Hi, just joined the weavers & spinners tribe. Very excited.

I've been knitting for 4 years now, self re-taught after Grandma tried years ago and couldn't get it to stick. Just picked up spinning in the last year or so and rushed right out and ordered and put together my first Ashford Traditional *sigh*, and have just this autumn started my affair with weaving. I try to knit projects for friends between going to college and being a dedicated punk-rock, Susie-homemaker-wannabe for my boyfriend of almost 2 years (I refuse to knit him a sweater until I've got a ring on my finger, and he probably wouldn't wear one if I knit it, anyway. He's all tough-looking, but thinks Lamb's Pride or even some of Rowan's merino blends too scratchy to wear. *grin* I think I'll keep him.)

Now my conundrum:
I've never scoured a fleece before. I purchased a gorgeous chocolate brown romney/corriedale(?) fleece in September, as well as a chocolatey alpaca fleece, and have been terrified to scour them for fear that I will felt them. They are so beautiful, I would weep bitterly if they were ruined. I have some great scour soap that I purchased at the event where I found the fleece. The lady that sold the scour to me looked at a staple of my fleece, said it didn't have much grease, and to just try to do it in my bath tub, separating the fleece into small sections and place them in lingerie bags.

Any advice? I think I need encouragement more than anything, I just hate to have that fleece sit and not do anything with it. I can hear it whispering to me at night "... A sweater. A lovely, long-sleeved, boatneck sweater... Make me into a sweater..."

Any advice will be much appreciated!