My hands felt like they had had a spa treatment, sure, but the experience was a weird mixture of gooey/creamy/crunchy. Inconsistent spinning, produces a variable yarn, which is impossible to knit into a consistently tight fabric. So I've begun to investigate spinning wool while the grease is still on the fibers. When I first heard the term 'Spinning in the Grease', I thought how quaint it sounded. They were designed to prevent corrosion and to lubricate the reel. Please don't mistake me, some fleeces require washing and processing just to be useful. Some animals don't, such as alpaca, which is washed after spinning. Not to mention that raw lanolin has a very strong scent. This technique, Wood said, is what they call “spinning in the grease.” Wood’s business, Piñon Wood Ranch Fibers, is a Shetland sheep and alpaca ranch, and run solely by Peg Wood and her husband Creighton, known as “Woody.” The producer claims that according to the test results, this is the best fishing reel grease and the best fishing … Spinning in the Grease Full of promise - and dirt! The process is sometimes called spinning in the grease, because of the lanolin content of unwashed fleece. PENN grease and oil were created in 2011 based on the company’s proprietary technology and formula. After several months, the lanolin becomes sticky, which makes the wool harder to spin using the short-draw technique, and almost impossible to spin using the long-draw technique. Grease wool is impossible to comb, and combing is a part of producing the worsted style yarns for high quality fisherman/seaman sweaters. Spinning in the grease covers the spinner's hands in lanolin and, thus, softens the spinner's hands. The grit on the fiber causes wear on the spinning equipment. Clean wool is easier to card. The term is used to describe the process of spinning with raw, greasy fleece - straight off the sheeps back. This is called “spinning in the grease.” I’ve done it one time and one time only, and I hated every minute! To give you my own view: I personally have spun fleece both in the grease and after washing -- and my own preference is almost always to wash a fleece before spinning. Spinning in the grease works best if the fleece is newly sheared. Not bad, exactly, but STRONG! Samples spun and washed: Sample #1(right) fleece with long staples produce a coarse wool Sample #2 (middle) fleece with no guard hairs long staples produce a finer softer wool In the last two weeks I have bought not one, but two, unwashed fleeces. 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