving from a different company after reading some other threads here and it arrived today and it smells lovely. So I shall not be ordering from that first company again...