Yikes! I keep forgetting some people didn't grow up with a spinner for a mother. For newbies, an excellent book is "Hands On Spinning" by Lee Raven.
Wool can be spun "in the grease" which means unwashed, or after washing. If you buy a fleece, generally that fleece has been "skirted" which means the unuseable or less desireable parts of the fleece have been removed. You can wash a fleece by hand in a large tub (bathtub) with lukewarm water and a detergent like "Dove Dishwashing Liquid." Make the water nice and bubbly, and immerse your fleece. Do NOT rub (you'll felt the fibers) but gently swirl. Rinse several times. Now you have to dry the fleece. A screen window works great for this. Lift your fleece onto the screen, gently squeezing the water out, and set outside to dry (preferably not in the sun). When it is dry you can card the fleece and begin spinning.
A beginner will find it MUCH easier to start spinning if they buy roving, wool that has already been washed and carded and is drawn out into long "sausages" ready for spinning. In fact, many spinners never bother with buying raw fleece, the possibilities available with roving are too much fun. Raw fleece is fun to work with if you have a lightly greased breed (like an Icelandic) and enjoy the feel of the lanolin in your hands as you spin out the wool.
T
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