I had previously tried scouring--degreasing--with just sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is also known as soda ash, washing soda, and by the ancient name of natron. Another thing I found out is that natron does not always show up by itself, it is often in combination with other chemicals, one of which is borax.
Sooooo...
Today I am scouring about a pound of wool with a combination of 5 gallons of 180 degree water, 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup of sodium carbonate. I bought the sodium carbonate in the grocery where it was cleverly disguised as a generic equivalent of OxyClean. I put the chemicals in the spider tub and then added the hot water. It foamed nicely, and then I added the wool which was in a mesh laundry bag. I left it in the natron bath for about 20 minutes, poured out the tub into the planter, and rinsed the wool with 2 baths of regular hot tap water. The wool bag is now in the washer on spin. Sodium carbonate is also used in the making of fertilizer, so I'm not too worried about pouring it on the ground. Besides, we just have a lot of weeds growing in it, anyway.
I'm also flicking the locks of the same fleece I've processed earlier.
I put out some more fleece to cold soak for the rest of the day. It gets rid of a LOT of ick, which can just be poured into the planter (more fertilizer). The batch I'm scouring today was cold soaked first. Although the first wash did turn yellow brown, it was not as disgusting as batches where I just straight washed without previously soaking.
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