The fleece in the bin. This photo is blurry and I cannot tell if it was me reeling from the smell of the bucket or if the fumes were so strong that the air moved.

The fleece laid out to rinse. I sprayed as hard as I could on any places where the fleece looked a little stuck together but they were few and far between. It didn't look like anything was felted. In fact the tips were far better separated and cleaner than using the hot water method.

You know, all the things I read on Ravelry no one has mentioned why just soaking a sheep fleece in cold water does this magic sans detergent. Everybody mentions that magical smell but no one mentions what the heck is going on. That strong smell, and that magical cleaning is ammonia.

My formative years were spent on the farm. My dad had pigs and spreading manure from all manner of farm animals on fields for its fertilising properties is as old as time itself. One of the things that happens to manure, particularly in pit storage system, like my dad had, is the magic of nature taking waste and making something useful out of it. In a pit, the waste decomposes and ferments into a lovely rich ammonia filled compound. In the modern farming world, they buy anhydrous ammonia but in the old days, you got it straight from the source, the barn. The waste was then spread onto the fields, and is fondly referred to as the smell of money.

Ammonia as many of us know, is a fantastic cleaner and degreaser in our homes. Each fleece, pre-cleaning, is going to contain some urine from our friend, Mr. Sheep, enough to start the cleaning process for the whole fleece. It is these magical properties that clean and brighten the fibres of the wool without harm using the cold water method. I'm not so sure that there is going to be much grease left in any fleece washed this way. Perhaps it is that there is enough left, or that the particular parts of the lanolin in a fleece that make it feel smooth and, well, greasy, are not subject to the grease removal properties of ammonia.

Anyway, the good parts of this process is that it is entirely a natural process. The bad parts are as simple to understand as the spots that form when you get too much on your lawn. In small amounts, in safe percentage solutions, as this surely is, produced from the waste of a fleece, it is as green as your grass will grow long. Or it will, if you dare to spread the resulting liquid over your lawn. Leaving a fleece in it to soak isn't going to change it ability to fertilise at all.

If you do want to give the spreading process a try, talk to an old time farmer, and have him help you figure out how much to spread out. Be prepared to have your neighbours hate you. For a day or so. I don't think it would be a good idea to do this in a city.

The fleece is rinsed, but now what the heck am I going to do with it? I have to get it dry and the best way to do that is going to be to put it in a small room with the dehumidifier. We did it last time in a large room and it did not do the trick. It seems that is my only option, as it is still grey and cold. Last time I was saved by a little warmth, a luxury of time and a magical thing called the sun.

No such luck this time.

If anyone can help me out understanding the science of this process, please add to the comments and I will be happy to amend the post. Though pure ammonia is caustic and hazardous, I firmly believe that the concentration of ammonia in this fermented solution is safer and more enviromentally friendly than adding all the detergents from the hot wash method. Balance and moderation. That is my mantra.