One of the basic questions I’m asked as a teacher is “How do you store your stashes?” 

 

You don’t have ‘stashes’ yet??!!  If they haven’t accumulated from your other fiber pursuits, they will soon! Most of the people I’m in contact with have more than their own lifetime supply, but ….there will come the fleece you just cannot pass up, or a breed that you’ve always been meaning to try, or attending a fiber festival (leaving your checkbook at home but managing to overlook the Visa card in your wallet), there’s an exceptionally good bargain on e-Bay right now or a friend is willing to share a Fabulous Find. One way or another, fiber becomes another of our amassed treasures!

 

Depending on the condition of the fibers when you receive it, there are various ways to store it until you’re ready to use it. First and foremost, it’s important to keep it as dry as possible. Given that our environments are all different, keep the fibers as dry as possible and absorbing moisture or humidity as slowly as possible.

 

Wool (generically used to cover all animal fibers) can absorb up to 35% of it’s own weight in water. Long-term retention of this moisture will damage the fiber beyond recoverable use. Ask me how I know!!!

 

So determine one of the driest, most constant temperature places you have access to and prepare it for your storage. Most of my studio is in the basement of my home; the temperature and humidity, season-to-season, don’t fluctuate as much as the upstairs does. I’ve installed shelving to hold my ‘stuff’. One of these years I’ll actually be organized…. Naw….that’s not gonna happen! I’d rather be needling or knitting!

 

One full fleece can weigh between two and eight lbs and I’ll usually purchase one to five lbs of any prepared fiber that catches my fancy. My miniature sculptures, 2 inches to 4 inches tall, weigh less than one half ounce; I know I’ll have enough for my personal use when I purchase these amounts!

 

I can go on only my own experiences. One of my first purchases was a black Wensleydale fleece—beautiful stuff but I now know totally unsuitable for my project at the time. Which is just as well, because I ruined it…

 

I did everything wrong: left it in the plastic bag it was mailed in, opened the top but did not fluff the fiber to air it and left it in the basement away from the area with the dehumidifier.  I never got to the point of finding out if the fiber would break due to the poor storage choices I made, because it never got past the gummy, sticky mess it congealed into while waiting for my ministrations. That was an expensive learning experience!

 

First, all fiber that has not been commercially prepared goes through two periods of freezing to combat the possibility of moth infestations. I place the whole shipment into the freezer just as it arrived. After several days or a week (whenever I remember it!) I put the bundles on a shelf for about two weeks. It then gets another week of freezing temperatures, as the first round may not have killed all stages of the larvae. Better to be safe with two sessions than be sorry with an infestation! Store fiber as clean as possible. Hopefully, raw fiber has been well-skirted by the shearer. If not, it’s imperative before storage that you lay it out and remove all fiber that has been soiled, cotted/matted, and as much dust/dirt and VM (vegetable matter) as will shake out, before storing.

 

Creepies, crawlies and fliers are attracted the soil held in the fleeces and will eat through the fiber to get to Lunch! It also is more difficult to remove the soil and lanolin/grease if not treated within a reasonable length of time. I’ve heard reports of raw/in-the-grease fiber being held for several years

 

After its initial treatment, there are several ways to approach long-term storage units, all having advantages and disadvantages.

 

Cloth? Plastic? Paper? Something else? Which to choose???

 

Paper: any raw fiber goes into sealed paper bags because I don’t want the transfer of oil and soil onto my more expensive, less clean-able options. Grocery bags will do, or purchasing white butcher’s paper from a restaurant supply house or brown craft paper from craft shops, by the roll, is one of the least expensive products to use. Cut off a length two to three times the size of your lightly-fluffed mass, fold down or over the edges several times as a bug barrier and secure with a few staples, paperclips or clothes pins. Remember to write on the outside what each is so you won’t have to peek!

 

Cloth: we have several of The Container Store chains near us (also available online). They offer zippered bags for clothing storage and of the many styles and sizes available, one of my two favorites are sweater bags (small sized - about 14” x 12” x 5”.) These hold my smaller amounts of fiber, up to one pound. My other favorite size is the comforter or duvet size, about 24” x 30” x 12”. These hold a LOT!  5 sides of the bag is heavy-duty cotton muslin, with clear plastic forming the sixth side. This makes it easy to see what type, color and amount of fiber is in each, without having to open it.

 

A less expensive method is to use old pillowcases. I’ve gotten old ones from resale shops. I’d look for all cotton, as any poly-blend does not release the absorbed oils as easily. (Again, ask me how I know!!) I guess I’m sensitive to odors and don’t like anything to smell. Which includes old sheep. Close the bag with string or clothes-pins.

 

Both of these basic styles of storage containers are best for fibers anywhere between freshly shorn to completely clean. They protect against moisture absorption by the less permeable barrier layer of cloth and/or paper. They are also relatively inexpensive and are moth-proof if kept closed.

 

Plastic: the third type I have are the plastic ‘space’ bags. These can be further divided into two types; the self-evacuating and the vacuum style. The self-sealing are easier to use, as you slowly roll them from one end to the other to eliminate the air inside. The other type needs a vacuum to withdraw the air. The nozzle connection is located near the middle of one side. Fiber got drawn into the intake mechanisms so I slide a twelve inch square piece of cardboard under the connector to keep the fiber isolated from the sealing nozzle. And of course, it requires a vacuum cleaner, which I don’t have downstairs in the studio.

 

You will not get a seal unless all fibers are kept away from the ‘zipped’ end of both styles. Even one strand across the zipper tracks will not allow an airtight seal. I don’t think that a moth could crawl through that spot but the beauty of these is that after evacuating the air, they can be stacked or hung in less than one tenth of the space a bag of fluffed fiber would use. And merely opening the seal allows air to fill the bag and fluff the fiber up again. I always re-card, by hand- or drum carder immediately before using so any compaction has never affected my work. If space is your determining factor, these are wonderful.

 

However, the fiber MUST be perfectly clean and it must be totally dry. The bags I’ve got are very strong; several of them have traveled with us around the world for years, holding our laundry. But you should observe general care with them to not get a tear or puncture, which again would compromise the space saving feature of them.

 

I do have several large plastic tubs, but the covers don’t seal well so I use them only for grouping several of the sweater-sized bags together by breed or color.

 

Remember: keep fiber dry, eliminate any bugs—either before or during your ownership—and know that it’s more pleasant to store clean fiber than in its original form.

 

I’d be happy to hear of any other solutions that work for you!

 

Happy Needling!

 

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